Festival of Food Finished in Wood-Fired, Stone-Floor Oven at
Miro, Svenska Design Hotels, Mumbai
While most prehistoric creatures were grappling with the uncertainties of the last Ice Age, a group of enterprising ancestors decided to go ahead and create an oven. Since man already controlled fire, the original ovens were meant to be a source of warmth.
The source of warmth in the Ice Age proved to be a hit (naturally!) and also became a communal gathering spot. Innovation was due to follow (especially since Cro-Magnon man had a lot of time on his hand judging from the fact that television had not yet been invented) and food started being cooked in the oven. The resulting dino steaks I am told were infinitely more palatable than some of their sushi-like counterparts and the smokiness and dense flavours imparted by the embers used to crank up the heat made them an instant success story.
Since this was such a good thing, there was no chance that it would have stayed a secret in our ancient society and the technology spread like the proverbial wildfire. Improvisations followed and soon, there was not an oven-free spot on the globe.
Ovens accompanied the invading armies of the Romans all the way through the barbarian lands and returned back to Rome with Attila the Hun and his entourage where they chose to use the Alps to make their grand entry. Genghis Khan and his warriors ate bread baked in their mobile ovens while the Indus Valley civilization that flourished at Mohejodaro and Harappa had their own version of ovens when they created the world’s first tandoors.
Ovens soon became a unifying factor in many a community. Villages were built around the town square where the humble oven took centre stage. Some old villages in Europe still sport the ovens that were built centuries ago along with the names of the families and the order in which they could use the oven.
The Portuguese were very sensitive about the craft of baking and they only allowed certified families to use the oven or to ply in the baking trade. These families, in order to be certified, had to pass a battery of medical and hygiene tests.
29,000 years post the Ice Age prototype that was initially used to cook mammoth, we see ovens occupying positions of prominence in each and every culture across continents. The Greeks who developed the first portable ovens, probably to ensure that the bread was baked fresh whenever they travelled to see the ancient Olympic Games still use it to give their Spanokopita that golden hue. The Spaniards were credited with having spread the oven culture in all their colonies and taught their new subjects that the secret to good paella is to finish it in the oven. The Portuguese as mentioned earlier are credited with being the reason that the Goans can sport ‘Poi’ and ‘Poyo’ – both classical whole wheat breads.
Cakes, breads, mousses, soufflés, puffs, pies, tarts, en papillote, sous-vide….the applications of a simple oven are endless. If a simple oven could produce a mind-boggling array of goodies then the kick-ass, wood fired, stone floor, double door oven at the Miro restaurant could produce the ultimate in dining luxury. With an array of classic recipes from Marrakesh to Montenegro, the bakes festival promises to be an assault on the senses. Starring sensual baklavas, intriguing Basa fish baked en papillote, cape chicken and peach pie, Greek spanokopita, French morels and cream cheese roulade…..the festival has enough to suit the finickiest amongst us with all the dishes being finished in the wood fired oven to add that irresistible smokey flavour before they are served.
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