What’s the difference between traditional Indian chefs and top western chefs? I would imagine that there are many differences. But here is the big one: Secrecy.

Sharing is not part of the Indian tradition when it comes to professional kitchens. Most great Indian chefs of a certain generation will never reveal their recipes. North Indian and Avadhi chefs are the best example.

The most famous Avadhi chef of our times was the late Imtiaz Qureshi. Such was his influence in the decades he spent with ITC hotels that many, if not most, of the Avadhi dishes served at upmarket Indian restaurants (the biryani in particular) here and abroad follow Imtiaz’s lead. They are rarely as tasty as Imtiaz’s originals because not everyone has his talent. And, most crucially, very few chefs have the real Imtiaz recipes, just approximations or the censored versions he agreed to divulge.

Imtiaz believed that secrecy is integral to how Avadhi chefs have always functioned. Very few of them will reveal the exact spice mixes they use. If a hotel asks an Avadhi chef to come in for a festival or a pop up for a few days, the chef will either insist on making his masalas on his own or will come to the kitchen with spice mixes he has prepared earlier.

But why single out Avadhi chefs? This is an all India practice. Urbano Rego is the greatest Goan chef of his generation and in the years when he cooked at the Taj Holiday village many young chefs who went on to find fame later worked with him. But most of them, however much they venerate Rego, do not know all the secrets of his recipes. He would always leave one or two crucial........

© hindustantimes