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Supplementary Recipes (Curry Powders, Curry Paste, Restaurant Spice Mixes) => Supplementary Recipes (Spice Mixes, Masalas, Pastes, Oils, Stocks, etc) => Topic started by: curryhell on January 04, 2012, 10:01 PM

Title: Ifindforu's spice mix vs Abdul's spice mix
Post by: curryhell on January 04, 2012, 10:01 PM
Well tonight I decided to pitch Ifindforu
Title: Re: Ifindforu's spice mix vs Abdul's spice mix
Post by: artistpaul on January 04, 2012, 10:37 PM
Nice post Curryhell, well done and very interesting results.

just received a package of IFFU mix so will be doing a similiar test using IFFU  base also

nice one cheers

Paul
Title: Re: Ifindforu's spice mix vs Abdul's spice mix
Post by: curryhell on January 04, 2012, 10:45 PM
Nice post Curryhell, well done and very interesting results.

just received a package of IFFU mix so will be doing a similiar test using IFFU  base also

nice one cheers

Paul
No worries Paul.  I wanted to introduce the variables one by one.  I want to try the same test again but using Ifindforu's spice mix vs Abdul's and then do a base and spice mix comparison.  All interesting stuff.  And it provides lunch tomorrow for some lucky guinea pigs ;D
Title: Re: Ifindforu's spice mix vs Abdul's spice mix
Post by: emin-j on January 04, 2012, 10:51 PM
Well done CH,interesting post,look forward to the results from work.
Title: Re: Ifindforu's spice mix vs Abdul's spice mix
Post by: Wickerman on January 05, 2012, 07:40 AM
   
For the last month or so, I've been following  with great interest ,'Ifindforu's spice mix'.
I wouldn't know where to begin -looking for the Jalpur garam masala let alone the Eastern Star Curry Powder.
So i'm leaving this one in the hands of the experts.
I really am looking forward to your results,curryhell.
An excellent post,sir.
Title: Re: Ifindforu's spice mix vs Abdul's spice mix
Post by: PaulP on January 05, 2012, 09:40 AM
Great Post CH, I'm looking forward to the results. I should have the results of the full IFFU test tonight or tomorrow. Last night the 4.5 litre solid block of stage 1 base was defrosting. I just need to do the tomatoes, garlic, ginger and spice thing tonight (baghar) and get it all blended and cooked for a while.

Cheers,

Paul


Title: Re: Ifindforu's spice mix vs Abdul's spice mix
Post by: Whandsy on January 05, 2012, 02:13 PM
Good effort CH,
It will be interesting to see how this compares when used with ifindforu's base as well, part of the fun of all this currymaking is the experimenting.

I made ifindforu's base last week and it was a good base, still want to experiment with julians c2g though.

Looking forward to your workmate's analysis :)

W
Title: Re: Ifindforu's spice mix vs Abdul's spice mix
Post by: curryhell on January 05, 2012, 08:33 PM
I wouldn't know where to begin -looking for the Jalpur garam masala let alone the Eastern Star Curry Powder.
Unless you want a 10kg tin of the stuff the easiest source for this is to pm ifindforu.  He provides the curry powder or his mix powder at a very good price via e-bay.  As for the Jalpur garam masala, it can be found at asian grocers but this can be a hit and miss affair.  I was lucky.  Again, any difficulties i'm sure ifindforu would be more than willing to help you out.  I'm sure you'll eventually get round to trying it :D
Title: Re: Ifindforu's spice mix vs Abdul's spice mix
Post by: curryhell on January 05, 2012, 08:34 PM
Great Post CH, I'm looking forward to the results. I should have the results of the full IFFU test tonight or tomorrow. Last night the 4.5 litre solid block of stage 1 base was defrosting. I just need to do the tomatoes, garlic, ginger and spice thing tonight (baghar) and get it all blended and cooked for a while.

Cheers,

Paul
Am eagerly awaiting your results too Paul.  That block must have taken a bit of thawing :o :o ;D
Title: Re: Ifindforu's spice mix vs Abdul's spice mix
Post by: PaulP on January 05, 2012, 09:01 PM
Well CH, base is pretty much made and tastes good so I hope I've got enough time to get around to making a quick curry later. So much to do, so many things to clean.........  ;)
Title: Re: Ifindforu's spice mix vs Abdul's spice mix
Post by: curryhell on January 05, 2012, 09:51 PM
Ok, result time.
The feedback was by no means conclusive but enlightening nevertheless and the buggers went through the research material like a bloody plague of locusts :o

Opinion one from a wannabe chef but not BIR orientated (and an unexpected taste tester) was that the ifindforu's verion had it by a nose.  It had a slight sweetness about it and tasted a little hotter than Abdul's.  The heat was the right level for him (lightweight >:( ) and he then proceded to describe my curries as "lush".  :D :D

Second up serious madras curry eater (oh christ no :o).  Both look the dogs bollocks  he said :D (phew).  There was a serious amount of savouring of both offerings and then a double take :o.  Abdul drew level with a comment of a stronger flavour and a longer after taste compared to the competition which had a sweeter note.

