Curry Recipes Online
Curry Chat => Lets Talk Curry => Topic started by: Sverige on October 21, 2014, 08:59 AM
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Has anyone got good experience with cooking in bulk, maybe 10 portions at once? How do you approach this? I guess frying 10x spices is tough to get them cooked without burning some and all that tomato pur
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I've never cooked ten portions at once and I know on here there are some that say you don't get the right reduction of the base/sauce when you try to cook more than two portions at once. I both agree and disagree with this view. I agree in as much as I think trying to do this in a domestic sized pan or pot makes it really difficult and you might be just as quick to cook 5 x 2 portions, with better results. On the other hand I see no reason why you can't upscale the size of your pan, say a pan that sits over 3 or 4 burners? I'm thinking of something like a large paella pan I suppose?
There are also members of the forum who will say that the relationship between portion numbers is not a direct one, i.e. 1 portion of spice mix/chilli powder shouldn't be multiplied by 10, if that's the number of portions you are looking to do at once. There are threads where this was debated, without conclusion I think.
You could also go traditional and make a home style curry but I guess that's not what you're aiming for?
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Say you want to bulk cook a madras curry, prepare all the thinks you would need for 10 portions, next to the hob your working on place a large pot.
Start cooking your single portion of madras, when finished add to the pot then scrape pan do not wash and cook your next 9 portions this way.
End result is a pot of bulk madras as it should taste! I have used this method to serve 15 portions with stunning results., I have a post on the forum with photos for this very method.
You can warm this pot in oven before service if you choose.
I find this is the only way to truly replicate in bulk cooking, and it's awesome practice for you to perfect a dish, as by the 15th portion you now exactly how to tweak the dish.
Regards.
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Thanks guys, more or less what I thought. But what bugs me is the guys cooking for catering jobs must be using a scaleable bulk method. Maybe macferret would comment?
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Check out posts by 976bar. Plenty of info on bulk cooking.
Like this one for example.
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,12700.msg103297.html#msg103297 (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,12700.msg103297.html#msg103297)
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Thanks fried, looks awesome!
Forgive me if I missed it but he didn't actually say how he cooked them did he?
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Sorry, but I don't have a magic bullet for this one. We do exactly as Little Chilie says. You can cook double or even treble portions to speed things up but I don't usually bother because it just leads to mistakes. I spent weeks trying to create bulk recipes but failed completely - even simple sauces like a korma just didn't come out right. I know a guy in Thailand who runs a BIR business with a much bigger throughput than ours, and he and his staff cook portion by portion in normal chef's pans.
The only cheat I have is to run two pans at once. With two chefs working side by side we can cook pretty fast, but you have to try to stagger the start of each pan or you get in each other's way.
We also - for very big orders - cook the sauce and protein separately. This speeds things up but it's more about food safety as it avoids food sitting around waiting for the chiller to come free. The results are not 100% as good as cooking it all together, but are quite acceptable.
If anyone has some tips of their own I'm all ears. I have always said that if you could crack this, the Tesco contract alone would be worth millions :)
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Thanks fried, looks awesome!
Forgive me if I missed it but he didn't actually say how he cooked them did he?
You'll have to hunt around on his threads for recipes, I 'd like to be more help but I can't remember which threads exactly.
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A different style of cooking I know, but if I'm doing a large qty of Fried Rice or Pad Thai noodles, the only way is to make multiple small batches. If you try to overcrowd any style of cooking you get a different, and usually undesirable, result.
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On the main portal page once logged in, just search for bulk and you'll come across them.
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I would like that large pot of curry please Chewy ;D photo is awesome.
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On the main portal page once logged in, just search for bulk and you'll come across them.
Thanks. I found this example and a couple of similar ones:
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,12388.msg100324.html#msg100324 (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,12388.msg100324.html#msg100324)
The surprising method is to add the spices to base gravy and tomatoes and cook that until it becomes a spice paste, this being done in a large industrial sized pan. So the answer starts to become clearer for me, you can only really cook lots of portions at once by going up in size to a mega-pan.
This has been a useful thread for me. Thank you for all contributions as my thoughts are now clearer. I think little chilie's proposed method appears the most effective for bulk cooking at home.
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This Kiwi school chef gives a good bulk example using a bought in spice mix. (The kids love it!)
http://youtu.be/uGvai2N5J60 (http://youtu.be/uGvai2N5J60)
Interesting. The use of a premade (and prefried) spice mix makes sense in this setting as it makes the process easy, but I'm sure he could also buy individual spices in bulk and fry them up in that brat pan much cheaper. I reckon one of those ready-to-go spice mixes with a thick base from this site, like JB base and you could churn out BIR at scale quite cheaply and quicker than standing over a pan cooking individual portions.
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Sorry, but I don't have a magic bullet for this one. We do exactly as Little Chilie says. You can cook double or even treble portions to speed things up but I don't usually bother because it just leads to mistakes. I spent weeks trying to create bulk recipes but failed completely - even simple sauces like a korma just didn't come out right.
If anyone has some tips of their own I'm all ears. I have always said that if you could crack this, the Tesco contract alone would be worth millions :)
Thanks mate, understood. I bet supermarkets could quite easily commission a factory to cook BIR recipe meals at scale but the things which stop them doing so are simple economics (it takes a long time and the recipes are complex) and shelf life considerations. Supermarket ready meals need to be acidic to have a 2 week shelf life (taking into account the several days in the supply chain before it even hits the shelf) so they make them with fruit based sauces with a low ph.
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What you say makes sense Sverige - I dislike the acid taste of many of these ready meals but hadn't realized it was to improve shelf life.
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Hey all I will be bulk cooking for 40 on Friday night and Sat morning ;D will see if I have time to post some images as time will be very limited.
I finish work at 9pm Friday's and must have bulk curry and rice ready for 9.30 AM, 8) Im not fazed in the slightest! but should be a fun few hours ;D
I will make base Friday night and prep! Cook catering size chicken Madras curry in the (AM) along with the rice. Simples ;)
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Say you want to bulk cook a madras curry, prepare all the thinks you would need for 10 portions, next to the hob your working on place a large pot.
Start cooking your single portion of madras, when finished add to the pot then scrape pan do not wash and cook your next 9 portions this way.
End result is a pot of bulk madras as it should taste! I have used this method to serve 15 portions with stunning results., I have a post on the forum with photos for this very method.
You can warm this pot in oven before service if you choose.
I find this is the only way to truly replicate in bulk cooking, and it's awesome practice for you to perfect a dish, as by the 15th portion you now exactly how to tweak the dish.
Regards.
That is such a simple idea it is amazing it needs to be posted,lol. Thankfully it was because I'm on to my 6th tweeking of a and it is nearly there. Thanks for the post.