Today we find lot of help for cooking from books, TV and internet. In olden days no such help was available.People learnt by experience. It is of great interest to know how the chief cook was appointed in Thanjavur palace. Announcement was made by Tandora. The minister in charge,selected ten persons considering the experience and speaking skills. Those ten people were asked to prepare a small quantity of one item. It was short listed and 3 were chosen. Now comes the interesting selection mode. Three tanks ( kulams) were constructed and tested for leakage in three different parts of the city.The tank measured 10'x10'x10feet. The cook had to prepare RASAM to a height of 7 feet in the tank.The cook had to take the required quantity of tamarind, add salt, chille and asafoetida and the mixture should be allowed to boil directly under the sun without any external heating for nearly 72 hours.After the volume got reduced to a level, necessary ingredients like dhal,peooer, cheerakam mixture added and sharp at the 84th hour rasam to a height of 7 feet should be ready. There were rasam tasters just like tea tasters .A committee consisting of 3 experts selected one from out of the three. Rasam is a very simple item. Here the quantity is that matters.10x10x7 means 700 cubic feet of rasam that is to say roughly 700x27=18900 litres of rasam. Nearly one big lorry load of rasam. The cook should have a correct estimate of the ingredients, assess the day's temperature approximately. There is no way to increase or decrease the fuel efficiency.In the place where thousand of people eat ,knowledge of such voluminous cooking is very much essential.Most of the consumers would be normal labourers that may require hot rasam which may not do any harm to the digestive system. That is why the royal authorities had chosen not a luxurious menu but a simple rasam. This fact appears in Saraswathi Mahal Library Thanjavur in a 19th century publication " Thanjavur aranmanaik kurippugal" A doubt arises as to what will happen if there are surprise showers or the day turned suddenly cloudy. It was probably conducted during peak summer and it is assumed that necessary exemptions would have been given on rare occasions.It is funny to imagine that each house is supplied with a kudam of rice on the final day. Jayasala42
Interesting article. In olden days there were no such chefs. The elderly person of the family is to do all the tasting job before giving it to the guests.
