EACH FOOD HAS ITS OWN PAIR AMONG THE BREWS BUT THE BEER IS SPECIAL, IT CAN BE COMBINED WITH EVERY MEAL
Some say food is a gift from the gods. But the food is actually a gift from the great masters of the kitchen. During the first international culinary competition held in Skopje we had an opportunity to meet, and to our great satisfaction, to make an exclusive interview for Glass Full with Erich Glavica, current head of the kitchen of the German national football team and former personal chef of Niki Lauda. Born in Salzburg, his degree in culinary Glavica gains in Austria and more than 30 years he is actively engaged in this profession while his biggest gastronomic inspiration are still the delicious meals of his mother and his favorite recipe that she often prepared, beef in marjoram sauce. Today he lives in Croatia but the work brings him to various countries of the world. He participates in gastronomic festivals and cooking Olympiads, and in parallel successfully lead kitchens of 7 hotels where he often cooks even for the world most famous politicians.
Why cooking as a profession? Where does the love for cooking comes from?
I love cooking as of my early childhood. I often watched my mother and my grandmother while they were preparing food in the kitchen, all homemade and delicious, sweets and salty food. But I somehow become more interested in sweets. From them I learned the secrets of the perfect cakes such as the famous Esterhazy cake and the widely known Sacher cake. Later I worked in Sacher, which for me was a perfect life experience.
What is your favorite food?
Except that I cook, I’m a great gourmet. I enjoy equally when I prepare and when I eat the food. I love pasta, chicken with garlic, beef, black olives, feta cheese and the aromatic spices, without the spices a meal can not even be imagine.
What do you usually cook?
I literally cook everything. I prepare various dishes and I often make experiments …. cold and hot appetizers, soups and stews, foie, meat in all possible ways and many else. But still with a special pleasure I make sweets.
You visit Macedonia for the first time. What do you know about the Macedonian cuisine?
It is my first in Macedonia, but I heard a lot for the Macedonian cuisine. On the recommendation of the hosts, I tried homemade ajvar. You really have a national specialty that you should be proud of.
The food is always combined with some brew. People say, each food has its own pair among the brews. What is a perfect food pair that goes with beer? Do you ever use the beer as an ingredient when preparing a meal?
True, each food has a pair among the drinks. But the beer is a special. From my experience beer can be combined with any type of meal; fish and meat, sweets and salty dishes and always to provide a different “flavor” of the food. As for the beer as an ingredient in cooking, it can be invaluable, especially when cooking a meat. If you want to get a nice, crunchy crust, put a beer over the meat. Not only that will give a crunchy crust, but also a special gold-copper color so that the meat will also look great.
Do you use the beer as an ingredient when you make some sweets, do you have a favorite recipe?
Of course, the beer is great ingredient in chocolate desserts and my favorite recipe is exactly like that, Bomboniere with dark beer.
You have a really great life and culinary experience. What would you recommend to young people who would choose cooking as their life vocation?
Cooking is a profession that should be work with a lot of passion and creativity. If they recognize it in themselves, they should certainly choose it for a life profession. But what is most important, as well as for any other profession in life, they must constantly learn and upgrade themselves.
