If you have ever watched one of the prolific and highly popular cookery competition shows on TV, you have probably envisioned scenes of the head chef shouting profanities, the clatter of the pans and the cutlery, the loud thuds of knives hitting the chopping boards and the sous chefs working in wild frenzy in front of blazing flames. Hell’s Kitchen, Top Chef, Iron Chef and all their British or American franchises are all reality competitive programs that show the drama and the atmosphere behind the swinging doors of the kitchen restricted to us. Who hasn’t trembled while watching Gordon Ramsay shout and swear at the lagging cook? Or maybe you think all the drama in the kitchen was just enacted to bring more ratings to the shows. Whatever the case, we at Living Magazine were curious to know what the atmosphere is like back in the kitchens of big restaurants. What goes on while we chat and laugh and wait impatiently for our food at our tables, often cursing for being served late?
“Raju! Have you stir fried the shrimps yet?” The head chef, Ajay Pudasaini, shouted from across the lavish bustling kitchen at Lobster’s Restaurant, Sherpa Mall to his sous chef. Raju who was sautéing potatoes in one pan and flipping an omelet in another looked up and said “They’re almost done, sir!” With a harassed expression, he turned his attention to the sizzling shrimps and gave them another stir with a huge wooden spatula. The head chef took a glance over his shoulder at the clock ticking relentlessly behind him and gave more orders to the cooks making them run around the kitchen in hubbub. He says, “There is always some level of chaos in the kitchen because the customers want the best food in the shortest time and we want them to be gastronomically satisfied.”
We found ourselves being jostled as the cooks and helpers dashed around to get the food ready as the orders popped up every 2-3 minutes. We had decided to get out of everyone’s way and had confined ourselves to one corner, watching their activities with bemused expressions. Pudasaini kindly invited us to watch as he cooked in the common area where Chicken Sizzler and Chopsuey were being prepared. He was making Wild Mushroom Risotto with sea food that we had asked him to prepare. It was a rare opportunity for us to see what the chef was preparing step by step before your own eyes at a restaurant.
In a kitchen, a cook does not work alone; and when it comes to an efficient kitchen like that of Lobster’s, the team work is seamless. The head chef started off by assembling all the ingredients required for the risotto neatly on the table, barking out orders to the helpers, who scurried off promptly according to his bidding. As one of the cooks reached into the giant refrigerator that was easily three times the size of the ones we have at home to get some ingredients, we managed to get a peek into it. It was huge and had different compartments for everything, jam packed with fresh food, from exotic ones like lobsters, salmon, and shrimps to ordinary ones like butter, wine, vegetables, eggs, asparagus, coriander, cheese, meat and fruits.
With everything set on the table: the salmon, asparagus, coriander, olives, onion, oil, shrimps, rice, butter, tomatoes and mushroom, he finally started to cook on what we of the untrained eye assumed to be a big, flat rectangular frying pan with no raised edges. He placed a slab of freshly skinned salmon onto the smooth hot surface which was already laced with oil. It frizzled and sputtered as he added wine with great flare. The wine, he explained as he expertly handled the heat and wild flames, gives intense flavor to the salmon. As he swiftly took the salmon out of the pan, another cook was preparing chicken sizzler which ‘sizzled’ even more, making our mouths water. He then heated some butter in a pan and added cooked rice to it. His consequent movements were so swift we couldn’t get hold of the steps. His hands flew as he added salt, pepper and cream. While all this time, there was a sous chef standing next to him with a glass of red wine, which he poured directly into the pan making the rice burst into flames. Our stomachs were churning with hunger as the tempting smell of savory cooking lingered in our nostrils. Since lobsters has an open kitchen, we saw some girls chattering in the lounge room and wondered what we would be doing if we weren’t inside the kitchen watching the whole show. A cook fried mushrooms and shrimps for the garnish next to us. Once the risotto was done, he assembled it and the fried mushrooms at the center of a white plate in a pretty round tower shape, topped with the salmon. We watched hungrily and impatiently as he garnished the dish with sautéed asparagus, green pepper seeds, carrot slices and a shrimp on top. He then drizzled a light sauce of tomatoes and garlic around the risotto with a flourish, and our stomachs rejoiced; our food was done!
But with our interesting journey into the mysterious world of cooks, we now understand and we know how much effort it takes to prepare food that is not only appreciated by the customers but food that pleases every sensory organ. And about the swearing part, give your curiosities a break, they don’t swear as much as Gordon Ramsay!
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