Today was "photographer" day; we needed to have all the dishes ready by 2pm, so the professional food photographer could take pictures to hand out to the press. I arrived at 9.30 and went straight into breakfast mode. No way was I going to survive today on a cheese bite and a slice of peanut butter toast.
Chef was in Ramsay mode today - and quite rightly.Perfection or perfection and nothing less for the photos. It was fascinating to watch/listen/learn from a real pro.
I'm under no illusions that I'm anything other than a home cook who just loves one particular type of cuisine (Indian) and I was chuffed that he absolutely loved the flavours, the seasonings and the originality of the dishes. When he plated, however, I was just way out of my league (I'm lousy plating food). When I get the photos, I'll post them.
I actually cooked a Hyderabadi aubergine dish called baingan ka salaan ( the sauce has coconut, peanuts, tamarind, palm sugar and about 10 different spices) and a Tamil Nadu dish called muttakos sambhar ( basically a soupy dish with pigeon peas (toovar dal), cabbage, tomatoes and onion). Had to cut back seriously on the chile peppers, but there you go! Ended the day making raita, green chutney and a sweet called shrikand (hung yoghurt, almonds, pistachios, pineapple, cardamom seeds).
Definitely a fun day for me where I witnessed first hand the intensity of a professional kitchen at a very high level.