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Friday, September 07, 2012

Wine - The Secret Ingredient

Cooking with Wine. The photo above says it all. Till 26th August, food and wine pairing meant serving wine with food. In fact, in my previous experience of wine tasting, I had learnt that wines could be paired with Indian dishes too, and that was surprising enough. I was invited to a Live Cooking session at Cheri One Qutub at Mehrauli organized by Four Seasons and Team Gingerclaps along with a few fellow bloggers, friends, photoghraphers and wine enthusiasts. What could be a better composition?
With a glass of excellent white wine, we started the event. Mr Shailendra Rahul, General Manager of Cheri introduced Mr Abhay Kewadkar, Business Head of Four Seasons and Chef Raman Kohli. It could be the wine, or the cloudy-breezy atmosphere in the lovely outdoor courtyard of the restaurant, that formalities were done away with. Mr Kewadkar urged us to forget all the showbiz, and "eat what we like and drink what we enjoy"!! 

We gathered around Chef Raman, an incredibly young guy for the experience he has, and he encouraged us to use wine in cooking. With tips coming in from Mr Abhay, we learnt how to deglaze the wine and cook a fabulous preparation of scallops.

The rains were about to play foul, so we shifted indoors, but not before we had gobbled off the scallops. The L- shaped interiors have been designed around the courtyard and looks very classy with its prim, dimly lit look and massive bar. I must say that Cheri is a beautiful place to go, relax and enjoy: the outdoors, including the terrace, is as inviting as the mystical interiors.

We tasted Red Wine with some delicious food coming in from the kitchen. The youngest contestant of Master Chef Australia, Ankita had also joined us. Already tipsy, we were chatting gleefully with each other and we almost missed Raman joining us back again.

This time, he made a chicken preparation with wine and cream - needless to say that it was wonderful.

Last but not the least, we had dessert (yummy cheese cakes) with another red variety, Rose Wine.

I leave you a teaser in the composition, which shows the scallops, empty and filled glasses!


 Next time you have the chance to have a dish prepared by me, you can guess the secret ingredient that has gone into it !!

Photocredits: Arvind Passey, Sushmita Sarkar, V J Sharma (Travellingcamera) and myself. 


14 comments:

R. Ramesh said...

super post boss:)

My Unfinished Life said...

yes, it was fun over wines and food.. :)

http://sushmita-smile.blogspot.in/

amit ganguly said...

Cooking with Wine is essentially very tasty indeed.
Interesting post.

SG said...

You must be a sommelier.

On pairing of wine with Indian food, my personal preference is to go with a lower alcohol level. Indian food is spicy. Lower alcohol level will complement the spiciness.

Anupama K. Mazumder said...

@Ramesh,
Thanks dear.

@Star,
Indeed!!

@Amit,
Couldn't agree more!

@SG,
Yes... some compliment the spices, some the tanginess.. and day by day, I am getting convinced about the pairing.

ashok said...

totally envy you!

Anupama K. Mazumder said...

@Ashok,
Please come to Delhi and share the fun. :)

Shilpa Garg said...

Wow! You all sure had some good fun over wine and dine... :D

Anupama K. Mazumder said...

@Shilpa,
You bet!

hamaarethoughts.com said...

nice space..
its fun to cook with wine ,,,but you should have that taste to enjoy :)
..hope to be connected!

Panchali said...

Wow...you surely had a great time, Anupama..:)))
The pics are enticing...oooh, everything is so delicious here :))))
I am dying to know about that secret ingredient :D
Thanks!!

Anupama K. Mazumder said...

@Harman,
Yes, its a taste to be developed.

@Panchali,
Yes, I never dared to put wine in cooking before this.

JERRY'S Car Care Chennai said...

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thought I would completely pop in and drop a friendly note It is great stuff indeed.
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Anupama K. Mazumder said...

@Jerry,
I have certain mindblocks to subscribing by e-mail. If you're interested, join me on FB ( www.facebook.com/VolatileSpirits ) or Twitter ( www.twitter.com/anupama0607 )