The alumni of MSIHMCT will be making a Crocumbouche for their favourite teacher; intend to enter the Limca Book of Records

Too many cooks spoil the broth! But, the case is quite opposite for the alumni of the Maharashtra State Institute of Hotel Management and Catering Technology (MSIHMCT). The enthusiastic bunch of 23 executive as well as the Sous chefs are all geared up for their entry into the Limca Book of Records by making the country’s largest Crocumbouche—measuring a minimum of 15 feet in height and 5 feet at the base.

Chef Pritam Borawake, owner of Cake N Cream Factory lets us know that the alumni wanted to do something in the honour of their ex-professor AK Pusegaonkar who will be retiring this April. “We all ex-students consider AK Pusegaonkar, the function head with MSIHMCT, as one of the finest man in the bakery section. He has already made a mark in the Limca Book of Records for his successful attempt of making India’s largest pizza. Therefore, we wanted to give him a farewell gift!” reveals Chef Borawake.

These chefs have put their heads and hands together to create India’s biggest and largest Crocoumbouche. A French wedding cake, as Chef Navtej Sawhney describes, is a tower of Profiteroles which are Chouxpastry puffs filled with chocolate-flavoured cream.  These puff balls of Profiteroles are then glued together in their stunning pyramid shape with caramel! Chef Sawhney, owner of Arthur’s Theme, says, “The trickiest part of making the Crocoumbouche is handling the hot caramel. The sugar is heated up to 170 to 180 degrees to turn it into a liquid form and hence one is dealing with a lot of heat. Plus, even if a tiny drop falls on on your skin while using the caramel, your skin can very seriously burn because of its extremely high temperature.”

Executive Chef Vijay Deokar, Dina Celebrations, says, “Our aim was to make around 35,000 Profiteroles which we started making since Sunday. The process has been continuous and all the chefs have been working in shifts. Most of the Profiteroles will be stacked for our Crocoumbouche and the rest will be distributed amongst all to taste. The stacking starts on Wednesday morning and will take at least 24 hours. We definitely wouldn’t want people to pluck them out of the masterpiece and hence have made extra for them.” Other than making something for their teacher, the chefs consider this as a good bonding activity. “So many of us from the same field have gathered today. While building the biggest Crocoumbouche we are also building bonds while sharing and exchanging our own culinary knowledge,” explains Chef Deokar.

Everything has a purpose. Too many cooks do not necessarily spoil the broth!

Preeti Devnani/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication