Combination Cooking So far in this series, we have talked about cooking techniques involving water and fat. This time, we will conclude the series and explore the realm of combination cooking, a loose term that encompasses all dishes that involve both water and fat as cooking media, which actually includes most Bengali dishes. A small…
Author: Utsav
Part-time radiologist, full-time foodie
Bengali Cooking Techniques (Part 2)
Cooking With Fat In Part 1 of our Bengali cooking trilogy, we discussed the moist-heat cooking techniques in the Bengali kitchen. This time, we will take a look at the techniques of cooking with fat. Before we start, it is necessary to clear out some terminology. Dry-heat cooking with fat basically refers to cooking with…
Bengali Cooking Techniques (Part 1)
The Wet and the Dry Chef Bill Briwa of the Culinary Institute of America claims that there are four primary cooking techniques: dry heat cooking with fat, dry heat cooking without fat, moist heat cooking and combination cooking. He claims that everything we do in the kitchen to transform foods falls into one of these…
A Taste of Bengal : Bitter
We’ve discussed quite a lot about bitterness already, in our FATS series and our Not Too Sweet series. This time, we will begin our exploration of Bengali home cooking by looking at the role in bitterness in Bengali cuisine. Bitterness is an important component of the Bengali cook’s arsenal. The resourceful Bengali knows how to…
Lockdown, Bong Eats and Rediscovery
For those of you who don’t know me personally, I’m a doctor with a passion for food. I am what most people would call a “foodie”, although I’m not a huge fan of the label. I love to eat, no doubt, but that is just part of it. I actually love all aspects of food;…
The Dalgona Craze
Jung Il-Woo, an actor from South Korea was visiting Macao, where he was served a strange beverage which reminded him of a confection from his childhood; an airy, melt-in-the-mouth candy. Similar to honeycomb in the West, the Koreans call it ppopgi or dalgona. It is a streetside treat popularised in the 1970s and 80s made…
Hakka Noodles and Chilli Chicken
Ask the average Indian to list the names of cuisines and Chinese cuisine is almost always likely to be the second item in the list, just after Indian. Indeed, Chinese cuisine is a big thing in India; although what we call Chinese is very different from traditional Chinese fare. Our version of Chinese is in…
The Rooh Journey (Part 2)
Last time, we started our journey at Rooh by exploring nine out of the fourteen courses of their amazing tasting menu, ending with the sorbet. If you haven’t read it already, check it out here. Well, its time to get going again. The next dish was another tribute to the South. Titled Prawns : Sixty-five,…
The Rooh Journey (Part 1)
Last week, we did an in-depth dissection of one of the dishes from the tasting menu of Rooh in Mehrauli (check it out here). In this week and the next, we will explore the tasting menu as a whole. If you’re unfamiliar with the concept of a tasting menu, you might want to check out…
Rustic Meets Trendy (Part 2)
Aloo Parantha, Dahi aur Achaar Striking the right balance between tradition and innovation can be tricky indeed, especially when you’re trying to revamp a classic. You need to be able to apply your vision to the dish so that it becomes undeniably yours, yet stay within a certain limit so that it is still recognizable…
The Gourmet Glutton 