Kitchen next to Godliness:Chef Ajay Sood

Graduated from IHM Mumbai, Ajay is attached to the Hospitality field for over 44 years. He retired as Senior Executive Chef from Taj Group of Hotels. His objective is to spread and implement the importance of food safety. He strongly believes that communication and timely training is the key to any success. His views on the kitchen are as follows.

What is your first impression when you hear the word 'Kitchen'?

Kitchen is the site of Worship. This is the place where you start your day with full earnestness and enthusiasm. This is the place where you develop your talent and where you do justice to your existence. It is next to Godliness…!!

What is the importance of the kitchen in your day-to-day life?

Though I am not from a hotelier family, the very fact that once I decided to join the catering industry and opted for the Chef's job, kitchen became an integral part of my life.I considered it as a pious place that would be giving me my bread and butter. Yes, initially I felt life being tough and tiring, but gradually I started enjoying the activities and felt that this is the place where I can develop a great career, develop my creativity, show my talent and prove my worthiness. As time passed Kitchen became an integral part of my life.

What do you have to say on the gradual development of the concept of working kitchen when you started your career and now?

Well, when I started way back in 1976, not much importance was given to the hotel industry as a career. There was very less demand and obviously less supply with just 4-5 catering colleges. Not many opted for this career and, moreover, the kitchen was not a place. Nobody knew what a Chef was. He was just a Rasoia or a Bawarchee… Working parameters were also just average with very basic amenities. It's only by looking towards a few senior stalwarts who were doing well in the kitchen field that we got inspired to join food production to make an exciting career.Now, a Chef is a Chef… shining in his Whites, well recognized in the society who has an exciting and a successful career ahead. He has lots of opportunities and there are many avenues open to develop his career, be it Airlines, Cruise, Shipping, Institutional catering, Hospitals, Retail and venture into as an entrepreneur… 

What is the most challenging job in the kitchen in your opinion?

Nowadays with changing trends, the biggest challenge for a chef is to avoid attrition and retain the good talented staff that he possesses. It's become a tiring effort to retain the good talent and ensure he can hire some good experienced deserving, quality conscious chefs for his organization. Assuring good quality food to the guests is the main objective.

How do you maintain hygiene and cleanliness in the Kitchen?

Training and communication are the two key factors. Training the staff at all levels in respect to Kitchen hygiene, Food hygiene and food safety, following the defined SOPs, ensuring their 100% adherence are most important. Our Flight Kitchen was the first to get HACCP certified. Hence following the required SOPs at all levels, at different stages of food production, Documenting the observations, holding safety audits at all times were very important in assuring 100% food safety.

Tell us about the safety features of your kitchen.

Since our kitchen was HACCP and ISO 22000 certified, we had 100% compliance with all the food safety measures. All the Critical control points in the process of food preparations were identified and procedures set to follow them. Foremost, the kitchen layout is done with utmost care to avoid cross contamination of cooked and raw food, reverse passage of garbage etc.Food temperatures at various stages were checked and monitored to meet the required norms.Food exposure was allowed only up to the time permitted. The cooking core temperatures were checked to be not below 72° C. And all food cooked was passed through the blast chillers and blast freezers to lower the temperatures to 2° C in the least time of exposure.Food hygiene, staff grooming, sanitization of the areas, avoiding cross contamination of cooked and raw ingredients, usage of proper headgear, using food grade gloves while handling cooked food, sanitizing all raw material non veg and veg were strictly followed as per the HACCP norms.Timely Vendor audits are carried out and lab test reports are reviewed. Food safety is a full fledged subject and I wish we can discuss this at length sometime.

Which method of cooking do you pursue in your kitchen, traditional or modern?

As a chef I still believed in adopting our traditional cooking methods to a large extent. I never relied on convenience food but preferred to do in house preparations, making our own Garam masala combinations, Sambar masala etc. We used to follow the traditional methods but yes, sometimes slightly modified. For example preparing Dum Biryani in our Brad Pans, using traditional marinades for all our Indian food and kebabs. For western food items we had to follow the modern techniques, usage of combi ovens etc.

