Curry Recipes Online
Beginners Guide => Trainee Chefs / Beginners Questions => Topic started by: JerryM on May 24, 2008, 08:26 AM
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have had a go at reclaiming oil and found it to involve a fair amount of effort and time.
i would appreciate all thoughts on how to do it better.
this is what i did:
a) quick simmer of the finished base stirring now and again
b) removed any scum that appeared in the 1st 1/2 hr (this seemed important as the scum otherwise gets in the way later during the oil reclaim)
c) when oil started to separate i pushed into the middle of the pan and scooped it off with a soup spoon. this was repeated many times as the oil progressively separated over a 2 hr period
d) left base to cool overnight
e) reheated next day reheating to quick simmer and continued with step c for 1 1/2 hrs (at which no further oil was separating)
f) added water progressively back to the base to counter that lost due to the quick simmer
observations/thoughts:
1) the separation of the oil was much faster on the next day
2) i'm not sure what effect stirring has on the separation
3) maybe i should have left all the oil in place until the simmer period was complete and then scooped off
4) maybe i should have only done the oil reclaim simmering the next day (ie 3.5 hrs the day after the original cooking)
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Hi
I haven't tried this yet, is it a BIR thing, its just all of the vids I've seen seem to use veg or sunflower oil.
Matt
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Hi
I haven't tried this yet, is it a BIR thing, its just all of the vids I've seen seem to use veg or sunflower oil.
Matt
Hi Matt.
A few members here use the spiced oil recovered from the surface of the base gravy. This may improve the taste of the final curry. You may want to try it, but personally I don't think it's worth the hassle.
Others just stir it back into the base so that each portion has its own equal share of the spiced oil.
I'm not aware of BIR's using reclaimed oil, probably for some of the reasons Jerry has mentioned (effort and time). And yes, you're right, they do use fresh veg oil.
SnS
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i would appreciate all thoughts on how to do it better.
Jerry,
I have found that the thicker the base, the less the oil separates. Combined with your extended cooking time (more evaporation), this would make it harder for you to reclaim the oil ... unless you added lots of water to maintain the original 'thin soup-like' consistency.
Regards
SnS ;)
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SNS,
appreciate your input. i did aim to maintain the thin soup like consistency but being a little nervous would guess i did not do it enough - banked for future.
Matt,
SNS is quite right on the hassle point - hence the post - there must be an easier way - i'm sold 100% on the taste improvement though. these are the posts which got me to try it.
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,602.0.html (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,602.0.html)
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,735.0.html (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,735.0.html)
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,782.20.html (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,782.20.html)
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=190.msg1069#msg1069 (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=190.msg1069#msg1069)
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Hi SnS
Thanks for that there's certainly more to this curry cooking than I imagined.
I'm trying to decide which base to try think I will have a go at the saffron as it seems the most popular at the mo.
Matt
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Hi Matt
If you're making the Saffron base first then consider using this Madras to go with it (it is a good introduction to using the base cooking method).
This does not use reclaimed oil.
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,2603.0.html
Regards
SnS :)
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Thanks for that, Madras is about the top of my heat limit.
Matt
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I have to say I have found the process fairly simple. I think this depends on the base you make though. I always cook until the oil separates from the base then just skim it into a pot after cooling when most of the oil rises to the top. Bases with any sort of cream added such as creamed cocoanut seem to be reluctant to give up the oil. I made UB's base but still manged to get the oil out. When I cook a curry I add plenty of oil to the pan and once done skim the excess and add to the reclaimed oil pot again. This builds up the flavour of the oil I believe. I believe it makes a difference but it's not the be all and end all. You have to be careful adding oil to currys as I think too much tends to mask the finished flavour if you don't get the majority back out.
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From my experience (I barely got any reclaimed oil in the past but now I get a lot easily without any special procedure) I think the key is to blend very thoroughly the base, add water until getting a thinish soup consistency and do not stir after that, let simmer for about 45-60 minutes and let stand a few more minutes and thats it. It works for me. Btw is the reclaimed oil a healthy thing? I use it all but the appareance is appalling :P
Regards
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Davy/Malacara,
appreciate your help.
creamed cocoanut seem to be reluctant to give up the oil
very interested on this observation and potential pitfall - 2 of my firm fav bases (rajver and ifindforu) have creamed coconut so i will need to try hard on the reclaim when i make these.
too much tends to mask the finished flavour
totally agree that too much oil will for sure mask the flavour. i appreciate some do reclaim from the cooked curry - that's a step too far for me - i am only going to use it to cook with and then add back any left to my next base.
without any special procedure
Malacara - it sounds very special to me - priceless - will do exactly as u say - thanks
is the reclaimed oil a healthy thing
i am 100% convinced u can't get BIR without it. i know from medicals that i'm above average health for my age and I?ve lived BIR for near on 3/4 of it.
what i would say is everything in moderation is crucial - i aim for no more than 17gm of sat fat per day on average.
the appearance as u say on it's own is not good and i must admit i don't like it floating on a finished curry - the taste and smell is 8th wonder of the world for me ;D
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I couldn't see it being any less healthy than fresh veg oil. Its essentially just oil that been infused with flavour from the rest of the ingredients and spices.
