After a cooking session with Gav recently, I started to wonder how high my heat tolerance had become
So I thought I

Interesting comparison, Chewy. And it's always useful to benchmark your own stuff against bought meals.

Although I rarely buy takeaways these days, I would definitely say that my own curries have consistently higher heat levels than anything I buy in - and I'm no heat monster!. Unless it's a purposefully hot curry, I suppose the chefs aim for the lowest permissible levels in an effort to avoid offending some punters' delicate palates.

I also like to think that I turn out better tasting and more flavoursome curries than the T/As, but that might just be wishful thinking on my part lol!

Nice Report Chewy, haven't ordered a madras in a while, may well have to do a taste comparison next weekend, could prove interesting to see what level of cooking and level of heat my curries are at

Real good thought provoking post.

Being supercritical in analysing what you eat is something I'd become aware of and has drastically reduced my trips out which is dissapointing.

Beads of sweat or I have to send back even though uncomfortable. This i feel is the only true madras test as without i guess without the right amount of chilli powder the taste of the dish is impossible to create. I say this down to recently finding proper Kashmiri chilli powder which has made me quite greedy when spooning and for sure has got me much closer to what I aim for

Taste test goes on till last scraping - downside of loving curry.

I always use a chicken madras as my benchmark order when trying a new Indian out.

It's one of the great difficulties for me, as an expat cook. I'd love to be able to taste test where I am in comparison with a decent BIR. It something that's a blessing as well as a curse, never having to compare your dishes against good competition.

I went out for a curry last weekend, had a vindaloo  which was very poor in flavour and heat, tasted of chilli powder only. My vindaloo I cooked last night is far better, IMO, can't compare heat levels but flavour wise mine is definately the tastier. Maybe the chef had an off day or the standard of cooking isn't upto scratch , the restaurant is recommended but to me it wasn't up there, unless my own standards have increased!

I went out for a curry last weekend, had a vindaloo  which was very poor in flavour and heat, tasted of chilli powder only. My vindaloo I cooked last night is far better, IMO, can't compare heat levels but flavour wise mine is definately the tastier. Maybe the chef had an off day or the standard of cooking isn't upto scratch , the restaurant is recommended but to me it wasn't up there, unless my own standards have increased!