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The Man behind the Wok: The

Hotels Malay Chefs Work Recipes
Nurul Ashikin Ismail1, Nor Atiah Ismail2, Mohyiddin Othman3,
Mohd Shahrim Abdul Karim4
1 ,3&4

Department of Foodservice Management, Faculty of Food Science and

Technology,Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor

Article history
Received
27 April 2015
Received in revised form
15 June 2015
Accepted
25 November 2015

*Corresponding author
noratiah72@yahoo.com.sg

Department of Landscape Architecture, Faculty of Design and Architecture,

Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor

Graphical abstract

Abstract
This study explores the knowledge about traditional Malay food recipes among the
Malay chefs in the 3-star to 5-star hotels in Klang Valley, Malaysia. Malay chefs with
more than 10 years of experiences working in the hotels were selected as informant in
this study. Qualitative approached using the non-participant observation in the Malay
hotels kitchen and in-depth interview are employed to understand the phenomena. The
results from these two techniques found that majority of the Malay chefs were not
having a written manuscript or recipes book in the kitchen or neither in their office.
Almost all of the recipes were coming from the generation practices besides of their
experiences in the kitchen and some of the recipes are from the experiments in the
kitchen. The hard worked in the kitchen as a helper, received instruction and task from
mother and mentor are the modes of transmission of the recipes knowledge among the
Malay chefs. However, mothers play a significant role in influencing the Malay chefs to
uphold the family recipes and generation practices.
Keywords: Malay chef, traditional Malay food, bonding, cooking, cultural food, hotel

Abstrak
Kajian ini meneroka pengetahuan mengenai resipi makanan tradisional Melayu di
kalangan chef Melayu dalam 3 bintang ke hotel 5-bintang di Lembah Klang, Malaysia.
Chef Melayu dengan lebih 10 tahun pengalaman bekerja di hotel telah dipilih sebagai
respoden dalam kajian ini. Pendekatan kualitatif dengan kaedah pemerhatian di dapur
hotel Melayu dan wawancara responden untuk memahami fenomena ini. Keputusan
daripada kedua-dua teknik mendapati majoriti chef Melayu yang tidak mempunyai
manuskrip bertulis atau resipi buku di dapur dan di pejabat mereka. Hampir semua
resipi telah datang dari amalan generasi selain daripada pengalaman mereka di dapur
dan beberapa resipi adalah dari eksperimen di dapur. Kerja keras responden sebagai
pembantu di dapur menerima arahan dan tugas daripada ibu dan mentor adalah cara
transmisi pengetahuan resipi di kalangan chef Melayu. Walau bagaimanapun, ibu-ibu
memainkan peranan penting dalam mempengaruhi chef Melayu untuk menegakkan
resipi keluarga dan amalan generasi.
Kata kunci: Chef Melayu, makanan tradisional Melayu, ikatan, memasak, makanan
budaya, hotel
2015 Penerbit UTM Press. All rights reserved

72:1 (2015) 16 | www.jurnalteknologi.utm.my | eISSN 21803722 |

Nurul Ashikin et.al / Jurnal Teknologi (Sciences & Engineering) 72:1 (2015) 16

Nurul Ashikin et.al / Jurnal Teknologi (Sciences & Engineering) 72:1 (2015) 16

1.0 INTRODUCTION
Malay food is a collection of most
interesting and complex flavors with blend
cultures of Malay, Chinese, Indian and
Eurasian. The food itself is known for eclectic
influences
from
Thailand,
Indonesia,
Singapore and Brunei. Besides of the rich
tastes in herbs and spices, Malay food
brought in difference flavors to create a
distinct and vibrant cuisine that anyone
cannot resist a chance to taste it. Central to
the entire discipline of Malay food is the
concept of using recipes in cooking.

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

As a matter of fact, Malay people always
share their common meaning through foods;
for example the transmission of tradition and
recipes from grandmother to their daughters
and granddaughters. According to Henderson
(2004, pg. 237), recipes and relationships are
called upon to investigate memories of the
past and predicaments of the present. These
recipes normally shared through their
memory and they do not have all those
recipes described and prescribed on a written
text. Similarly, Ballantyne and Benny (2009)
found that normally recipes has used
primarily as memoirs of lived experience, or
as reflections of day to day domestic cookery,
food choices and eating habits which are tied
up with identity and subjectivity. Normally the
preparation and cooking of food is an integral
process for the transmission of family values
and culture over time.
As Zahara (2012) points out, family
recipes are usually passed on, preserved and
modified across generations which are the
reflections of the family activities in the home
kitchen. What is more, cooking together and
sharing a meal always been key activities that
bonded
families
through
thick
and
thin.Collectively, these study outline a critical
role for a family legacy in heritage food that
will continue to connect from generation to
generation, making it relevant and an
inspiration not just for the present generation
but for future generations to come (Zahara,
2012).

