CAPTAIN COOK -II

 CAPTAIN COOK --II       

Captains carry immense responsibility of providing the ‘best’ food as per the menu agreed upon. They know to make the best use of expertise available in the town. They may even engage select experts to make specific items –delicacies in general demand and popularity. Besides they know the tricks of preparing items according to the number of guests on a session. Also, they readily substitute items for any shortfall in quantity during a session. Without batting an eye lid the captain would plunge into action like ‘damage- control’ or ‘replace a specific dish which got exhausted due to avid consumption by guests. However, later –arriving guests are taken care of with suitable substitute of a dish quickly pressed into service by all-too alert captain who keeps tight vigil over needs and replacements.

It is a delight to watch the captain and his team at work. Not without reason the captain plays a lead role. He knows to estimate the level of food consumption as a function of time and is always ready to retrieve the balance in supply –demand chain. Besides, these captains ensure that the men, second in command are as good in decision-making and execution of the exercise of culinary organization. They keep a tight control over the production rate of dishes based on the consumption rate of them.  At no point of time the captain or his men look bewildered or exhausted. They have a systematic sequence in work. There are works parallel in execution like grinding some ingredients, boiling certain items like component vegetables for an item and so on. On and off, the lead cooks in the group [at least 2 are around] monitor the taste of each item at the critical stage to ensure palatable quality.  In fact, different stages of preparation are handled by different persons, who are at different levels of hierarchy in the captain’s team. The higher level functionaries are more authoritative by experience and can participate in any stage of work. They also co-ordinate the work of lower level functionaries and get the work done in the right sequence.

If we manage to visit a marriage kitchen hours before the dining time, things appear to be in pell-mell; that is because, various items are through different stages of preparation. Once ready, the dishes are kept in large vessels. Prior to beginning a session of serving the dishes, the top men in the team in discreetly assess the number of guests and the volume of feeding material on hand ; then they signal the lower level workers to arrange for distribution. All these operate at the signal from the ‘leader’.

Prior to these steps, one should watch captain at work. Captains always keep stock of boiling water; it is a working scheme that readily helps them to enhance the quantum of dish[es], divert to some other dish and also quickly prepare a certain volume of additional rice for serving. Captain never panics at all. He quickly takes from rice in a vessel and adds rice and boiling water and lets it cook for 2-4 minutes; abruptly he rolls out a fresh palm leaf meat and spreads the already cooked rice; to this, he adds the newly made semi cooked rice   and rolls up the mat into a cylinder and ties it up with a strong thread;  keeps it for 5 minutes or so. The heat of the cooked rice makes the semi cooked rice get cooked under the intimacy of heat in a rolled up vest. In no time, fresh hot rice is ready for serving. No guest ever feels that [s]he had to wait for food.

The artistry of work

 Captain stays a few feet away from the raging fire from the oven. Cooks use large vessels to prepare items in sufficient volume. Captain uses his skill of compounding a dish by adding suitable volumes of ingredients and spices, besides salt or sugar as the case could be. Standing where he has been  the captain gathers the material in handfuls [uses both this hands like a bowl] and tosses the stuff in to the correct vessel with the accuracy of legendary wicket keepers. The stuff lands where it should. Then he signals the assistant to go about mixing the recipe as it boils and later, like a ‘man possessed’ he gets near the brawl,  lifts a little quantity on a spoon and delivers it on his outer fist and waits a minute for it to cool and quickly sniffs it recognize the features of flavour, blending and the degree of cooking; now he rapidly makes amends if need be. For all key dishes, the captain personally pays attention. The assurance with which they go about has certain working practices which ensure high degree of success. For instance, these cooks never use ready-made powders. They use raw materials and hand-pound them with heavy pestle-like stones and use the broken fragments; fractioned items render captivating flavour to the dish.  Also, they reserve the garnishing exercise to the final stage, just prior to serving. Now,  a small question. Women manage these activities daily. But, when large scale handling and high volume output are required, only men take over the work. Why?  Probably managing volumes and mega vessels and tackling emergencies are the forte of men. Salute the captains who help us sustain our social esteem in all celebrations.

Prof .K. Raman