In Udaipur, Todd’s four courses, too, moved through familiar flavours and tipples. A carrot-seven-ways plate came paired with a mean punch. The Desert Harvest brought together toasted bajra, khejri, honey, black lime, and saline; it came paired with the Machli Jaisamandi (chilled freshwater fish bouillabaisse, saffron mustard broth, and lake greens). The strongest regional inspiration came through in the last course. The Royal Sweet Finale—made using the 18-year-old with saffron and rose tincture—which was served with a bite-sized ghewar. The dessert was a perfect send-off: The Shattered Rose had liquid nitrogen rose, thandai ice cream, and a raspberry-lychee mousse, and guaranteed that all plates were wiped clean.
Udaipur was the first pit stop. From here, Dewar’s Discoveries X Sarah Todd will travel to Delhi, Kolkata, Goa, Jaipur, Bengaluru, and Mumbai, to pair her culinary tribute to each city with cocktails that celebrate the launch of the limited-edition Dewar’s Discoveries gift pack.
The Nod sat down with Todd to talk carrots, kitchens, and fortuitous pairings:
What’s the one thing you do in the kitchen today that Sarah Todd from 10 years ago wouldn’t have done?
I definitely put a lot more spice in my dishes now. I am trained in classic French cooking, but now all my dishes bring in different flavour profiles together. Everything has an element of French technique but comes with influences from various Indian dishes. For instance, the first course of the dinner, Carrots, is just carrot seven ways [carrot wheel, fennel gastrique, crème fraiche, masala carrot gel] in which I’ve used Indian techniques like pickling and a touch of tempered spices.
Is there an Indian ingredient that has surprised you?
I love kokum. It’s a beautiful ingredient—it is so tart, so vibrant, so flavoursome, and you can do a lot with it. It adds that sweet-sour bitterness to the food. You can’t get that from a lot of other ingredients. Layering flavours is important.
You have moved countries, opened restaurants, done TV shows, written books… At this point, what’s the kind of project that really excites you.
I definitely want to get back into the kitchen. Over the last two years, I have taken a bit of a step back, because life happens, but I definitely think my next project will be a restaurant. I don’t know when, but it’s the thing that makes me the happiest. The fast pace of a kitchen, all the time spent being creative and prepping, and all the effort put into creating something—it builds up the nerves.
There’s a lot of emotion in it too—you put your heart and soul onto this plate and then serve it to people. And not many areas of work let you do something where you get that rush of putting your love and your soul and everything into it to ultimately be critiqued, in a way. It’s addictive.
What excites you about this collaboration with Dewar’s Discoveries?
Their drive to really dive deep into India to spotlight regional ingredients—in the cocktails and the food—and then bring this experience to people is what really excites me about this collaboration. There’s a lot that goes behind it, because every city has its own food and drink preferences. It’s a beautiful campaign that celebrates Dewar’s Discoveries and India. We’ve already explored a lot and it’s just the beginning.
