Oudh 1590 - Biriyani Festival

[Don't leave midway. The last two paras are critical.]

Dad’s birthday coinciding with Annual Biriyani Festival at Oudh 1590 was that accident somehow I had to make the most of. Oudh’s neighbouring outlet thankfully kept the incidental travel at a minimum. Given that I don’t take kindly to long gaps between my desserts, Dominican Coronas and bedtime reading. For a change this time I knew my orders backward and placed them at the slightest nudge to the prancing waiter exactly in the sequence I wanted my meal to unfold. #uncookedwords #oudh1590

We live in a time when just acting right is dubbed brilliant, and excellence is that realm one may sidestep and yet succeed. That’s how vaguely I choose to start this time. Grilled cubes of boneless chicken marinated with Saffron as Zafrani Kebab set my meal in motion on a juicy note that might just as well be called flavorous. Galawatis, the other kebab, had a crackling crust to a melting inside. Or, is it a tongue forever tuned to Tundays quibbling? Succulent cubes of Mutton tucked inside a potful of ‘breezy’ rice cooked in meat broth and sprinkled liberally with Beresta, aka Gosht Yakhni Pulao, had all the makings of a masterpiece, and a redemptive property to offset any culinary lack that might follow. Gosht Bhuna Khichri rode high on moderation and meat content to my carnivorous liking. The fly in the ointment came late but for sure. Mutton chunks dunked in a swill of dullness - Oudh’s Rezala was what I wouldn’t even treat my enemies to. What a waste of wherewithal!

I had my fair shares of both good and bad that evening. This inconstancy is a common fate a chain branching out fast piggybacking on the expertise of a smattering of cooks rarely escapes. While a few end up with goodfood, the rest fume. Or, some dishes shine while the rest go down the sewer.

I use this post to ventilate another concern more avian than gastronomic. Oudh proudly had ‘Shikari Bater Pardah Biriyani’ on menu featuring a distinctive Biriyani cooked with common game bird Quail [Common Quail/ Coturnix coturnix] marinated in spices. IUCN [International Union for Conservation of Nature] Red List of Threatened Species 2018 includes Common Quail in the red list of endangered birds with a decreasing count globally. Is it anyway just to offer on menu a variant of Biriyani that boldly uses a dwindling species as the principal ingredient? [Mind that I moot this on a full stomach.] I know many who would rise to this bait of exotica like a Catfish to dead Minnows.

I don't see myself birding in at least next hundred years. But my not calling this exception out would prove Voltaire right about the rarity of common sense.