Do you have a penchant for using new technology gadgets in your kitchen? Have you added any lately?

Ours was a flight kitchen of International standards catering to various Airlines.In order to meet the food safety norms we had to select modern techniques. We had to procure combi ovens, brad pans, gas tandoor for mass cooking, and matching the international standards of modern cooking. Use of Rotary Ovens in our Bakery has been done for the last 25 years or so.In order to maintain Temperature SOPs, we were using Blast Chillers to lower the Temperature of cooked food to less than 2° C within 90 minutes. Also use of heat sealing machines for packing the meal casserole was very much in use.Perhaps, recently we are engaged towards Sue vide cooking too. 

Describe the role of the trained staff in your kitchen? Do you face any specific challenges in hiring the desired staff?

To meet the quality standards towards food preparations and the food safety norms, it is very essential to hire competent staff. Today, the administrative demands are also much on the increase whereby AI plays a vital role. Use of computerized gadgets for Maintaining the SOPs, requisitioning the raw material, usage of computerized kitchen equipment, Brad Pans etc…it becomes imperative that good trained staff is available. Gone are those days when kitchens were operated by Khansamas, and Maharajs. All in all, yes trained chefs are indeed required, but as a matter of fact, the true quality of food is possible only with traditional hand- on cooks and Halwais.IHMs are churning out good chef materials, and can be hired through campus selection. However, a matter to be accepted, Chefs job is not being taken seriously by the new breed of young talent.It's getting difficult for the organizations to hire competent, good trained chefs. Hence the way out is through mouth to mouth advertisement and seeking the references through known personalities and resources.

Frozen foods are becoming popular now-a-days. What are your views on Frozen Foods?

Yes, with changing trends, relying on frozen foods and convenience foods is on the rapid increase. Availability of non-seasonal products at cost effective prices has become a norm. Though the second thought is towards sustainability and local products too.Frozen products assure you of food safety and much more effective standards of quality products, availability for more months in any calendar period. Frozen chicken for that matter is more acceptable than using the fresh butchered poultry from local markets. The birds are well monitored, sanitized and well bred. Frozen vegetables are not much accepted due to change in their texture and consistency, and thus the changes in their taste etc.

What are the different sources of inspiration that you look up to while designing the menu of the restaurant and buffet? How frequently do you change the same?

Menu of any organization, depicts its mood and fashion. It takes into account the current needs of the clientele, the fresh trends, the prevailing fashion etc..Once again, I being attached to a major flight catering organization and meeting the demands of over 22000 guests daily, we had to ensure menu changes to break the monotony, set in fresh innovations, and take the seasonal changes and local availabilities into consideration. It would also help in streamlining the pricing factors to a large extent. Changing eating habits, for example, moving towards dry kebabs, non-oily products, low on sugar. We could incorporate a lot of variations in the menu combinations.Thus menus had to be planned on a quarterly basis with uplifts changing on every day or alternate days. 

What are the essential health and lifestyle trends prevailing now-a-days that you like to incorporate in the kitchen?

Guests are more health and calorie conscious, with most of them being cardio and blood pressure victims. Hence due thoughts have to be given to such intakes so that meals are with lesser fat, low on calories. More lentils and millets and some super food items need to be incorporated. We chefs have been on the journey of sustainability and slow food. Hence it becomes of utmost importance that these concepts are implemented with full earnestness. My personal opinion is that salt and sugar are the main culprits, we chefs should try to deviate from incorporating sugar and desserts and reduce the salt intake. Vegetables have their own salt content, so emphasis more on them. Use more fresh fruits and fruit coli's for the natural sugars. And, use more local products and avoid off season and long distance products.

More and more people are becoming calorie conscious. Keeping the statement in mind, what are the dessert trends followed in the restaurants?

As I mentioned, Sugar is the greatest enemy of mankind leading to many dreadful illnesses. We should discourage the use of sugar as much as possible. Use fresh fruits, juices, fruit coli's etc., or sugar free to some extent. Though I have not seen any remarkable changes in desserts so far.

Ingredients play an important role in food preparation. Do you prefer using local ingredients in your preparations? How do you select the vendors?

Go Vocal for Local… is the latest saying of the Chefs community. Sustainability, being environment friendly and reducing wastage has been of foremost importance. We chefs need to push the usage of local products to the maximum. Avoid long distance transportations and encourage the local farms.Vendors from our own region close by should be encouraged. Assist them in their cultivation and growing their products. Encourage using them in your menus etc.However, vendors also should be more conscious of their supplies and be more reliable and responsible. Timely and good quality supplies through them is very essential for the success of any chef's organization. 

What is your criteria for selecting the utensils? Is there any specific brand that you use more than others?

Aaaa, good durable cost effective goods is the key factor. They should be easy to handle and easy to maintain, non-corrosive in nature. Many brands are available in the market today.

Throw some light on the selection of crockery and cutlery?

In aviation catering, it's the experience of a Gourmet in the sky and with a set up to match any star restaurant, in terms of crockery cutlery and service standards.First class and Business class have full sophistication with use of Royal Dolton and premium class Bone China. For the Economy class, considering the weight factor, good class easy to handle Teflon coated disposals are recommended. It helps in maintaining hygiene and food safety .However, in some instances Airlines prefer to use recyclable melamine and porcelain casseroles of good class. This helps in reheating the meals conveniently. 

Which are the upcoming cuisines in focus?

Eating habits are like fashion and new trends keep changing. People at large like to experiment with food. Chinese, Lebanese, Thai etc…. and now the great desire is towards Korean and Japanese meals. Guests have accepted these cuisines to a great fancy.

Do you conduct food festivals? How do you decide on a particular theme? Do you think that regional cuisines are a good theme?

Organizing food festivals is a great as well as an exciting activity   which is also considered a mode of marketing for attracting increased foot fall. It enhances add-on to the variety of food and an opportunity for the guest to experiment with fresh food choices.All in all, our Indian regional food is the best… and we Chefs have this responsibility of globalizing our Indian Regional foods. We should patronize such lost recipes in our establishments and market them to the fullest. They may not be easy to sell, but we need to emphasize their importance and their Ayurveda intakes wherever possible. 

Do you agree that there is a need to change the curriculum of culinary courses in India?

IHMs and various catering institutes in India have been imparting a very similar curriculum that was in existence some 3 and 4 decades back. Yes we have to change with the times and incorporate studies that gel with present times, fresher trends, newer technology, Fresher AI etc. Cooking methods using fresher gadgets and equipment needs to be introduced. But at the same time, I feel Catering institutes are a place that help in developing the base foundation of any fresh budding student. And, as such they should be focusing on making the foundation of knowledge strong. Further development and polishing of these students should be the responsibility of the hospitality organizations that hire them. Let them groom the new entrants as per their requirements.

What are your views on framing the curriculum designed especially for Indian food?

Catering institutes should focus on the Basics and make their foundation strong.Focus more on our traditional methods of cooking, marinating, grinding masalas etc. cook more regional dishes, and learn the authenticity of our traditional recipes. Talking about developing a career in the kitchen, students need to focus much more on hands-on activities and many more practical sessions…not mere demos and simple group cooking. Budgets and other hassles are faced by the colleges, but they have to come out of it. Create their own resources and budgets.

India is extremely diversified whereas its food culture is concerned. What according to you is the scope of popularizing Indian regional cuisines across the globe?

India has a very vast culture, with many traditions and customs. It has varying food habits and cuisines that change after every 100 miles. We chefs have to focus on incorporating these important hidden recipes and those famous popular food items in a big way. Ensure that they are marketed well, guests are made aware of their flavors and aromas. Perhaps, a slight twist can be accepted to meet the foreign palette. And sure with these efforts Indian Cuisine will be well ahead.

How do you define your 'Dream Kitchen'.

Kitchen is the workshop of Worship. It inspires us to perform and show our talent of creativity and innovations. We should treat it as a pious and a religious place. Kitchen should always be Clean, spike n span, without any clutter. Enter with a neat and clean mind and cook with love and Passion.

(This story has been published under arrangement from Better Kitchen magazine)