CULINARY EXPERTISE

 CULINARY EXPERTISE

Well- what is expertise is a subjective decision as no two persons see eye to eye on everything. Yet, there is a central line around which opinions tend to oscillate. The central line is the popular opinion or ‘taste’ in this issue. Successful experts readily satisfy ‘popular taste ‘and get to become the most sought after. I have been avoiding the term ‘cook’ to depict a culinary expert, ever since I read a statement by the then US President Nixon.  It read:                                                                                                                                                                            

‘Why not we name our cooks -‘culinary experts and our gardeners- Landscape engineers’ if it can eradicate any stigma attached to these professions’. It does make sense in that mere names of professions may confer a level of dignity on to certain functionaries.  I wouldn’t anyway settle for calling every cook –a culinary expert until [s]he is really one. Friends, I am not digressing, but trying to make a case for culinary expertise as an achievable target.

Certainly, no expertise is an accidental achievement. Most of it accrues by consistent and concerted effort. It applies to every act of achieving by practice. On what strength do I suggest so? Patiently recall how your sister or daughter has turned a brilliant cook, though till the day she was married, she had had very little ‘hands on training’ on cooking. How in a brief 2-3 months she gained control over the process and in the next couple of years has turned an expert. All that one need is to systematically approach the work and get to have a multi-dimensional expertise. The dimensions relate to use of minimum kitchen ware, time and taste management.

In my understanding, in cooking Indian delicacies, there is no rigid prescription of weighed or ‘measured’ quantities. Most of it is approximate but has to be appropriate in combination.   Look at our grocery components common in Indian kitchens across the country. These are Chillies dried / powdered , Turmeric dried / powdered, [manjal], Fenugreek [ vendhayam] dried/ powdered, Cumin seeds [jeerakam] , Mustard seeds [kadugu] Ajwain or ajowan [omam], Coriander seeds / powdered [ malli or dhaniya], Asafoetida  solid or powder, [perungaayam], Garlic [poondu] Ripe Tamarind [puli]and a few other spices . In all households, these are the most common items. At times Lemons join the list.

But, now please consider the question. The ingredients and basic procedure in making food items are the same. But, the product from every house is unique by taste and flavour. Most of them do taste well. How is it that for the same ingredients, so many ‘acceptable variants‘are made? If I am not mistaken, may I add that there are distinct genres like north Indian / South Indian recipes, besides some caste labels based on distinct flavor/ taste. It is a matter for detailed assessment. Still, it remains that raw materials are the same, but not the end products. There is that ‘all-too important’ procedure what gets to be called ‘protocol’ in laboratory manuals designed for studying functions. So, variation in steps, sequences of adding ingredients, adding of salt in one lot or in trickles and so on.  Invariably, a specificity called ‘personal touch’ determines the success and flavor each time. It is a magic beyond the realms of ‘recipes’.  So to say, ingredients must be brought into play, just at right stages, especially those of salt, spices and ‘seasoning’ components. When explained it appears cumbersome, but in practice it happens by routine - a routine which follows procedural precision each time. Long term experience reveals by ‘casual-looking’ execution, seldom revealing the mental alertness of the ‘expert’.

There has to be some logic behind the operational requirements. It stands to reason to believe that, essential minimum ingredients by volume can never be compromised with. Undue dumping of materials does not help taste or flavor. Right levels of ‘cooking’ of individual components in a preparation, is the most significant trigger in quality sustenance. Hasty and summary dumping of components in one stroke  can simply spoil the broth. ‘Beware’ --High flame cooking can flame up emotions of consumers. Slow and steady wins the race is an adage worth remembering as a cardinal directive for pleasant products from the kitchen. A straight forward strategy in cooking should be careful and intermittent additions of salt and water [especially for beginners]. It helps to maintain retrievable ground. Too much water or salt cannot be withdrawn from the broth. It is not wrong to assess taste during stages of ‘making’, so that minor corrections can always be done. Concentration during work is a safe bet in saving raw ingredients, fuel and arresting undue cooking by unattended oven.  Certainly, cooking is a highly personalized methodology which cannot be taught by printed procedures or guides. The name ‘culinary expert’ is justified for its wide-open scope for spoilage which can be perhaps saved only by ‘expertise’.

Prof. K. Raman