Curry Recipes Online
Curry Base Recipes => Curry Base Chat => Topic started by: joshallen2k on May 03, 2009, 04:59 PM
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Hi All,
I finally got around to putting my two favorite Base recipes head to head by making a Madras curry with each.
Comments to follow the pics.
1 - The two base sauces simmering away. The SnS was noticeably more orange/red than the BE, which was decidedly yellower/greener.
2 & 3 - Ingredients Ready to go. I cooked both curries more or less simultaneously. Both Madras recipes were exactly as written by Bruce and SnS.
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4 - The finished SnS Madras (just missing coriander at this point)
5 - The finished Bruce Edwards Madras
6 - In Serving dishes - The BE is on the left, the SnS on the right.
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OK, so observations...
- the consistency of the SnS was a little better (I put this down to the specific technique that SnS prescribes in the Madras recipe)
- they were both the same "hotness", which I wasn't expecting. I found the SnS base noticeably hotter than the BE, coupled with the added half teaspoon of Kashmiri Mirch in the recipe, meant I expected SnS' Madras to be hotter. That wasn't the case. Weird.
- the SnS yielded more oil in the finished curry than the BE, again unexpected as the BE starts with a full 4 tablespoons of oil.
- in terms of flavour, I could not pick between the two which one had decidedly better taste. I was equally happy with both.
So, to try and break the deadlock I had two other people (not particularly Madras fans) each try a forkful of chicken and sauce. Both gave me immediately the same reply as to which they preferred... which I put down to the....
Colour!! - the SnS yielded a redder curry, while the BE was noticeably browner. I too preferred the look of the SnS.
Now on to try CK's Madras...
-- Josh
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hi josh great work mate and 2 outstanding curries! what would they have said if you had blind tested them? as we are all fooled by our eyes. ::)
regards
gary
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Hi Gary - it really was a pick'em. The blind taste could have gone either way. There was a greater depth of flavour in the SnS. Could be down to the pinch of garam and MSG, not sure. One thing I DID miss out, was the 2 tsp of lemon juice in the BE. It got down to curry time, and I noticed I was out of lemon juice. To me that is a MUST in a Madras. That alone could have swayed my vote. That said, I've never tried lemon juice in the SnS Madras, which I will do next time.
-- Josh
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Awesome post! I knocked up some SnS base yesterday. It's good stuff!
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Well done Sir! It's a lot of work doing tests like this, but I think it's the only way to go.
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Great post Josh, Thats dedication for you! both of those dishes look up to high restaurant standards i would go far as to say Ive seen and ordered worse.
Thanks UB.
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Excellent post.
Both dishes look fantastic.
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Josh,
real good stuff as always.
it would have been interesting to have blind folded the 2 testers - before reading the observations i'd already decided i liked the SnS version as opposed to the BE. i wonder if that preconceived judgement does make a difference. i've made both of these myself at different times. i've checked back my photo's and the SnS for me was slightly redder too. i did however make a BE version with deggie making the colours equal.
really looking fwd to the CK madras result.
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Great report Josh.
(personally I don't like lemon juice in Madras though)
SnS
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Have I missed something, has BE had more material published, or is this from the Curry Mag articles? That must be about 20 years old now. I know he did a general curry piece on here, dont recall a Madras though.
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Hi Naga Dave,
Bruce published an updated curry base on the site here last year. The post is here: http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=2815.0
The Madras itself is indeed the old recipe, but when he published the base last year, he provided a standard "curry" recipe as well. It was unchanged from the older version, so I felt safe using the original madras recipe.
Hope this helps.
-- Josh
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OK thanks for that. I just wondered if we were comparing like with like. If the recipe is the old one, it seems we aren't. Pity we haven't got an updated version. Seems he was a bit ahead of the rest of us and will probably have moved on a little since then. And of course BIR currys have changed quite a lot since then too.
D.