PROFILE: ROSHEEN KAUL

Rosheen Kaul

The chef shares the impetus behind Secret Sauce, and why creativity shouldn’t end at the pass.

Words Laura Box

Photography Armelle Habib for Secret Sauce

WHEN ROSHEEN KAUL decided to take a step back from full time chef work a year ago, she saw it as an opportunity to explore different forms of creativity in the industry. Her time away from the pass allowed her to begin writing recipes again, collaborating with artists and chefs, running events, and making workwear for other chefs. “It’s great that I get to do a whole breadth of things that keep me in touch with the industry,” says Kaul. “I’ve really enjoyed tapping into the creative aspect of working in food.”

Her exit from the full-time chef world was the consequence of exhaustion and impending burnout. During her time as head chef at Etta, Kaul received significant recognition, but eventually the burden of her own high expectations began to weigh on her. “Etta was doing so incredibly well, and I feel like I shouldered it. Not because anyone was forcing me to, but because I made it my entire personality. I couldn’t see the forest between the trees — I was just consumed. Which is so unhealthy,” says Kaul.

Since stepping back, Kaul has been working on her second book, Secret Sauce. The publication incorporates more than 50 recipes for condiments, dressings, sauces, and “flavour bomb butters”— each accompanied by an example of how to use it.

For peace of mind, I’d say, ‘Here’s a sauce. Don’t season it’. And then I knew that anything that I was sending over the pass was correctly seasoned.

-Rosheen Kaul

Kaul’s interest in the world of sauces (although the term “sauce” feels reductive for the oily, buttery, fresh, and spicy scope of the book) began during her time in the Etta kitchen. Kaul realised sauces could help her achieve and maintain consistency with less need for oversight. “I couldn’t be on one side of the kitchen worrying if someone on the other side was seasoning properly. So for peace of mind, I’d say, ‘Here’s a sauce. Don’t season it’. And then I knew that anything that I was sending over the pass was correctly seasoned.”

An array of sauces became a fixture on Kaul’s ever-evolving menu at Etta; at some points the chef had five or six red sauces alone on hand. “My team used to make fun of me. They started labelling them as red sauce one, red sauce two, and so on. They were all completely different though,” she says. Many of these recipes became the basis of her book, with between 30 and 40 per cent pulled directly from her restaurant menus.

Secret Sauce is Kaul’s second publication. It follows Chineseish (2022), which she co-authored alongside friend Joanna Hu. “Chinese-ish was not a book I sought out to write,” says Kaul.

Kaul and Hu began its first iteration as a zine during Covid, before a publisher approached them to turn it into a real book. “Being an author was never something that I imagined, especially because I didn’t think that I was anywhere near established enough or researched enough or experienced enough to tell anybody to do anything in cooking — because I was still learning myself.”

The timing of Chinese-ish was also particularly difficult for Kaul, as she’d just begun working at Etta when they signed the book deal. “It was absolute chaos,” says the chef, who was sending through manuscripts to the publisher at 5:30am before going to work in the restaurant.

“So I didn’t have the best experience with book writing, because I felt like I was drowning.”

It’s unsurprising that Kaul had never planned to write another book. But fortuitously, enough time had passed when the publisher approached Kaul again. “When they asked if I had anything else, a few years later, I was like, you know what? I’ve got an idea.”

I couldn’t see the forest between the trees — I was just consumed. Which is so unhealthy.

- Rosheen Kaul

Considering her history with colour-coded sauces at Etta, it’s only natural that the chef divided the cookbook into sections based on colour. “Traditionally you’d write a cookbook and split it between vegetables, or main courses and desserts — any of those things. But because this is essentially dressings, toppings, cooking mediums, I figured colour was the best way to split it,” explains Kaul. Each section delivers a specific essence to the book — white and cream tend towards “comforting and warm”; green is “herbaceous”; red is filled with vibrant sambals and chilli oils; black and brown include soybased options; and yellow and orange include “flavour packed butters”.

The chef doesn’t believe in prescriptively separating flavours based on where they’re from. Rather, she’s more interested in thinking of every ingredient as something that builds flavour. An exemplar of this is the ‘Everything bagel’ chilli oil, which is among her favourite recipes in the book. The recipe encourages readers to use what’s in their pantry and think outside the box – Kaul’s version includes spring onions, gochugaru, and everything bagel seasoning, and uses the Chinese hot oil sear technique to bring it all together.

Kaul also says she’s “obsessed” with putting green sauce on things. “I think it’s the best way to disperse herb flavour through a dish, and a great way to clean out sad herbs in your fridge. You can make a white risotto and stick a really gorgeous green sauce on top or just roast a chicken and make it look so much fancier because you put this balsam verde on it. It makes everything look really pro.”

Her ultimate recipe — and among the easiest — is a three-ingredient soy sauce and sherry vinaigrette which Kaul describes as the simplest pairings of Western and Asian ingredients.

“This dressing absolutely slaps,” says Kaul.

“Sherry vinaigrette and soy sauce are the greatest seasonings of all time — and they go so beautifully together. And then you add this fruity layer of olive oil. It’s so simple, it’s all equal parts.”