Curry Recipes Online
Beginners Guide => Hints, Tips, Methods and so on.. => Cooking Equipment => Topic started by: Davy on April 16, 2008, 05:01 PM
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Hi,
Just wondering what contraptions our members have for actually cooking their curries? I have seen Cory's mega burner and wondered if anyone else has managed to buy or even invent the ultimate flaming device? Has anyone dared to fit a commercial wok burner into their house? :o I have a new Cannon Range with gas wok burner that is ten times better than my old gas hob but I feel the cast wok stand absorbs more heat than it lets get to the pan. So I use the wire wok stand I got from my local Chinese cash and carry.
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I'd love one - I could never get the heat I want, even more so for Chinese cooking. However, since I got a carbon steel wok, my life has changed! ;D
It's nuts the difference it makes. In my standard Tefal number, I struggle to get the oil smoking. With the wok however, the instant I add the oil, it shimmers and separates and smokes almost immediately. I can get the thing smoking so much it fills the entire kitchen.
I suppose a wok is fairly inappropriate for BIR style cooking but I'd love to lay my hands on a carbon steel curry pan!
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Davy,
this has been on my mind for a while.
i use an electric hob on full (i think it's a measly 1.5kw) and get the toffee/choking smell no probs.
my curries are not quite there at BIR taste and the only 2 things i currently have on my mind causing the shortfall is either the burner or the use of recovered oil.
a few weeks ago i tried cooking on my gas bbq. the burner is rectangular and not ideal. it's rated at 7.5kw output so felt it was a reasonable comparison c/w the 1.5kw in doors. i couldn't really say there was a difference in the taste. the wok hey effect i understand builds with cooking and sort of not washing the wok so this could still be a factor.
there's a 7.5kw wok burner for 25? on ebay that i keep thinking about. i currently intend eliminating the reclaimed oil before splashing the cash.
the other small issue with cooking outside was the lost convenience compared to the hob in the kitchen.
however the small issue with cooking inside is that no residential extract would shift the toffee/choking smoke and although i have no problems cooking in it ;D the family do complain and end up opening the back door.
i'm also questioning whether i really need that last 5% on taste as i couldn't NOT keep nipping to my local BIR and Takeaway.
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hi bobby
try visiting www.eurocatering.co.uk for your black steel pan it costs a measly 8.99 is 9 inches and retains heat well. and it is what most use in the BIR restaurants as they a dead cheap and easy to maintain just have to wipe out and oil to preserve them.i have not been disappointed by the results i have acheived using it and now regularly taste like the local rajver vindaloos. but tastier! :) my wife says anyway!
regards
gary
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Hi all,
Jerry, I must admit I am leaning heavily toward the reclaimed oil as taste enhancer. I was so desperate to try unclebucks new naan recipe that I knocked up a quick sauce last night using the oil and it was fab. I initially reclaimed it from my base sauce and then fried a couple of currys in it as well and reclaimed. It has sat in my fridge for a couple of weeks and it gets better with time. Inevitably there is some sauce lying in the bottom of the oil container and I think this marination also helps flavour. It works for me!! Bobby I cook all my curries in my wok. The same one I use for my chinese cooking and it is fine. I think we all tend to shy away from applying prelonged heat to the wok or pan initially because it goes against most of what we have been taught during conventional cooking. As we know though it helps when cooking curry! I really think that it isn't necessary to get too high in the heat stakes as far as most curry cooking goes though if I were you Jerry I would seriously consider gas if only for the more instant heat. The biggest problem we have is temperature recovery when adding cold ingredients to the pan such as the base but members have also got around that one buy preheating the base first! The main reason I feel commercials have such high heat is they need to heat large amounts quickly. In less experienced hands we may just end up burning things instead of getting a result. I am starting to think more ingredients and technique rather than raw heat if you know what I mean :) The more I look into asian cooking the more I find that we are able to replecate in the home. I was thinking about building my own tandoor but I have had good results cooking Tandoori food on my gas barbeque so I am thinking will the extra effort and expense really benefit me that much?! :-\
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Here is a deep link to the pan and a picture - ?7.99
http://www.eurocatering.co.uk/ebstore/ec/product.asp?p_part_code=BIFP10
I feel sure with this type of kit your on your way..
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That pan looks just the job. I reckon I'll get myself one of those!
I am starting to think more ingredients and technique rather than raw heat if you know what I mean :)
As far as Wok cooking is concerned, this is just not the case. If you read the article linked on this thread http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,1664.0.html (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,1664.0.html) it describes the Wok buckling heat used in top Hong Kong restaurants and describes Wok Hay as something that's in the food and in the Wok that comes out when great heat is applied. I'm certain heat has a huge part to play.
CA also wrote up a report on the differences using his kitchen cooker vs his Wok burner http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,1851.0.html (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,1851.0.html) and concluded that the Wok burner did empart a superior, more BIRish flavour on the end dish.
