The Lulić cookbookFrom Fine Arts to Cuisine Creatively cooking a la Chilena Artist and illustrator, Jorge Lulić shares his passion for cooking with 21 of easy-to-follow family recipes. Traditional cooking from his home country of Chile and contributions from his family.With personal stories accompanying each recipe, this is an original and enjoyable fun cookbook for the whole family.The recipes in this book are inspired by traditional cuisine. Popular dishes, country food with which I grew up and that is part of the Chilean way of life. I have also added my own culinary inventions and included a few family recipes from my children Clarita & Antonio who are both keen cooks. Chilean food has a rich indigenous tradition, which is mixed with Spanish, German, Italian, French (among others) cultures. ‘Sofrito’ (a mixture of aromatic ingredients cut into small pieces and sautéed or stewed in cooking oil) is a must in our dishes. Another characteristic is the abundance and variety of ingredients thanks to extensive diverse geography which offers us: vegetables of all kinds, corn, rice, meats and especially seafood and fish that come from the 4,300 km of Pacific coast from north to south. However, apart from my favourite delicious Chilean recipes, included are three dishes very important to me: The famous ‘English Sunday Roast’ - I lived in the UK most of my life - the ‘Paella Valenciana’, I currently live in the province of Valencia, Spain, and a Croatian dish: ‘Fish Stew with Polenta’ recipe from an aunt who lives in the town of Zuhovare near Zadar in Croatia, where my grandfather was born.Chileans are said to be creative, inventive and resourceful; this is reflected in our cuisine. In my case, I like to think that I cook in the same way that I painted watercolour or an oil painting. I like the idea of freshness, creativity and spontaneity, in fact, there is a touch of this in all the recipes included in this cookbook.The most challenging part of compiling this book was calculating the ingredient measurements and weighing the amounts accurately. I don’t remember ever seeing my grandmother measure or weigh anything she cooked, she relied on - and with great success - in her excellent sense of smell, taste and vision. My father, who is still a good cook, cooks the same way (some of his recipes are included in this book). As this is a recipe book, it must include details on weights and measures, they should be taken as a starting point, it is not about exact formulas, everyone should find the right measure to their taste. When I cook for myself or for any guest, I usually use the same principle: to rely mainly on the senses, which are key in culinary art; If it smells good, tastes good, and looks good, that’s good to me! Cooking can be fun and enjoyable; I hope this book inspires and accompanies you in those good times. And don’t forget a good bottle of Chilean wine …!