Next up another serious curry lover (but nothing too hot and he had concerns knowing my preferred heat levels :D).  Look of total shock on his face at the first mouthful  :-\.  He could actually eat it and taste it and there was no need at all for a fire extinguisher ;).  Really tasty curries that look no different from the local TA.  Abdul's nudges ahead with a comment of a slightly deeper more robust tasting dish but not a lot in it.  Ifindforu's was slightly hotter in taste :-\

Third curry lover wades in, has a good feed on both and declares they are both lovely and as good as his local TA and very little difference between the two in flavour >:( >:(.  Not much help :'(

Surprise tester, a frenchman chips in, enjoys both offerings, very tasty  and loads of good flavour which lingers.  A nice heat remaining afterwards.  Then he declares that he only has maybe two or three takeaways during the year.  Too health conscious for my liking.

Being the chef i have the casting vote and i did my test before the human dysons arrived  ;).
When I first got home and opened the Jalpur and smelt it I was a bit taken aback and very sceptical about it delivering a good result unless used very carefully.  It is probably the most pungent commercial garam masala I have come across.  It
Title: Re: Ifindforu's spice mix vs Abdul's spice mix
Post by: Stephen Lindsay on January 05, 2012, 11:41 PM
Great post CH and perhaps one which emphasises the subjectivity of individual tastes even when you have been fairly empirical in your approach. I'd have been more worried if there was a consensus that one outshone the other by miles!
Title: Re: Ifindforu's spice mix vs Abdul's spice mix
Post by: solarsplace on January 06, 2012, 09:34 AM
Hi CH

As SL says - great post! interesting, amusing and well written.

It is interesting to hear, that although, relatively quite different spices / mixes were used, the differences in the end still remains quite subtle.

Glad I'm not one of your guinea pigs though!

... I shall be probing them a lot deeper. ...
Title: Re: Ifindforu's spice mix vs Abdul's spice mix
Post by: emin-j on January 06, 2012, 12:11 PM
Well done CH, it seems there being so little to choose between the curry's that using many of the regular spice mix's could produce similar flavoured curry's,my current duo is curry2go's base with ifindforu's spice mix but without the Jalpur GM and ES curry powder (i use Rajah) and am very pleased with the resulting curry's,
As there was no 'Eureka' moment at the tasting confirms to me there is no real need for the JP or ES spices which aren't available in my area anyway,very well done for taking the time to complete the test  8)
Title: Re: Ifindforu's spice mix vs Abdul's spice mix
Post by: curryhell on January 06, 2012, 10:50 PM
Great post CH and perhaps one which emphasises the subjectivity of individual tastes even when you have been fairly empirical in your approach. I'd have been more worried if there was a consensus that one outshone the other by miles!
Stephen, I don't think there can be many more topics than this that are so subjective.  The best we can hope for is a general concensus of opion and i think that is being a bit hopeful ;).  If one dish had have outshone the other, obviously i would then need to have  investigated further.  But that isn't to say the opposite results entirely could not have been gleened from a different panel of judges :-\.  At the end of the day it's all good fun and i've learnt a couple of things from it.  I look forward to the next test :D
Title: Re: Ifindforu's spice mix vs Abdul's spice mix
Post by: curryhell on January 06, 2012, 10:57 PM
Hi CH

As SL says - great post! interesting, amusing and well written.

It is interesting to hear, that although, relatively quite different spices / mixes were used, the differences in the end still remains quite subtle.

Glad I'm not one of your guinea pigs though!

... I shall be probing them a lot deeper. ...
Hi Sp.  What you saying???  You wouldn't like my food :o :o ;D. Glad you enjoyed reading it. When you look at the composition of both spice mixes you can see that the make up of both is very similar % wise.  That's why i chose Abdul's and because i rate i highly.  The whole purpose of this first experiment was to see what kind of impact Jalpur had vs another garam masala.  In retrospect what i should have done was to make up identical mixes of the same powder with the exception of the brand of gm used.  Lesson learnt.  Looking forward to doing part two now ;D
Title: Re: Ifindforu's spice mix vs Abdul's spice mix
Post by: curryhell on January 06, 2012, 11:07 PM
Well done CH, it seems there being so little to choose between the curry's that using many of the regular spice mix's could produce similar flavoured curry's,my current duo is curry2go's base with ifindforu's spice mix but without the Jalpur GM and ES curry powder (i use Rajah) and am very pleased with the resulting curry's,
As there was no 'Eureka' moment at the tasting confirms to me there is no real need for the JP or ES spices which aren't available in my area anyway,very well done for taking the time to complete the test  8)
Glad to hear you're getting good results emin-j.  I now have some ES so i can make Ifindforu's mix exactly to spec and pitch one powder against another.  The first experiment was really about seeing if Jalpur really made a  difference.  It did albeit only marginal with personal preferences then coming into play as to which curry was better.  I have some further experiments i wish to carry out.  For me this is all about determining which mix powder i use going forward, albeit a combination of a couple or the tweaking of one.  Then i can move on to deciding on which base provides "better" results before i start to modify that trying to get closer to the taste with which i am familiar.  Thanks for taking the trouble to read the thread and comment.