Considering all of this evidence, it seems that

this study offers some important insights into
the relationship between cooking and recipes
of the traditional Malay food by the Malay
chefs in the commercial hotels kitchen. Malay
chefs believed that by drawing their passion
in this professional job, they manage to come
out with the creativity in the kitchen to create
a great food and great recipes. Every day is a
learning process and to them those
experiments with new ingredients, techniques
and equipment are their learning tools to
create a great food. As one of the Malay chefs
described, they like to meet a new people
because they are open for a new ideas,
knowledge and information about the Malay
food. Sometimes they could get new
techniques to work with their food in the
kitchen. To them, there is always something
to learn and to create in the kitchen. As
Kamozawa and Talbot (2010) said, the
knowledge that they obtained have allowed
them to improve the flavor, efficiency, and
functionality in the kitchen to be a better
cook. This view is supported by De Backer
(2003) who writes that recipes are not only
the lists of ingredients and directions that
people always use in their cooking but they
are embedded in a process of giving and
social exchange of knowledge.

3.0 METHODOLOGY
This is an exploratory study to evaluate the
used of recipes in cooking by the Malay chef
in preparing the traditional Malay food at the
3-star to 5-star hotels in Klang Valley,
Malaysia. The secret about recipes normally
being used by the respondents in the kitchen
were
investigated
as
well
as
their
understanding on the preservations of the
Malay food recipes. The observation in the
Malay kitchen at the selected hotels and
semi-structure of in-depth interview were
identified as the best medium to conduct this
research as the aims is to provide an in-depth
understanding of the world as seen through
the eyes of the people being studied (Wilmot,
2005). Zeinstra et al., (2007) emphasized that
the qualitative research method provides the
opportunity to explore new topics and

Nurul Ashikin et.al / Jurnal Teknologi (Sciences & Engineering) 72:1 (2015) 16

directions; thereby using the respondents

own words to give meaning to their world. The
questions used in this research were designed
to elicit the Malay chefs experiences and
understanding in choosing the best recipes to
be used for preparing and cooking the Malay
food and to encompass the issues on having
standard recipes in the kitchen at the
commercial hotel.
The selection criteria for the respondent
in this interview are identified through
purposive sampling. Wilmot (2005) said that
with a purposive, non-random sample the
number of people interviewed is less
important that the criteria used to select
them. The characteristics of individual are
used as the basis of selection, most often
chosen to reflect the diversity and breadth of
the
sample
population.
However,
the
researcher need to understand that this
sampling sometimes is not represents the
total population of interest for example, a
group of Malay chef that shares the common
interest in sustaining the traditional Malay
food at the hotel (Engel & Schutt, 2010).
The respondents were selected based
on the main criteria; Malay chef must have at
least 20 years of experienced in the hotel
industry. Their experienced in the Malay
kitchen are identified as the main preference
as they are actively engage in the day-to-day
operation in the kitchen and it is become as
the subject of an observation and in-depth
interview.
The
entire
semi-structured
interview was tape recorded and transcribed
verbatim manually. The transcription was
translated from Malay language which most of
the Malay chefs are fluent and then further
translated into English. Analytic insights and
interpretations were derived and thematic
characteristics have been identified at the
end of the study.

4.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The most surprising aspect of the data is
in the first question that discussed on recipes,
Where do the origins of the recipes that the
Malay chefs use in the kitchen originate
from? Besides not having standard recipes,
most of the Malay chefs agreed that they

