not getting far on the science of this - surfactants and emulsifiers getting too deep for curry. adding lecithin as an example.

only learning being carrot & onion are high in pectin (which is good for oil water bond). if the start of the stage 1 base is not rapidly brought close to boil then enzymes can breakdown the pectin. moral being turn up gas and hope the pan bottom does not burn by giving onion/carrot a few stirs. going to try it out on the next crockpot.

have given the 8" fly swatter a go. poor result the base passed around the gap to the pan edge (it caught a little oil but not enough to be worth the effort).

next time going to put swatter down in middle of pan and spoon off the oil from the top of the mesh.

on the +ve side - felt if the mesh can work it makes life easier as i felt on this cook i did not need to worry about using too much oil. eg on the base stage 2 cook after thinning i usually skim of the oil - this time just left it

PS tikka without yogurt in marinade is a keeper - it looked better and no real change on tenderness

Ghoulie, many thanks will have good read through link. am exploring the "science" in spare time

have got prep done to try out the big fly swatter (oil skimmer). pic shows stage1 mytake base under oil, panpot bunjarra, IFFU tikka.

ps have left the yogurt out of the tikka marinade per livo bbq lamb suggestion

livo,

many thanks once again.

overnight the "water bleed" has jumped into my mind - it being just as bad if not worse than oil bleed. chewytikka knows his stuff and me big fan.

feel i need to improve my understanding of the emulsification in curry "oil onion and water"

i don't get water on my BIR but have experienced it in BIR restaurants sometimes. from my own none curry cooking i know if dish isn't condensed enough the strength of the taste is inferior (say an Italian tomato sauce). i may be mixing things up - i dont know. let me explain.

i make what i call crockpot curry often (8 portions for use during the working week). it's essentially base cooked slowly till the onions melt, then blend, then thin (i dont add water to the start of any base). if i add too much water this bleeds out but the curry itself is incredibly thick and feels like it needs the extra thinning water (the amount of onion should make 10 portion)

whatever the emulsifier is - i'm clearly missing it.

got to just add a thanky to bengalibob and the adil for inspiring shredded chicken which transforms the crockpot.

PS i don't get fused about simmering till oil surfaces. once i've got the scum off i'm happy (not all think scum removal important), (scum off within 5 -10mins of coming to simmer). sometimes oil surfaces as the base cools. i do like to cook with base oil - for me its about lots of little things that on their own are hard to justify but collectively make a difference.

ruddy heck -just realised i've spelt  baghar wrong.

Phil,

the link is a good point "splitting as opposed to separating out" and what i'm trying to understand.

the only time i see separating out (except if i over cook the baghar by mistake) is when i thin the base and re heat it in preparation for dish fry (i actually fry with room temp base). the oil that surfaces i use to start the dish fry (plus plain oil if i run out). the amount of reheating is nothing like when the baghar splits - 2 types of separation exist are they the same?.

what is the reason separating is good yet splitting is bad (splitting occurring at the end of dish fry not on the plate, oil leaking onto the plate has already surfaced at end of dish fry (or that's what i think).

am jus trying to get a better wording of it so i can understand it.

my interest was rekindled recently when  made cauli cheese using the same method as i always do - the sauce split into water and curd - very nasty experience. have since learnt that cheese chemically splits at 180C. my folly being to put the cauli into a 220C cooling oven after cooking roast pots.

maybe im just searching for what the science of oil and base because oil and water don't mix - so what holds the oil in the onion & veg base

Phil,

not 100% how its going to work. my thought is to keep a glass measuring jug close to the cooking. when the curry is cooked placed the skimmer over the pan (to hold back the curry) and hope the oil excess drains into the jug. this oil i will freeze and start the next base.

when i say not 100% how its going to work - most dish i currently cook (1 chef spoon starting oil 4 tbsp 60ml) have no oil on top as it gets burned off during the baghar. the CA smoke and zaal garlic start/use 2 chef and thats when i get too much oil. am also thinking that maybe to use 2 chef as standard to get more skimmed for use in the next base.

its essentially going to be trial and error.

are there advantages of causing the curry to split during dish frying (by over cooking the baghar stage oil,g/g,mix,puree etc before adding the bulk of the base)

i always aim never to split as the curries taste good without splitting and have never gelled with the "extra" floating oil that it causes.

if the oil skimming works then splitting could work for me if there is an advantage.

have received 1st piece of kit to try out. may have to wait a few weeks to make base say over xmas.

not totally convinced it will work as there are gaps in the corners. i ordered 8" mesh to suit the 10" pan. there is a 10" mesh if the 8" passes muster but not quite perfect.

thank you all for trying to help. i was hoping someone would say i use "this" and it works a treat. going to get a few ebay samples and try them out.

interest came from eating at local BIR where the oil was just getting out of control (new chef). after asking at order for "no oil" was amazed how the subsequent curries tasted just as good yet pretty much all the surface oil was gone.

i plan to recycle into the next base (per curryqueen). the faff might not have to be quite as much as i think as sauce could be carried over to a certain extent (per mickdabass).

am hoping this will fix a few niggles in my BIR jigsaw:

- CA's method of getting smoke into the curry
- Zaal method of infusing garlic into the curry

these rely on using more oil (2 chef spoon instead of my norm 1 chef spoon or 4 tbsp or 60ml) which end up as surface oil which would be better "perception" put into the next base.

am going to give this a further go.

in past have used chef spoon (per happy-chris madras video).

its a lot of a drag and as a result avoided by keeping dish fry oil and base oil just enough to keep the BIR product but with almost no oil on the surface of the fried curry.

am looking for an more efficient way - current though being what i can only describe as a metal perforated plate to hold against the pan on an angle (a bit like draining pasta with a pan lid that is perforated). the closest seems to be called skimmer frying spoon.

if anyone already uses please give details. there seems to be too many types to choose from.

the concern being my pan rim is 10 inch and feel a spoon may be too small to stop the curry flowing out around the sides.