Curry Recipes Online
Beginners Guide => Trainee Chefs / Beginners Questions => Topic started by: Simplysandy on May 12, 2013, 03:13 PM
-
Having been here a few days now, and looked over a lot of the questions. I may have missed it if anyone else asked it before in sorry, in adavancev ;D
Why is there so much oil in the base gravy?
-
Why is there so much oil in the base gravy?
There is not much oil in some bases, and a great deal in others. In general, those that contain a lot of oil require less oil when cooking the final dish.
** Phil.
-
Thanks for that, as I hardly put any in mine. ;D
-
Why is there so much oil in the base gravy?
It's a very good question.
In my opinion it's because oil is the primary flavour carrier for spice essential oils to dissolve into. Not much point putting spices into a base sauce if there's no carrier for them or anything for them to dissolve into.
This is why (in my opinion) BIR style curry nearly always uses a lot of oil and why the resultant takeaway dishes are often swimming in it.
BIR style cookery and dishes aren't exactly the the most healthy out there. But it's because of all that oil the dishes taste so yummy!
-
Why is there so much oil in the base gravy?
It's a very good question.
In my opinion it's because oil is the primary flavour carrier for spice essential oils to dissolve into. Not much point putting spices into a base sauce if there's no carrier for them or anything for them to dissolve into.
This is why (in my opinion) BIR style curry nearly always uses a lot of oil and why the resultant takeaway dishes are often swimming in it.
BIR style cookery and dishes aren't exactly the the most healthy out there. But it's because of all that oil the dishes taste so yummy!
Rubbish
-
Why is there so much oil in the base gravy?
It's a very good question.
In my opinion it's because oil is the primary flavour carrier for spice essential oils to dissolve into. Not much point putting spices into a base sauce if there's no carrier for them or anything for them to dissolve into.
This is why (in my opinion) BIR style curry nearly always uses a lot of oil and why the resultant takeaway dishes are often swimming in it.
BIR style cookery and dishes aren't exactly the the most healthy out there. But it's because of all that oil the dishes taste so yummy!
Rubbish
;D I'll just go get my popcorn!
-
Rubbish
Would that be "All four of your statements are rubbish", or is it just one of them with which you disagree Chris, and if the latter, which ?
** Phil.
-
Rubbish
Would that be "All four of your statements are rubbish", or is it just one of them with which you disagree Chris, and if the latter, which ?
** Phil.
Make yourself clear Phil !
-
;D I'll just go get my popcorn!
;D
I'm struggling to disagree with what spicey has said, which is rare I know but.............
Seconds out, round one ::)
-
Would that be "All four of your statements are rubbish", or is it just one of them with which you disagree Chris, and if the latter, which ?
Don't confuse him, he's confused enough.
-
Why is there so much oil in the base gravy?
It's a very good question.
In my opinion it's because oil is the primary flavour carrier for spice essential oils to dissolve into. Not much point putting spices into a base sauce if there's no carrier for them or anything for them to dissolve into.
This is why (in my opinion) BIR style curry nearly always uses a lot of oil and why the resultant takeaway dishes are often swimming in it.
BIR style cookery and dishes aren't exactly the the most healthy out there. But it's because of all that oil the dishes taste so yummy!
Rubbish
Are you saying Chris, that curry is healthy? I mean a basic curry I worked out to be about 1200 calories without rice or any other side!
-
Are you saying Chris, that curry is healthy? I mean a basic curry I worked out to be about 1200 calories without rice or any other side!
But 1200 calories is not the same as unhealthy, is it Malc ? I'm sure many meals contain more than 1200 calories (certainly those that I eat !), but if they contain a well-balanced mixture of naturally-occurring proteins, carbohydrates, fats, nutrients, etc., then their calorie content alone would not make them unhealthy ...
** Phil.
-
Are you saying Chris, that curry is healthy? I mean a basic curry I worked out to be about 1200 calories without rice or any other side!
But 1200 calories is not the same as unhealthy, is it Malc ? I'm sure many meals contain more than 1200 calories (certainly thosde that I eat !), but if they contain a well-balanced mixture of naturally-occurring proteins, carbohydrates, fats, nutrients, etc., then their calorie content alone would not make them unhealthy ...
** Phil.
-
Did I say something? Lol. Love it, guys that are passionate about something other than football :-) I'm not sure I agree that pouring that much oil into a base mix is necessary, but time and experiment will tell and I certainly bow to all your knowledge and experience (don't shout be nice) ;D
I have noticed something else about this and another BIR curry site, why is it mainly men? And thinking about it, I've never seen a woman cooking in an indian. Now I'm very curious about this as mostly all of the cooking is done by women in asian households? After having a curry weekend, my family are now moaning about the smell, anybody got any tips how to de stink my house?
