A grand spread

Several years ago, a friend gave us a copy of a book called Hutch, written by his friend, Charlotte Breese. The story of Leslie Hutchinson — known universally as Hutch — was fascinating. The black performer, it seemed, had a love life that was as varied and rich as his repertoire. He loved — and was loved by — men and women alike, and by the royalty as well as the commoner. And while all that was greatly interesting, no doubt, what grabbed my attention was the time that Hutch spent in India. From the mid-fifties to 1960, he visited Calcutta almost every year for a few months, much to the pleasure of the city’s elite.

And in Calcutta, where would he perform but at The Oberoi Grand which, after all, is a hotel that’s as much a legend as old Hutch himself? He would sing at the Prince — which has now given way to a vast car park, but was a happening night club then. The fans of the West Indian cabaret artiste included maharajas and maharanis and a great many other celebs of the time. They’d hear him sing and perform, quaff their champagne, and perhaps nibble at a juicy prawn in a prawn cocktail.

If there is one hotel that you associate with Raj nostalgia, in the best way possible, it’s The Grand. And when I talk about happy nostalgia, I am, of course, referring to some of the much loved old dishes that continue to be a part of the hotel’s menu year after year. One such dish is the smoked hilsa, which now figures on the menu of quite a few top restaurants in the country (I ate some of that the other night at a lovely hilsa festival in Delhi) but has long been associated with The Grand.

These are dishes that are the hotel’s hallmark, it’s executive chef, Saurav Banerjee, stresses. Think of prawn cocktail, and you think of The Grand, though the dish is available in almost every other restaurant these days. And much before the chicken a la Kiev became a rage in the rest of the country, spewing out a fountain of butter when you cut into it, it was being mastered there.

The chef’s quite proud of that, for he has old links with the hotel. When he was a little kid studying in Asansol, where his father was a mining engineer, happiness was the hotel’s confectionery section. “Whenever my father used to visit Calcutta, he would pick up cakes and pastries from The Grand. This used to be a real big treat for me,” he recalls. “To grow up and actually work in the same hotel and eventually take responsibility of the food of the hotel is a dream come true.”

He has been heading the section for the last two years — and knows that favourites such as lamb shanks continue to weave their magic. Another old dish that still rules is the chicken stroganoff. Chef Banerjee tells me that for this, he sautés chopped onions, garlic, leeks and celery in melted butter in a nonstick pan and then adds button mushrooms to it. Next he adds strips of chicken, gherkins and chicken stock. He finishes with thyme, sour cream, salt and peppercorn. And then garnishes it with paprika and chopped parsley, and serves it with steamed rice. It’s a recipe that he would have picked up when he was studying at the Oberoi’s school of hotel management in Delhi in the early nineties.

Clearly, some things haven’t changed. The food that was the toast of the town when Hutch was regaling Calcutta’s elite with his wit and music is still going strong. The chef calls them “classical signature dishes” of The Oberoi Grand which have been on the menu for “a long, long time”.

I can believe that, even though author Breese skips the menu to go on to the more juicy bits of life in the fifties. But in my opinion, what could be juicier than a tender lamb?


Braised lamb shanks (serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 500g lamb shanks • 100ml red wine • 10g rosemary • 50g diced carrot • 50g diced leek • 50g diced celery • 400ml lamb stock • 30ml olive oil

Method

Clean and then marinate the lamb shanks with red wine and rosemary. Leave it overnight. In a thick-bottomed pan add olive oil and sauté the diced vegetables. Add the lamb shanks and allow to brown evenly. When the meat is browned, add the lamb stock, but just enough to cover the shanks with. Let it simmer till the meat gets tender. Remove the shanks from the pan and keep aside. Reduce the stock till it thickens. Strain this liquid and use it as the sauce for the lamb shanks. Serve with mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables.



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