Yes , I know what you mean. The curries are ok but somehow you've not got exactly what you want. And totally agree that the sum is less than the parts. All the same his recipes are very comprehensive and complete and I'm really enjoying them.

I made Dins "my base gravy" which he posted before the 1970's base gravy. I've got loads in my freezer along with the salvaged savoury oil. So I was't going to make another of his bases, before using that. To be honest, both recipes are very similar, except the 70's style gravy pre cooks the chicken in it whereas his first base has chicken carcass boiled in it's added stock . So.....I made the vindaloo. It's a good recipe. I think the worcester sauce adds a little magic. Curry Queen had a few recipes using that way back!! So I feel almost like I've gone full circle. The curry was pretty oily too. My wife loved it, but I didn't feel it was a "wow" moment. Just a reasonable curry. I really liked the simplicity of the recipe and I'll be trying a few more curries  from Din. He clearly knows his stuff. I had a bought frozen curry at the same time as this vindaloo. Hate to say it, but I preferred the bought curry (it was a Rogan Josh). Better aroma and deeper flavour

I have a load of the first base he posted. It's in the freezer. The first base uses a boiled chicken carcass as stock. This new recipes makes the precooked chicken in the curry gravy. Then removes it. To be fair to Julian's books , he did write about this method and gave a similar recipe as a Pakistan Curry Gravy. I do like the Chef Dins videos though. They are the clearest instructions I have ever seen. I will be trying some of his new recipes

I used to live for this site
I would upload cooking demos and read every contribution made
I went to London for a paid BIR cooking lesson. I was still dissatisfied with my results. I eventually spent £500 on a cooking lesson with Adey Payne. After that failed I just kind of gave up. I came to  the conclusion BIR can't be cooked at home to the same standard. There's always a missing wonderful flavour which I believe comes from the old bhaji oil in the curry gravy. But CRO was always and still is the best site. I guess also the advent of curry house chefs showing recipes on YouTube has stopped interest on this site. When I first started posting noone knew anything .it was all groundbreaking . These days it seems like it's all common knowledge . Just look at how many BIR books there are now!

well, I had a go using the ebook. I made the bombay potato
The potatoes are pre cooked by deep frying with with no spices.
A different approach but you know it's not that bad an idea
I've pre cooked far worse using " genuine" methods
I made the spicey oil and secret paste
I also made the gravy as per the book
Then I went on to make the Bombay potato recipe.
A lot of work but I knew it would be
I also made the Lamb Kabab from his book
To tell the truth it all is a little confusing because the book recipes really don't show the same as his online videos
With the base gravy and spicey oil video, there is none of the books adding very hot oil a spoon at a time to watered down cooking spices.
In fact the quantities don't tally either
One part says 500ml of oil
Another says 700ml
Who knows?
I AM grateful that he put the book out
So thank you Chris

The results?
Well the curry was ok
Nothing really better than I can make already though
Not far off the Adey Payne recipes I was shown

But I must say the kebab was very good
I froze some and had a bit again last Friday
Thought it was even better the second time around

With the gravy and magic paste
Maybe I cooked it wrong
I did what I thought was right, but it's not the same as seeing something done or being shown how to do it first hand
Perhaps the garlic ginger should have been fried longer?
It's not really clear

Anyhow see pictures below