Monday, March 1, 2010

Anyone Can Cook (eggs)

I wanted to be a chef 10 years ago, not just a chef but the greatest chef. I idolized Gordon Ramsay of the Hell’s Kitchen fame (though there was no Hell's Kitchen then) and asked frequently for Escoffier's blessings. I could differentiate my consommé from the other clear soups and could rattle off the names of the french mother sauces and their derivatives and come up with a quick menu in no time; let me pause for a quick breath here.

Things have changes since then; now I am just a plain egg cook (not even a chef). I see changes in myself too; starting from appearance to my outlook (pun intended). Nobody knows this has been an extraordinary year for me (how would anyone know until I shout). I have stopped doing extra and ordinary work completely at home and at work place also. I spend less time in office, less time eating, less time sleeping and more traveling, talking and dreaming.

After a recent visit to see my brother, the dormant chef in me seems to have awakened (I helped fix dinner for his house warming party). Since then I have being doing rounds of the stores in town for the appropriate (read unnecessary expensive) kitchen tools and utensils to satisfy my culinary and gourmet aspiration. The other day, I nearly bought a knife set work Rs/-12,000 - don't sigh there were more expensive one too.

Today, I tried cooking biryani needless to say it turned out a better and improved version of the pullav (What were you thinking? I am more than a decent cook.). And en route to office, I even conjured up images of myself doing the best of food.

Let's see what I am good at.

- Tea (nobody can make better than me)
- Coffee (quick fix in 2 mines)
- Eggs (my repertoire range from scramble to sunny side up)
- Pullav (most of the times it turns out to be finger licking good)
- Maggi (trust me, it requires special skills to conjure the right kind - not too soupy not too dry)

What would be my next step..


1. Read and compare recipes
2. Try the best of recipes and improvise
3. Throw a lunch for unsuspecting friends
4. Standardize the recipe after few of these lunch trials
5. Share the recipe with friends and family
6. Volunteer to cook for them on special occasions
7. Get rated and evaluated
8. Walk around with air

But then when do I get to eat and relish the good food?; maybe never.
Stop chef stop.

Bye bye dream. I am happy being an egg cook.

4 comments:

Samantha said...

This one is a good read!!! enjoyed reading the cook in you....

Anonymous said...

Good read mate !! Keep em coming :)

Anonymous said...

I can bet dat u r better Chef den being a blogger ,writer or a poet. This blog is d testimony 2 d fact dat d Chef inside u is still alive.....!!! So keep cooking,,,,,,,!!!!!!!!

Kamal Sharma said...

Thx. I always look for some (insider) motivation.