Pear-ed to Perfection

One dish fused pears with wild mushroom and blue cheese,another had chicken grilled with goda masala and served with a salad of pears and radish. Conducting such a session of fusion cooking was Chef Vicky Ratnani,corporate chef for Fine Dining at Aurus,Mumbai. This cooking demo with USA Pears was held at Terttulia on Friday. Ratnani not only entertained the audience with interesting cooking trivia about pears but also used his trademarke tongue-in-cheek humour to talk about his own experiments with food products and dishes. “The unique point about pears is that they can adapt to any flavour in a dish. In general,they have a very soft,sweet taste that can be combined with say blue cheese or even with spices,” he says. Ratnani attributes his success to his habit of constantly trying out unique combinations for traditional dishes. “It’s still a mix-and-match affair for me. Even now when I head to a supermarket,I go in the direction of the products that are not on my shopping list. I end up buying a unique sauce or a masala that I can use. That is what makes all the difference. Constant innovation leads to exciting discoveries,” he says.