By Ibrahim Salaudeen, Lagos
Celebrity chef Hilda Baci has given insight into the preparations leading to her Guinness World Record (GWR) breaking attempt to cook the world’s biggest pot of Nigerian jollof rice.
The Record-Breaking Pot Of Jollof Rice event was accomplished yesterday after 9 – hour long of sustained cooking at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos.
Describing it as a product of painstaking preparation, the 2023 GWR Record holder for the longest cooking marathon, revealed that it took her and one Ayo two months to figure out how to fabricate the largest pot for the ‘Jollof Rice’ festival where an estimated over 20, 000 guests were said to have been hosted and served at the venue.
Baci made this known after the meal was completed, describing the trajectory as both hectic and rewarding, thanking her friends, family, and fans for their support that her to stay focus on both the course and cause to a successful conclusion.
In the reckoning of the celebrity chef, the process was physically, psychologically and mentally demanding, concluding it was also an exciting experience.
At a stage she scaled down her plan to cook 250 bags of rice and settled for 200 bags instead, citing technical factor as reason for the change.
She said the measuring crane and scale had a weight limit of 20,000 kilograms, including the custom-made pot, admitting that the 200 bags of rice, weighing 4,000 kilogrammes could still cater to her expected over 20,000 guests.
Hilda Baci said, “If you notice when we started we weighed the pot and we need to weigh every single thing that goes into the pot when we’re done.
“The goal was that by the time I was done making 5,000 kilogrammes I was hoping to achieve about 17,000 to 18,000 kilogrammes. Right now, if I include the weight of the pot, that’s about 20,000.
“The average crane and the measuring device can only weigh 20,000 kilogrammes.
“It’s safer for me to go below 20,000 kilogrammes so that my scale can carry it all at the same time and basically that is why I had to cut down on the quantity and I only cut it down by a thousand kilogrammes.
“This 4,000 kilogrammes of rice is 200 bags of rice and it will still feed 20,000 people so we’re still up there.”
And curiously, fate almost played a cruel joke on her. As the real cooking was drawing to a close, the big bowel pot unexpectedly caved in and collapsed while being lifted for weighing at the venue.
Fortunately, no injuries were reported and the pot did not upturn the much expected quantum of jollof rice.
Elated Hilda Baci said that the initial plan was not about breaking records again, saying “When I came up with this idea, I did not think about it as a world record.”
“I am very happy with what we have done and what we have achieved today. Honestly, Gino and I figuring this whole thing out was hectic. Figuring out how to fabricate the pot took me and Ayo two months to figure out and fabricate the pot. It took us about nine months to plan this event and it took us about nine hours to make the meal.
“A lot of things have gone down and I feel like my mind is pacing now, but I am so happy that we are here.”
Meanwhile, Hilda Baci is looking forward to achieving another historic feat less than three years after hitting global fame with the GWR longest Cookathon 2023 Records Holder.