used the recipes that had been passed down

from their family, mentors and so on.
Interestingly, the observation in the Malay
kitchens found that it was very difficult to see
any written or manuscript of recipes.
Therefore, it can be concluded that the
original recipes has the potential of becoming
lost forever if the knowledge has not passed
on to the rest of the Malay chefs community
in the hotels kitchen.
Secondly,
another
most
striking
observation to emerge from the data
comparison was not many of the Malay chefs
were willing to share their secret recipes with
the researcher. When the subject was asked,
a majority commented that family recipes
normally became the source many of their
signature dishes. Some of the Malay chefs
expressed the belief that sharing recipes was
not a common practice during their period of
time in the Malay kitchen. This suggests that
learning the cooking traditions depends on
individuals and how many recipes were
written in black and white. Nevertheless,
almost two-thirds of the Malay chefs said that
never learned to cook from books because
there were recipes that did not work. Some of
the chefs did emphasize on Muslim practices
in sharing knowledge. The more knowledge
you share, the more you will benefit in return.
They were willing to share their old cooking
traditions because they were afraid that the
knowledge will be lost if not written on paper.
In response to the questions about
recipes, all of them admitted to using family
recipes in their cooking. As most of them had
basic cooking skills during their childhood,
they practiced these recipes in preparing
traditional Malay food in hotels. They also
agreed that their mentors recipes had
influenced their cooking. Malay chefs were
asked about having standard recipes in
cooking traditional Malay food and the
challenges to document the recipes in the
hotel. The feedback from one of the Malay
chef was,
It is very difficult to standardize
the Malay recipes. For example, I
once gave a complete recipe to my
staffs but the outcome was
different in taste, texture, colour

Nurul Ashikin et.al / Jurnal Teknologi (Sciences & Engineering) 72:1 (2015) 16

and flavour. (Chef 10, 12 years of

experience, 3-star)
Yet, another Malay chef emphasized
individual skills and knowledge. He noted:

on

For me it all depends on individual

skills and knowledge. The person has
to know the basic knowledge which is
the taste, colour and flavour of the
ingredients that he wants to cook. He
has to master these elements
first.(Chef 7, 34 years of experience,
4-star)
Another Malay chef prefers to appreciate the
recipes from family traditions. He said:
We need to refer to the recipes
handed down to us. If the chicken
curry recipe has five ingredients,
then all five must be present along
with additional ingredients. (Chef
6, 22 years of experience, 5-star)
Another Malay chef remembered his familys
traditions in preparing Malay food. He stated
that:
My grandmother measured using
words like secubit (a pinch),
secekak
(a
handful)
and
secawan (a cup). I would convert
them into grams, litres and so on
but the result would be different. I
tried before when making the roti
canai. The result was awful.
(Chef 9, 14 years of experience, 5star)
One of the Malay chefs expressed his worry
on the future generation of Malay chefs in the
hotel. Only the ambitious ones who fully
mastered the Malay food could survive in the
industry. He said,
The problem with some of the
young Malay chefs at the hotel is
talent. Although they followed the
original
recipe,
the
outcome
definitely was different. I wonder
why they dont have the touch in
cooking Malay food. (Chef 14, 37
years of experience, 4-star)

Another chef explained:

The reason why we dont have a
standard recipe is because we will
use only best recipe to serve the
customers. We will try among us
the improved recipes and serve the
best. (Chef 15, 35 years of
experience, 4-star)

5.0 CONCLUSION
This study has found that generally the
practices of the Malay chefs in the hotels
kitchens were still not fully documented. In
reality, the knowledge that Malay chefs
acquired in terms of recipes, cooking
techniques and skills was inherited verbally
from generation to generation. One of the
more significant findings to emerge from this
study is that Malay food has no standard
measurement of ingredients. A majority of
Malay chefs measure using estimations
based on their experience and knowledge in
cooking.It is difficult to have the original
recipes in a standard document as most of
them were passed down from others through
informal conversations in the kitchen such as
between mother, son and daughter.In
addition, variation of recipes emerges from an
individuals creation of the dishes. This is
closely related to the knowledge, experience
and skills that they have in cooking traditional
food. As a matter of fact, majority of the
Malay chefs also have agreed that their
standard
recipes
resulted
from
the
experiments conducted in the Malay kitchen.
Chefs normally did some research on the
recipes and combined it with their knowledge
and experience in traditional food and it came
from
many
sources
such
as
books,
newspapers, internet and blogs to generate
new ideas for their recipes creation.The
investigation of recipes also has shown that
the customers requests and demands are
one of the factors why Malay chefs come up
with new Malay food recipes. The fusion
element in the ingredients is the new
marketing strategy for most hotels in
presenting a modern touch to Malay food.The
idea to share signature recipes among chefs

Nurul Ashikin et.al / Jurnal Teknologi (Sciences & Engineering) 72:1 (2015) 16

is not a normal practice in the kitchen. Some

of them kept to themselves their secret
recipes. As a result, the process of
documentation
the
recipes
was often
neglected by the Malay chefs in the hotels.

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