Hi Jerry,

Not sure I can add anything useful, except for that freshly ground is always best in my experience.  If the takeaways and restaurants use bought in cumin powder (realistically yes I'm sure they will) then I'm sure they will choose a good brand, and get through it quickly (nothing stale). But then are you saying that to aspire to BIR food you should copy that and not bother grinding cumin seeds ?

Surely, it can be forgiven for us amateurs (with more time on our hands than the hectic work of a BIR chef) that we grind spices to achieve the best freshness.  After all, without wanting to appear sexist or in any way racist, would the wives of the (mainly) Bangledishi chefs cook meals for their husbands with less flavour than necessary, or indeed said chefs being satisfied with less than perfect.

I say grind away.

Regarding leaving out Cumin from Mix Powder.... Personally I find it's essential for that earthy almost 'sweaty' flavour.  I know you're not a fan of cumin, and use it minimally, but this goes to show how each of us has different tastes. The best Restaurant Madras I've tasted (and have you at the Hilal) was not to your taste, but for me was Utopia on a plate.

No Sanity Check required, just a case of personal preference.  Good analytical post though, gets the intellectual juices flowing.

Phil,
I agree that ground methi is the essence of curry. Hard to explain unless you have smelled it. But while we only use freshly-toasted and ground cumin, we rely on shop-bought ground methi because it is too tough and resistant to toast and grind in the electric coffee mills that we use. How do you prepare it in your kitchen?
Regards,
Tim

Are you on Crack or something, Jerry?

I sneak a little extra ground fenugreek seeds when making base gravy and mixed powder. It's that aroma that's so appealing. As is methi leaves in the final dish fry.

I know you are striving for something Jerry, and I THINK I have a rough idea what direction you are headed in, but I can't help feeling you're pushing the envelope when said envelope is already almost completely full i.e. you may have reached 99.9% and trying to get further. Packing underway btw.

Garp... stop sniping.

Quote from: macferret on January 08, 2015, 09:38 PM
I agree that ground methi is the essence of curry. Hard to explain unless you have smelled it. But while we only use freshly-toasted and ground cumin, we rely on shop-bought ground methi because it is too tough and resistant to toast and grind in the electric coffee mills that we use. How do you prepare it in your kitchen?

I just use the pre-ground stuff, Tim.  Although I have a reserved coffee grinder for use in grinding spices, I make no use of it when attempting to re-create BIR flavours at home.  I think that one has to be realistic and accept that "your average BIR" (or even your good BIR that is not right at the top of the heap) is /very/ unlikely to grind the basic spices; it will make use of pre-ground, pre-packaged spices which it will get through so quickly that they will have little or no chance to deteriorate in storage.

** Phil.