Grilling for the Guinness : News Credits: expressbuzz.com
Parveen Sikkander
First Published : 16 Mar 2010 11:46:00 PM IST
Every time I meet this chef, I am amused at the things he has just achieved and the scores of others he has up his sleeve. But this time I write this in complete awe of the man who has joined the Guinness hall of fame.
Jacob Sahaya Kumar Aruni now has the Guinness glory certificate at his residence in Anna Nagar. It has been a grueling two weeks for Jacob and his team members who meticulously planned, lured sponsors, and yes called me at unearthly hours for an opinion or an instant meet. Lucia Sinigagliesi, the Adjudications Manager from the Guinness world records team in London arrived in Chennai looking every bit the judicial part. At the same time she is absolutely vivacious, chirpy, loves India and even has our National flag displayed at her home (one of the items she collected during her previous travels).
Through the night Jacob is sleepless and bouts of headache set in. At 6am I am at GRT Temple Bay to look at the hoardings, arrangements, massive grills and soon join Lucia and Jacob for breakfast. Two idlis and little upuma is all that he has and runs to the venue to oversee the marination.
It's 9.30am, the sun is at its peak and the event is flagged off. The crowd applauds and within 20 minutes Jacob breaks into sweat. There is no canopy over him and the coal emits extreme heat from five large grills, it's breezy and the smoke blinds him. The lids are heavy and it's indeed weight lifting time for Jacob every ten minutes.
The rules of the Guinness record are pretty simple. He can take a five minute break every one hour, none to assist, family members or friends cannot maintain the log book, a doctor to be on call and Jacob has to cook more than 400 varieties of grilled meat and vegetables. From chicken to pork to pears to paneer, Jacob swirls and grills with ease for the next three hours using various rubs and sauces.
Although he craves for Biriyani, he settles for glucose water and light salad. Lucia keeps a watchful vigil and takes short breaks, as she loves the sun and sea. There is no way that Jacob can breach the rules as a camera records the events.
By 8pm he is tired and takes a 20 minute break (after accumulation of break times). He uses this time to wash up, change into a comfortable pair of clothes and grab an energy drink. Lucia and I have dinner at the Wharf exchanging travel ideas. The total number of dishes in barbeque was 485, which well crossed the initial target of 400 dishes and 950 kilos of barbeque meat were used.
By 11 PM Jacob's feet have swelling and the doctor attends to him. He changes his shoes and continues the mission. I leave at 1am and call his team members every one hour to check on the situation. It's Monday the 15th of March and at 9. 40am I get a call ' "Hey I have done it," he gushes as he enters the prestigious Guinness Book of World Records.
On the same day, Information and Broadcast Minister, Paruthi Elamvazhuthi awarded Chef Jacob at GRT, T Nagar and honoured him for this achievement.
Edited by atina - 14 years ago
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