'I get Hungry When I hear the word Kitchen': Chef Anees Khan

Graduated from IHM Chennai, Anees found himself in the patisserie kitchen rather than hot kitchen within a year of starting his career. He trained under the Swiss Master Pastry Chef Beat Loffel, who showed exquisite and fine pastry skills, spurred an interest to make a career in patisserie. He started premium catering company Star Anise which supplies high end desserts and freshly baked breads. Also undertakes the niche catering services to corporate, diplomatic missions and large weddings. Here are his recited views on the kitchen.

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

Food, cooking, baking… I honestly get hungry when I hear the word 'Kitchen'.

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

Kitchen has been a source of my bread and butter since 1997. Kitchen has taught me dedication, hard work and to be patient and be passionate.

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

Back then we had to solely rely on our experience, books and seniors for any guidance when working from kitchens. It was a slow and gradual process to learn and implement processes and recipes. It's a different scenario now wherein one can use advanced cooking and baking techniques and state of the art technology in equipment's. The cooks and chefs now have large information on their fingertips in the form of mobile phones. Recipes, techniques and processes are explained in detail on the internet and this has helped chefs to evolve multifold over the years.

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

Availability of best quality ingredients constantly and the availability of experienced and knowledgeable staff.

How do you maintain hygiene and cleanliness in the Kitchen?

We believe in “Clean as you go” mantra in all our kitchens. Every staff cleans his work place, small operating equipment's and his table. We also have outsourced kitchen stewarding staff who continuously keeps cleaning pot wash, doors, walls, walk-ins and other large operating equipment's.

Tell us about the safety features of your kitchen.

Ours is a fire compliant kitchen and bakery with fire and smoke sensors. There are fire extinguishers in every part of the kitchen & bakery. The staff are sensitized about the safety aspect of operating ovens, gar ranges, deep fat fryers and mixers.

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

Both methods. For Indian cooking we use the age-old tradition of slow cooking, tandoor and barbeque. When it comes to modern cooking, we use sous vide, slow roasting, steaming and rapid cooking and baking in turbo chef ovens.

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

I love to smoke my food and hence the usage of smoking guns. Besides the tweezers & syringes, we also have a dehydrator in our pantry to use fruits and veggies in a dried form as garnishes.

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

Retaining trained staff has been a challenge for us on a daily basis. Since our industry is still unorganized, poaching of staff is quite common. We always have backup staff for that emergency. Hiring qualified and trained staff has been difficult post pandemic since most of the staff have switched professions or have still not returned from their home towns.

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

I try to play around seasonal availabilities and rely on fresh produce. However, food products like rhubarb, berries etc that are not native to India always find a place in my freezer. We also keep a backup of ready to eat frozen snacks for the last-minute guest requests.

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?

Guest profile, seasonal availability and requirements is of paramount importance when planning a menu for our cafes and patisseries. We do have weekly specials and then the monthly specials for e.g seasonal specials like strawberries, mango, lychee etc. Luckily Mumbai gets a lot of fresh veggies from around India catering to all segments of the society.

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

“Simple foods with a single 'flavor dimension'...don't take as much brain power or comprehension as dishes consisting of multiple flavor components (such as sweet, salty, bitter)”. I would want to get simple and everyone's favourite snacks or food to the table wherein our guests will feel normal and make them feel happy. Plant based foods and mock meats are trending these days and we have tried to incorporate them in our menu's as well with a good success rate.

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

We have a segment called keto & healthy desserts in our menu's. Right from sugar free to gluten free to vegan to keto, there's a good choice for our guests.

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

As stated earlier, I am always game for fresh produce weather its seafood, meats, veggies, fresh fruits or dairy products. This season we have brought around 600 kgs of fresh strawberries from Mahabaleshwar supporting the farm to fork theory and in turn helping the farmers getting a good price for their produce. We have loyal and good quality vendors for 10-15 years; they have delivered the best of the produce and we have supported them by aligning with them for our supplies.

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

For baking, we as a company have invested in good large operating equipment since they have been tried and tested. Baking is an expensive business and we need to carefully invest in good equipment that would last for 10-15 years at least. Good quality equipment would last longer and would not give you a headache of frequent breakdowns resulting in the loss of man hours and productivity.

Throw some light on the selection of crockery and cutlery?

Major chunk of a restaurant F&B budget goes in getting very good crockery and cutlery. You want to have crockery that is durable, presentable, dish wash safe and not too heavy to carry by the service staff. I generally go for white or black since the food and its components are highlighted and look loud on the plate.

Which are the upcoming cuisines in focus?

Regional food is picking big time. Innovative food & beverages that would offer mental and emotional well-being that will create a new foundation for healthy eating.

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

We do have weekly specials, food festivals such as mango and strawberry promotions and seasonal specialties as per the availability. Regional cuisines are certainly finding a place as themes in various restaurants and hotels.

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

This is a question that has impressed me the most. Time and again we industry professionals feel the need to upgrade our culinary school syllabus because its obsolete and not at all in sync with current and modern demands. The industry has had a sea change and it's high time that the students are taught current trends.

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

India is such a vast country with so much food all around it. If someone wants to dedicate himself/herself just for Indian cuisine, then there is a need to have a curriculum that focuses only on Indian cuisines, there is so much India has to offer. This could be a game changer and we might see so many students becoming chef entrepreneurs with the knowledge at hand.

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?

We as chefs are the true ambassadors for our cuisines. I come from Odisha and I would go any length to popularize food and sweets from Odisha. This should start from culinary schools at an early stage and there needs to be a proper curriculum dedicated for regional cuisines. There are cuisines waiting to be found, cuisines that are not popular because industry professionals don't talk about it the way they should. Social media is an excellent platform to showcase unique food of India which would help spread its popularity across state borders.

How do you define your 'Dream Kitchen'.

Clean floors, well-lit place, hygienic work tables, equipment in top shape, sharp knives and a good working atmosphere is a definition of a dream kitchen for me.

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