Josh
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Malacara,
very pleased with your method of getting the oil reclaim to work easily.
i've made a derivative of CA's development base (trying it out tonight) and followed your key steps method - worked a treat. i went for 60mins.
i was able to pour off the oil.
for info i reclaimed 175ml of 250 added so i decided to repeat a 2nd time and managed a further 25ml (but much more hard work needing a spoon to reclaim).
i kept the pan lid on throughout and presume lid on or off makes little difference.
i spoiled the ability to taste compare the base after the 2nd go as i added too much water - which did not boil off enough. i'm pretty sure the 2nd 1 hr simmer however did NOT improve the taste and i'm sticking with just the 1 hr (as per your spec).
many thanks - i now feel i've got oil reclaim sorted and easy peasy. ;D
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Hi JerryM,
Very happy to see it went ok for you as well, I reclaim approximately the same ratio, so same method, same results ;D
Regards
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update,
1) i've recently changed when i reclaim oil. i now take my "reclaim oil" off at the end of stage 1 cooking (end of 2hr fast simmer) ie before blending. it's very easy to pour off some oil at this stage. Stage 2 being a further 1 hr simmer with the lid off and an occasional stir to keep any rising oil in the base.
2) the malik video shows the oil on the surface of the base being used to cook the dishes ie they use the curry base oil but don't technically reclaim the oil. this confirms that if u don't need to change containers after cooking the base then u don't need to reclaim ie just use the oil off the top for cooking the dishes
3) my local TA simmers the base quite vigorously at stage 2 and there is plenty of oil on the surface. they too use this oil for cooking the dishes.
4) i have to change containers after cooking the base (pans in frequent use and don't yet have separate stock pan). on my last base i forgot to take off the oil at stage 1 and was forced to reclaim using the previously used method at stage 2. i found the slow simmer to be very slow in releasing the oil and turned up the heat to that similar to my local TA. i found this more vigorous simmer had no adverse effect on the base itself but caused the oil to release much easier and quicker. The previously held concern having been that the onion and other bulk veg have a tendency to sit as a thick mass in the bottom of the pan and that high heat and infrequent stirring may cause burning or inferior taste.
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update,
1) i've recently changed when i reclaim oil. i now take my "reclaim oil" off at the end of stage 1 cooking (end of 2hr fast simmer) ie before blending. it's very easy to pour off some oil at this stage. Stage 2 being a further 1 hr simmer with the lid off and an occasional stir to keep any rising oil in the base.
i've been messing about with curry base oil recently causing me to taste the oil at various stages of base cooking (trying to work out if yellow or red delivers the best taste in the finished dish).
i found that the oil reclaimed at the end of stage 2 tastes sweeter than if taken off at the end of stage 1 (before blending).
consequently i'm reverting back to the original reclaim method of skimming off with chef spoon at the end of cooking. i also find in sieving the oil through a fine plastic sieve and paper towel it also serves to remove any leftover scum.
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Has anyone tried this? Increase the oil three or fourfold when cooking the base, so there would be three or four times the oil to reclaim. (Dregs of the base could be used or binned, depending on taste.) Then that reclaimed oil would be used as some of the oil in cooking the next batch of base. And so on, always carrying a portion of the oil forward.
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Has anyone tried this?
It's pretty much what i do although i've not tried more than double the oil. the concern being that the spices need adjusting and i'm not keen on moving too far away from any proven recipe.
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i found that the oil reclaimed at the end of stage 2 tastes sweeter than if taken off at the end of stage 1 (before blending).
consequently i'm reverting back to the original reclaim method of skimming off with chef spoon at the end of cooking. i also find in sieving the oil through a fine plastic sieve and paper towel it also serves to remove any leftover scum.
i used the original method "skimming off" on my last base. it reaffirmed that getting the oil to release has always been tricky and the whole job at this stage a lot of phaffing.
even though the oil is sweeter i'm going back to taking the oil off at the end of stage 1 ie before blending. the reasons being:
1) i can extend the stage 1 cooking to 2hrs (from 1hr) to help compensate for the loss of oil sweetness
2) pouring it off just before blending is much easier
3) there is no hit and mis at reclaiming the intended volume of oil (i find too much oil in a base is not good in terms of the taste of both base and finished curry)
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update - life of reclaimed oil.
i used to be to keep the oil in the fridge for about 2 wks (time between making bases) and tended to recycle any leftover into the next base.
since i've started using a little marg in the base this is no longer possible as the oil deteriorates much faster. i now make just enough oil to cook with and use it within 7 days.
i tend to reclaim between 300 & 400ml of oil from each base aiming for an avg of 45ml of oil for each dish.