Hi all, long time no see !

I am convinced stock is critical

BIR cook massive amounts of meat each week (unlike a home cook)

They must use this process to add a little something we cant do so easily at home.

recently I make plain onion bases with no spice !

I do however add the best quality chicken stock I can find

I have noticed after a few days the base does mature, and it produces a depth of flavour in the curry that has that old quality.  The stock is mellowing after 1 -2 days

Last week I actually cooked off a quick madras with lots of butter ghee,  hint of methi, bit of salt and was blown away with the result.

The curry had an old taste to it and was certainly the nearest I ever got to that Moorish meaty taste
typical of bangledesh bir curry. Not 100 % clone but much nearer than I ever got before.

Importantly the moorrish taste was coming through.

I was not expecting this taste , so was quite shocked. Definitely going to have to repeat this again

You do need the right stock. My own home made stock was wrong when I tried that last year.

So clearly the stock needs to be top notch .

Thanks to whoever started this topic,  the timing could not have been better !

Made a new base last night. Its a variant of my own personal base with a few major tweaks !

tasted it this morning and its promising

Still not made a curry with it though.

However this thread has some useful new ideas in it !   Nice one ! 

Hi Jerry , George , good to know some of the old members are still around.

You guys have notched up some serious hours in this curry game !  respect !

I will try parker21 spice mix, that's one I missed during my gardening leave !

Hi Curryholics !

I am going to make my first batch of base for over 6 months !   

6 month gap would have been unthinkable back in 2011 ! 

Will try JBs latest base looks good. thanks JB

What are the new spice mixes everyone is keen on at the mo?
cheers DD

Its very encouraging that a few of you remember me!    I had a real blast using this forum several years ago. Best bit of the internet !

I will re kindle my curry making any day soon , and look forward to sharing any new discoveries at cr0

The last minor change I tried was adding half litre of Tescos finest  pre made chicken stock to the base .

This added some depth to the base, that worked well.

Next I plan to add some mooli radish to the base. Never got around to trying that.

There are some restaurants near me charging ?11 for a madras !

Is it worth it?

I would say yes

The taste is out of this world, 

If you don't know what I mean then you clearly don't have any good curry houses in your area

Then you get the rest of the average jo curry houses which are not so different to my own attempts

Sadly due to long commutes I don't seem to have the time to make bases any more! gutted

I actually order more TA now, which is expensive for what you get !  a tiny little carton for ?7  -  (moderated) !

Good to be back mate

Thanks Phil.

Look forward to trying those suggestions soon.

Its a crying shame the forum never managed to crack the illusive taste ?

Must be one of the few remaining secrets left in this digitally connected world of ours !

Hello everyone !  good to know this site is still alive and kicking

Not sure how many of the old members are still about ?

Have fond memories of ranting endlessly on this forum. Great fun 

Are there any new bases or break throughs I have missed in last year ?

Cheers DD 

Hello all, long time no see !  happy new year   

To my mind what makes a bir curry is
1) the taste should be curry, BUT with a modern taste/twist (offering something very new compared to traditional indian).

how is this achieved?

using elaborate techniques (e.g custom onion pastes, specialist custom gravies, making spiced oil, using the whole range of ingredients,  eg lime juice, lemon juice, lentils, tamerind, ghee, butter, garlic powder,

making a curry in stages  e.g  pre cooked marinated chicken, spiced tomato puree paste, gravies, spiced oils.  Ever noticed how pre cooked chicken can influence the final taste of a good curry? 

traditional indian curry is rarley made in so many stages, this is what separates the taste from bir curry , in my humble opinion !     

good restaurants charge more because they have developed more effective ways at making each stage of the curry (base, spice mixes, pre cooked meat , meat stocks etc)  . This skill only comes from experience and a gift for cooking. 
For part time, home cooks this is hard to match.  Hence we often get disapointed

These secrets of top bir kitchens are rarly exposed.  Although the basics are freely shared.

curry tastes evolve in the best restaurants. the best bir cooks were from india when royalty paid them to produce cutting edge curry.  i bet the taste is still evolving

my 2 penneth worth