-
Welcome SS
It would help with your questions, if you were a bit more specific on what your actually doing,
i.e. Which base and recipes you are starting with etc
-
Well like I said, I'm no expert which is why I'm asking! So all indian takeaways are Bangladeshi? Really? Well see you taught me something I didn't know. All the bases I have seen have quite a lot of oil in, which is why I was curious. I've tried c2g and 2 others off an other site. Best get some oust for the next bought of cooking!
-
oil and fat are carriers of flavour at the end of the cooking period sands you just have to spoon off any excess , if your just thinking of the amount used in a base sauce tis the same thing and when it comes to cooking a dish you wont have to use so much oil to cook it and even then at the end of cooking tilt pan spoon off unwanted oil hope this helps :) ( Ivan )
-
If the oil carries flavour then wouldn't you be taking away flavour by skimming off the oil at the end of cooking?
-
If there's enough oil floating to skim off, then you can guarantee there will still be plenty running through the curry.
And that oil that you skimmed, starts the next curry. 8)
-
i think Young Dal as hit the nail well and truly on da head cuz that's how i see it to ( Ivan) :)
-
If the oil carries flavour then wouldn't you be taking away flavour by skimming off the oil at the end of cooking ?
Yes, you would : but there will still remain a substantial quantity of oil in emulsion in the dish, so as long as you have adjusted the spicing to allow for the fact that you plan to skim off the surplus oil at the end, all will be well.
** Phil.
-
I'm with you on that one Simplysandy, I saw the recipe calling for 500ml of oil in the base recipe and thought "Well that's not gonna happen".
I'm not saying using less oil is going to have the same flavour or mouth feel as a B.I.R but for those of us that need to watch our weight, or like to eat less oils and fats, I think using so much oil doesn't change the flavour enough to warrant not being able to have a delicious curry a few times a month.
I've tried Ghee in the past and again, the flavour was different but not so much I thought, I'm not going to use oil ever again.
I might change my mind after trying a few different recipes but for now I'd rather use less oil and have a reasonably healthy meal than one swimming in grease but that's just my personal opinion.
Having said that, I'd rather have deep fried fish and chips from a great chippy once every 2 months than oven chips and oven baked fish 3 times a week, maybe that's how some people feel about their curry's.
I'll reserve judgement on that until I've been cooking curry's for a few more months. (http://www.castandcatch.com/forum/images/smilies/blush2.gif)
-
Thanks to all who replied for the advice, having made 5 bases now and to many curries I prefer the first one I made which had hardly any oil in. (Only because I had none, and it had cardamom seeds in) but for the life of me can I remember the exact ingredients? Nope! My family loved it to. I can't bring myself to put that much oil in, but I'm going to just to see what the difference is. I can understand butter and ghee as they are a flavour, so trying is a must you are mostly experts so ill give it a go. I've seen 3 e books, anybody recommend one? Thanks again
Sandy :)
-
Personally, i don't believe oil carries flavor any better than any other liquid, but i do believe its the way the oil delivers that flavour thats the key.
If you went to a resturant, and while eating your side salad you found the dressing to be made of water and vinegar, you wouldnt be too happy!
Oil is good for "suspending" ingredients, and provides a thicker, more luxurious mouth feel.
While it isn't the most healthy, experiment and see how you feel. The proof of the curry is in the eating after all!
-
If you went to a resturant, and while eating your side salad you found the dressing to be made of water and vinegar, you wouldnt be too happy!
Oil is good for "suspending" ingredients, and provides a thicker, more luxurious mouth feel.
Well that's a good way of putting it random chef, it makes sense, never thought of it like that. :D
-
Personally, i don't believe oil carries flavor any better than any other liquid, ...
Not any flavour : oil carries the flavour of the essential oils that are what the spices contribute to the dish. An oil-less curry would (IMHO) be an impossibility, whilst (e.g.,) boiled cod is absolutely great. If I need to re-spice an inferior take-away dish, I invariably add oil as well as spices.
** Phil.
-
The oil is an ingredient of the base and often the cooking stage, you may not obtain BIR results without it 8)
-
If you make a big pan of velute (Velvety soup!) and keep it on the heat- its eventually going to reduce down. Instead of topping it up with water, use whole fat milk- it will hardly change the viscosity, instead it will make it more rich and luxurious.
Always look to ad that 'bit extra' to your food, that show passion(&or)dedication and that's what makes it all that bit more special!
"oil carries the flavor of the essential oils that are what the spices contribute to the dish."
(apologies on my lack of ability to quote)
I whole heatedly agree. Any flavor you add to a dish- any spices will always have that flavor/oil within them to start with, the oil is just a means to distribute that flavor and those natural oils (and also protect them as they cook!). All i meant was it is important to put thought into the ingredients you use, and through experience learn how to sculpt your results to your specification!
-
Well that's me told from my scientist hubby, the spices are fat soluble not water soluble hence the oil is important! And he lives on protien shakes! But knows his stuff!
-
I agree, but it depends on the ingredient in question! again, it boils down to refining the dish, applying experience to come to an agreeable conclusion, and learning how to treat each ingredient as an individual component in its own right!
