Interviews with...
Eric Akis
 Everyone Can Cook Seafood
Eric Akis
Many people can cook everything but seafood. Along with easy to follow recipes,
Akis offers tips for selecting and storing seafood. A good book to have on the
book shelf. Softcover, 224 pp, $22.95.
Cookbook: The first album/CD you bought?
EA: The first album was Alice Cooper's Killer. I was in grade seven
and with songs like 'Dead Babies' my dad was not impressed.
Cookbook: What was your first car?
EA: My first car was a sky-blue, white-cloth roofed, 73 Oldmosbile Cutlass. It
was a two-door and each of those doors seemed about as long and heavy as
some of the compact cars produced today. The car also had a fake-leather
interior that would freeze up in the winter. Cold on the buns, that's
for sure!
Cookbook: Your favourite junk food?
EA: Miss Vickie's salt 'n vinegar chips and an ice-cold Hire's root beer (hard
to find these days) make a fine snack on a long road trip.
Cookbook: What kitchen gadget or piece of equipment can't you live without?
EA: My set of cast-iron pans -- they have lasted me 20 years and I'm
certain will still be going strong when I pass them on to my son
once I go to that big kitchen in the sky!
Cookbook: Your favourite ingredient or food?
EA: Tough question, but let's keep things simple: an onion. The smell
of one frying is unbelievable and irresistible, especially if you use it
to top a steak, sausage, burger or turn them into a rich French Onion Soup.
Cookbook: Most overrated ingredient or food?
EA: Truffle oil. It's expensive and if a chef, as they often do, uses
too much, it can easily overpower and negatively affect the dish it's trying
to enhance.
Cookbook: What was the first cookbook you used?
The Joy of Cooking -- to this day it still gets
the most action of any of the cookbooks I own.
Cookbook: Your favourite authors, not necessarily of cookbooks?
EA: I would have to say Julia Child and Jacques Pepin; their books have also
inspired me and given me confidence to get into the kitchen and cook, cook,
cook!
Cookbook: Your favourite city?
EA: Victoria, BC—-- my home the last 12 years. Whenever I'm almost
home from travelling afar, and nearing home on the ferry or on a plane,
I look out at the lush green landscape, nearby mountains and sea and think
'It's nice to be back in paradise!'”
Cookbook: What is your greatest extravagance or indulgence?
EA: I love to stay in a fine hotel, put on my bathrobe, and order room service. When
the waiter arrives with food and drink, I give him a big tip and say 'Life
is grand, isn't it?'”
Cookbook: Your favourite movie?
The Year of Living Dangerously with Mel Gibson and Sigourney
Weaver. Adventure, danger and tons of passion—-- what more can
you ask for in a film?
Cookbook: What was your first job?
EA: I was a pin setter at the local bowling alley. I used the money to
buy my first album (see the first question).
Cookbook: What kind of music do you like?
EA: Ray Charles, Norah Jones, Oscar Petersen, Van Morrison, Diana Krall and
Chet Baker are a few of my favourites. Alice Cooper's record was melted
and turned into a coin purse a long time ago!
Cookbook: Your pet peeve when dining out?
EA: I wish that when I dine out on my own I would get treated the same way
as if I was with my wife or a group. Just because I'm alone does not
mean I'm a loner/loser who does not want to dine well.
Cookbook: Your favourite drink?
EA: An ice-cold beer on the hottest day of the year.
Cookbook: If you could change one thing in the food and wine industry, what would
it be?
EA: I would ban the 10-12 course tasting menus popular these days that offer
little bites that leave you wondering if what you just ate was a hazy dream
there was so little of it to remember.
Cookbook: Who has been the biggest influence in your career?
EA: At age 16 my first kitchen job was a civilian dishwasher at a military
base in Sioux Lookout in Northwestern Ontario. The head cook's name
was Sandy Wong and he turned out to be one of the best cooks I've ever met.
Once a month or so he would invite me and some of the other kitchen staff
to his home for a multi-course Chinese dinner. They were always amazing
and those fine meals inspired me to pursue a career in cooking.
Cookbook: What four people, dead or alive, would you invite
to dinner (assuming you would invite your significant other to have six
around the table)?
EA: I could not just invite four, but instead would have a potluck dinner and
invite all the passionate foodie folks I've met the last 20 years. It
would be one hell of a party!
Author profile from Whitecaps Books website: http://www.whitecap.ca/search_individual.asp?isbn_search=1552856143
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