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the eurocatering website appears to have a 50? min order.
has anyone any other ideas on where to get as i'm sold on buying one.
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I don't think this place has a minimum order value. There is a charge for orders less than 50 squid though and the pan is more expensive.
http://www.buycatering.com/catering-equipment-prod357-10---black-iron-frying-pan.html
SnS ;D
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SNS,
thanks, have a pan on the way (20? inc vat & del)
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hi guys
you could ring them @ eurocatering, they have a shop in london so probably do less of an order, like i say i got my pan via Rajver and it was 8.99gbp bargain, my pan does not have the straight sides but rounded so you can get the spoon into the corners.....oh sorry there are no corners ;D, i think this is the link
http://www.eurocatering.co.uk/ebstore/ec/product_list.asp?p_subcategory+CB%2Dec101
regards
gary
link corrected by SnS
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SNS,
thanks, have a pan on the way (20? inc vat & del)
Let us all know how you get on with your new pan Jerry! Did you order the 10 inch one?
SnS ;D
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SNS
will keep u all posted on the new pan. i did order the 10".
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I am starting to think more ingredients and technique rather than raw heat if you know what I mean
Hi All,
I have read both articles regarding heat. Perhaps I didn't explain myself well in my last post. :-X I know how important heat is as regards cooking but there is JerryM for instance that can get an exeptable result on an electric hob. What I am getting at is that I don't think we necessarily need to aim for as high a heat as the Chinese or BIR's as I don't think this is all the story. With a decent home gas burner I feel that you can achieve enough heat to get the job done. I feel the compromise is to use smaller portions to allow quicker pan recovery and a longer initial warm up time for the pan to gain and hold more heat. I feel this is what Jerry is possibly doing. Conversly if the ingredients aren't right more heat isn't going to make it taste any better. I struggled along with a burner of about 3kw and my wok has a lovely sheen gained while cooking many a chinese meal. Having cooked commercially myself I can say the main advantage of the equipment I used was getting large amounts hot,quick! A perfect example of the "technique" I am talking about is naan's. You can use UB's new naan recipe but stick them in the oven and you've got scones. Use UB's techniqe and hey presto! Again achievable without a tandoor and in the home. I don't doubt that the way Cory cooked his curry in the article he shared with us would have added to the flavour of his dish but without his experience with the bases and spices and cooking time he might have ended up with little more than burnt onions! Equally I would bet that he could turn up a stunning curry on a regular stove.
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I feel the compromise is to use smaller portions to allow quicker pan recovery and a longer initial warm up time for the pan to gain and hold more heat
it is what i'm doing. i started with my small 9" frying pan that has non stick coating (but not much mass). when i put the hob up to max ie setting 6 out of 6 i found i could use my wok. the trouble is the wok does not sit exactly flat on the hob - hence my new pan purchase.
i've added the link to the technique i use:
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,2444.msg22679.html#msg22679 (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,2444.msg22679.html#msg22679)
i'm using the smoke paprika (thanks to Domi) to get the BIR smokey flavour and its pretty close. i do think my best curries are produced when i leave the pan on the hob longer than normal and therefore still think the amount of heat might be the last step.
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pan was delivered very pronto. it really looks and feels the business.
have seasoned as per the wok hey video albeit with home-grown chives.
itching to give it a go at frying a curry. ;D
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I've seasoned up my Wok recently. I would suggest that you might consider smearing some sunflower oil or similar onto the entire inside surface (just enough to bring a shine to the metal) and burn it off then cool the wok - then repeat this process about 3 times.
I doubt the once round with the chives will build up much of a non stick coating, I think it's more to get rid of the metalic taste.
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I love my curry pans. I get them out a place in glasgow that sells them to most of the restaurants.
(http://www.chrismiles.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/cooking/chickenmadrasbalti/madrasBaltiPan1.jpg)
(http://www.chrismiles.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/cooking/goavindaloo/DCP_1836.jpg)
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thanks Bobby/Chris303,
i read up the other posts and pretty much did as u say (heat/cool cycles x2) particularly the outside. i like the pan pics - just like mine now ;D
Pan Performance Update.
i used the pan last night.
overall i would not say it has changed the taste although the wok hey has not had time to build.
it did however transfer the heat much quicker and more evenly (so the temp lowering as i added ingredients was hardly noticeable). the none stick performance is also much much better.
i feel the heat aspect to be important as i feel my best curries are cooked at higher heat (usually when i've forgotten the pan was on when heating up at the start). as a result i feel the consistency is much better. all 4 curry portions cooked last night were up to spec.
Overall very satisfied and would definitely say worth buying.
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Chris, where do you get your pans from in the Toon?? I'm up here too so id love a trip to the source, Cheers Davy