Perhaps i should revise how i make my comments, i agree with all of thee above, yet i have managed to convey it in a way that has caused ambiguity!
-
I guess not all opinions are welcome, on a male oriented site! I asked a simple question, and the testosterone came out! Such a shame, it's such a good site to. Waiting for the fall out to this statement!
-
I do apologies, i am genuinely in agreement with you! I hope I'm not coming across as disingenuous, i am new here after all, and really not trying to make waves, but rather be a help where i can!
I am not however at the mercy of my own testosterone, but again i can only say my etiquette on such a website is a tad rusty and in need of revision, so i suppose i can blame myself for that!
-
Whilst being a newbie, I can't judge! But I do go with experts, and I'm guessing they have tried all things oil wise, hence I asked the question.
-
I'll sit down now! While i do have my opinions on the subject, it isn't in the same context so maybe i was a bit enthusiastic to join in!
-
Don't let me make you feel you the odd one, I'm certainly odd lol :-)
-
Haha not odd, but i do get the feeling i'm a bit over-keen to get stuck in! This as a far cry from the french/modern British food i usually deal with!
-
I do apologies, i am genuinely in agreement with you! I hope I'm not coming across as disingenuous, i am new here after all, and really not trying to make waves, but rather be a help where i can!
You're not really helping to be honest, you're obfuscating and confusing the issues by going off in irrelevant tangents.
You've come out with some pretty bizarre comments so far on this which have done nothing but confuse.
Let's get back to basics.
We're talking about BIR style curries here or the process of replicating BIR style dishes at home. We're not talking about fancy dancy French haute cuisine. We're not talking about Veloute soups and/or sauces.
BIR style dishes use a lot of spicing as their primary flavouring components, those spice flavours are contained within the spice essential oils. Those spice essential oils are carried through the dishes cooked with them by OIL.
That is why these type dishes use fairly large quantities of oil in them.
I appreciate you're new here and I don't mean to be harsh or unkind or put you off posting, but it's important to understand we're talking specifically about BIR style cookery here.
Whether you accept oil is needed or not is entirely your prerogative, but you will not produce BIR style and tasting dishes without using it in the quantities as suggested by most of the recipes on the site.
Most of these recipes are tried, tested and proven to work.
I just can't see how it can be particularly helpful to wander along and post comments such as -
"Personally, i don't believe oil carries flavor any better than any other liquid, ..."
"Any flavor you add to a dish- any spices will always have that flavor/oil within them to start with, the oil is just a means to distribute that flavor and those natural oils (and also protect them as they cook!). All i meant was it is important to put thought into the ingredients you use, and through experience learn how to sculpt your results to your specification!"
"I agree, but it depends on the ingredient in question! again, it boils down to refining the dish, applying experience to come to an agreeable conclusion, and learning how to treat each ingredient as an individual component in its own right!"
That's just doing a very good job of confusing the issues even further than they're confused already!
-
Well that's me told from my scientist hubby, the spices are fat soluble not water soluble hence the oil is important!
As was mentioned right at the start of the thread! ::)
They actually dissolve into alcohol better than oil, but alcohol isn't a very good cooking or frying medium :)
-
Well I should pay more attention then! :o
I actually would of if alcohol had been mentioned from the get go! ha ha, as for velout? soups? I was then totally lost! Thanks for the replies they are much appreciated, And alls I am trying to do is understand the basics from the start. Following other people's recipes is one thing, but I'd like to understand the workings of a curry so I can make my own ;D
-
You're right 100%! I still stand by what I'v said mind, but i do appreciate its probably not as direct or to the point, i should have understood that what i said was going to cause ambiguity in a beginners forum.
I was trying to add a more "out of the box" view on the subject- which is neither direct nor generally helpful in this sort of environment.
Point taken :)
-
Well like I said, I'm no expert which is why I'm asking! So all indian takeaways are Bangladeshi? Really? Well see you taught me something I didn't know. All the bases I have seen have quite a lot of oil in, which is why I was curious. I've tried c2g and 2 others off an other site. Best get some oust for the next bought of cooking!
Hi Sandy. Welcome to the forum. The c2go base(s) actually contain relatively little oil compared to some and, as the initial cooking stage also doesn't involve much water, this can be a tricky gravy to get right first time, especially if pushed to the limit as Julian implies in his e-book. There are several more straightforward recipes described on here to start with.
Agree with earlier comments on adjusting the amount of oil used to make the final dish. The amount of oil generally used in BIR cooking did bother me when I started. But with a bit of practice you will be able to make a lot of it separate from any base, and most curries, should you wish to.
You have definitely found the right place to learn about all things curry. Suggest having a look through Chewy's videos, which show excellent (and proven) recipes/tips for beginners/more experienced chefs alike.
http://vimeo.com/mikestyne/videos/page:2/sort:date (http://vimeo.com/mikestyne/videos/page:2/sort:date)
Best wishes
Rob :)
-
Thanks rob just what I was looking for ;D
Sandy