Restaurant Kitchen Confidential

Chef Mamulyan

On Sunday, I joined several other members of the International Women's Association of Yerevan (IWAY) in the kitchen at Ararat Hall, a restaurant devoted to the discovery and resurgence of true Armenian cooking. Led by local TV celebrity chef, Serdak Mamulyan, the president of an organization for the "Development and preservation of Armenian culinary traditions," this was an experience money can't buy.

Background:   In the Soviet era all restaurants were government-owned and no ethnic pride in foods was permitted. Food was pretty bland. So after independence 21 years ago Chef Mamulyan started by going door-to-door, asking people for their family recipes, explaining his hopes for reviving true Armenian cuisine. Ararat Hall is his lab and his pride.

Annie, Achkhen, Wilma, Armine, Rilla, Gohar, Libby, Flora (whose son owns the butcher shop next door)

After turbaning up our heads with fashionable scarves or not-so-fashionable shower caps, we descended to the working restaurant kitchen to learn how to make an Armenian meal. We all washed our hands with soap and dried them on a shared terry towel. At that point I took off my public health hat and just went with the flow.

One of the prep trays

First--the kitchen itself is a madhouse of people doing a multitude of very specialized tasks--from carving up sides of lamb, to doing the prep trays for the chefs, to grilling meats on skewers on the built in grill. It is extremely HOT and quite noisy. On the counter immediately at our backs, staff were plating up meals for at least two large parties at the restaurant that afternoon.But when they noticed we were wilting, they served us raspberry juice in wine glasses to help deal with the heat.

A kitchen minion had prepared our grape leaves

Chef Mamulyan handed us over to his Number 2 Man who demonstrated how to make vegetable dolma with grape leaves and then meat dolma with rib lamb chops wrapped in cabbage leaf. I actually got to roll several of the veggie dolmas and learned principally that I could arrange the stuffing in the shape I wanted the finished product to be and that I must always always always put the veined side of the leaf on the inside. It's just nicer that way. 

Gohar watching Chef #2 saute onions for dolma

Number 2 Man was a prince fielding rapid-fire questions from the Armenian women who have their own ways of making these dishes and wanted to be sure he knew about them. A sense of humor must be a requirement for working in a restaurant kitchen.

The veggie dolmas were placed in a square clay pot with a removable, perforated bottom and a perforated "weight" layer as well as a lid. They were then covered with water and steamed in the oven. Several of us took advantage of the chef's connection who will sell us one of these bakers for 15,000 AMD (about $35) each. They are beautiful and practical and could be used for any number of things for generations.

Lamb chop-stuffed cabbage ready to bake

Ready to roll

Those lamb chop dolmas were placed on top of sliced tomatoes and onions in open clay dishes (think layer cake pan) and then surrounded by prunes and dried apricots and the herb mix. A lot of white wine was added and then boiling water. These were covered with foil and baked to perfection. This is a whole new way of thinking about stuffed cabbage, believe me.

Minced onions waiting for garlic

My eyes were on the knives most of the time. The knife skills of this guy were amazing and scary. When he minced something, it stayed minced. A technique for blending flavors that he pointed out was to mince, for example, the onions and then the garlic and then together and then the herbs and then together and then the tomatoes and then together. By the time you are ready to use this mix, the flavors are well-blended and the herbs have given up their oils and fragrance fully.

Sultanas in butter with cherry puree

After the dolma(s) we mostly watched--chicken poached and then cooked in a sauce made of sultanas (big yellow raisins) in melted butter with a garlic and walnut and olive oil paste and then blended with a fresh puree of a particular type of tart cherry that is ripe right now. 

I finally got to see what Armenian cooks do with the big ropes of what looks like herbs I see in the market. Not herbs, but dark greens (think kale), dried. First they are boiled to a fare-thee-well. The water is drained and they are reboiled (to get bitterness out) and then drained well and put in a large skillet with the tried and true garlic and walnut paste, some minced lamb fat, and then loaded up with fresh pomegranate seeds (you have to love a country that loves pomegranates!). The dish was then garnished with baked lavash chips (Have stale lavash? Sprinkle it with salt and pepper and bake it til it is crisp.)

Looking a little peaked

At some point I realized I was perspiring into the beautiful silk scarf Armine had tied around my head. But we were almost done. 

Greens with pomegranate in foregournd

Then suddenly, we were escorted into the Pomegranate Room--the one dining room where no smoking is permitted--to a beautifully set table with all sorts of starters, we did not see prepared. Breads, the ubiquitous and fabulous spring salad (of tomatoes and cukes and herbs), olives and lemons, pickles, and yogurt sauces. They poured us glasses of "tahn," a very good unsweetened yogurt drink.

A welcome form our host

Once seated, the staff began to serve us and our guests (some of the "cooks" invited their spouses to join us). It was an honor that the chef sat at the head of the table and continued to talk about his work in redeveloping Armenian cuisine and training young chefs. 
 

Ambassador John toasting our host

Many toasts were made using Armenian apricot vodka, a point of pride being that they were making fruit vodka before the Russians discovered potato vodka. (I wonder what they would think of our Vermont Gold from maple syrup?)

Wilma, Flora & Armine with the claycooker

Going in we had agreed to share the costs of this meal among the "cooks." The total bill presented for 16 diners was 44,000 AMD ($110) or about $7 each. This bill could not possibly have covered the costs, but it was then discounted for us 50%. I ended up paying my share, which was 2000 AMD ($5). Plus I am going to get one of those clay bakers at a 25% discount from the friend of the chef. Plus I have not even mentioned the Armenian cookbook with 70 dolma recipes inscribed personally by the Chef Mamulyan to me. (I am relying on Google Translate to use this!)

The overarching value of this experience--which had many parts--for me was the feeling of connection with the other women, feeling grateful for their generosity in translating for me, for being able to get to know them better. I walked out feeling very full indeed. Priceless.