Blogger loves to cook, share recipes

As a child, Leon Konieczny loved to cook, frequently assisting his mom bake cookies or spending time in the kitchen with his grandmother and aunts stirring up delicious food in the summer. Yet, in 1998 he discovered cooking shows and his interest then turned to passion.

"As the oldest child in my family, I remember helping my mother, mostly with baking cookies and the like," he said. "But, about 1998 or so I discovered cable TV and Food Network. First there was Emeril Lagasse. I enjoyed his showmanship. But then, along came Alton Brown and Good Eats. He was quirky but also pays attention to the 'science' of cooking. Since my bachelor degree was in the science field and I’ve always been a bit of an analytic type of person, this was a natural fit for me. I started watching all of his shows and trying many of his recipes and I was hooked."

Although Konieczny has never been enrolled in a cooking class he cited that he has found the internet to be  "a treasure-trove of information, for better or worse." He added, " I suppose in a way my early 'cooking classes' were mostly Food Network shows, Emeril, Alton Brown and Good Eats, Mario Batalli, Tyler Florence, and Bobby Flay. Now my main course is Triple-D, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives which I watch over and over. I learn technique and skills there, then try it out on my own. There are no recipes so it drives me to experiment more. And, I have been a long-time subscriber to Cook’s Illustrated. They are chock-full of interesting techniques and technical explanations of why things work the way they do, plus I love their product reviews."

He chuckled as he shared that although his background before 1990 included a manager position with McDonalds for several years but he did learn a few "technical aspects of food and cooking" as well as the safe handling practices, "clean as you go" to "the quality, service and value triangle" that includes good restaurant management and employee skills.

Elaborating on his cooking, he said, "For me it is creativity and the science of it, I guess. I started out primarily doing baking—you precisely measure and throw a bunch of ingredients in a bowl, you stir, mix, beat, you put in a pan of some sort, sometimes in a particular order, and usually apply heat and it transforms into something different—and delicious. But later I branched out and now I rarely bake. For me now the focus is cooking, taking what’s been done before but doing it better, doing it my way, and doing it with flavors I find work the best. A lot of it is still experimentation, but controlled experiments—I know a tomato is really a fruit, but I know better than to put it in a fruit salad

Having something I cook turn out looking great, smelling good, and tasting awesome. I like being able to transform a bunch of ingredients, taking them from their raw, natural state, manipulating them, and having the result be something totally different than the individual pieces."

Konieczny and his partner of 8 years are very involved in many Sanford activities. He joked that he "currently sleeps in his home in Lake Mary, but 'lives' in Sanford and will soon break ground on a new home in the Sanford Historic District." It was at an event for the Sanford Art Walk that he cooked and people raved about his food. He and his partner also belonged to a monthly group and attendees regularly anticipated what dish he would bring to share. They recently attended the Sanford Citizen's Academy, is on the Board of Directors of the Sanford Historic Trust, is on the committee for the Sanford Art Walk, involved with Movie Classics on Magnolia and a member of the new Sanford Camera Club, entering his photography in the Sanford Art Walk. 

His creations are called "Central Florida's Good Eats" and can be viewed at http://lakemaryfoodcritic.blogspotcom/. He also shared a few of his favorite recipes.

 

Blue-Be-Que Chicken Tacos can be found on his blog at http://lakemaryfoodcritic.blogspot.com/2010/06/blue-be-q-chicken-tacos.html.

Deep-Fried Turkey Dinner with Beer Gravy can also be found on his blog at  http://lakemaryfoodcritic.blogspot.com/2009/08/deep-fried-turkey-dinner-....

Bishops Bread recipe is at http://lakemaryfoodcritic.blogspot.com/2009/12/bishops-bread.html.

Stuffed Pierogi at  http://poland.leonkonieczny.com/blog/?p=800.

A honeyed vodka Polish drink, called Krupnik at  http://lakemaryfoodcritic.blogspot.com/2010/12/krupnik.html.