I'll stick to my "black iron" ones.  They seem to be good enough for many of the restaurants round here  .  Besides i like the " ring" of my chef's spoon against the side.  All you get with an ali pan is a dull "thud"  .  Unless several people do a cook off, one pan vs another, i won't be making a purchase.  Let us know how you get on Gazman.

Hi all, Im going to stay off topic then hopefully bring it back.. I made the remark to try and clear up(in my own mind!!) some information on posts which were possibly conflicting of which there are lots on this site..it's a forum right?? This particular comment related to a member(will look back & confirm before naming, but If i remember correctly someone who's knowledge is sought after at the moment) commenting that aluminium pans were less likely to burn due to them conducting the heat more evenly. Julian then said in one of his videos, that the non stick property of the ali pans was in some way beneficial to changing the flavour, ie 'caramelising the base'. Its was simply just a term i have never heard used before in terms of the 1st ladle, but it did make sense!

I do know the difference between reduction & caramelisation, i have around half ltr of caramelised onion paste (bunjarra, banjarra) in my freezer. I have also caramelised onion in bases before adding any liquid, which i found to my surprise & dismay that it made little difference in taste. I am using an ikea wok, which has started to rust(ali pan coming next week) & i think i am well past the burning of ingredient stages...in fact now i cook spices in G&G & tomato puree rather tha oil, agin with no real difference in flavour for me. I think all of this can be found summerised in "cr0 myths"
My personal struggle at the moment in creating bir...& there definately is 'something' missing , is I've been looking to avoid home cooking brick walls like oil, hopefully thats only 0.5 percent(whoever came up with this missing  5% should be credited, because they were right on it!)
I look at it in terms of layers of flavours added, beginning with the base. If I don't like the taste of the base on its own, I won't like the main dish after reducing...everything cooked & not burned(a spectrum, not black & white)
spice mixes - Im not 100% convinced on yet, there is some good interegation of a 'certain mix' at the moment on here...my thinking on this at the moment is may be the 10kg catering containers of curry powder are so widely used in the industry, may be contributing something extra, I've no idea whats in them!! (Have never seen Eastern Star here, & only maybe 5 others,  Easter Star being a fair bit more expensive)
Stock - I can pick out stock(manufactured or else) in many a bir dish. for me when used properly creates a great background flavour, when I've ever had good risotto, then thats where the flavour came from.

Advanced or multi stage gravy (cr0)-  I'm mad keen to hear more, but Julianc2g never mentioned this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
On topic- CurrytoGo, Cannot wait to hear a members taste test on c2g, it's long overdue, & Im too far away....Its very seldom that trade secrets of any kind are revealed on tv/web by people in the business, but I think it all adds to Julians credibility.those videos are brilliant & Im sure between both gravies & c2g I'm sure I will have taken a huge step forward to creating what I'm after

I'm ok for Ugg boots at the moment but really enjoy reading members testing results & thoughts on here, keep them coming & happy christmas
Regards
ELW

Feel free to delete or move this to the correct section

Paul

Quote from: PaulP on December 22, 2011, 02:39 PM
I do wish you would stop telling me what I already know e.g. what caramelisation is.

There are other people who read this thread apart from you Paul, perhaps they might benefit from this information, despite you already knowing everything there is to know already?

Quote from: PaulP on December 22, 2011, 02:39 PM
This forum is now quite vast and I can tell you that the subject of pans has been discussed from time to time but I don't have time to look for you to provide the links.

Well I've read all the threads discussing pans and there's nothing in any of them that refer to their ability for base sauce 'caramelisation' and that's one of the primary reasons for why they're used in a BIR Kitchen. I've seen plenty of discussion about the ideal size, and a question or two asking 'why an aluminium pan' but surprise, surprise - no answer. But you know don't you Paul, because you know everything.

Quote from: PaulP on December 22, 2011, 02:39 PM
Not everybody will come rallying to this thread to tell you what pan they use because 1) it is off-topic and should be a new thread or a old thread brought up again

Can you please explain to me exactly why it's off-topic? The last time I looked the title of this thread was New Video's From Curry2Go in Chorley. Given that one of the said videos contains a tip from the Julian with regards to the type of pan used in BIR kitchens, I'd suggest to you that it's very much on topic, regardless of what you might think, but then I'm forgetting, you know it all don't you?

Quote from: PaulP on December 22, 2011, 02:39 PM
you are slightly confrontational bordering on insulting at times to members of cr0. (questioning cooking skills, mocking other discussions etc

And I will continue to be so too. I will always challenge established wisdom regardless of whose ego's might get bruised in the process because that's the way you strip away the wheat from the chaff and get to the truth. I'm only interested in truth and knowledge, I don't give two hoots for peoples egos.

Quote from: PaulP on December 22, 2011, 02:39 PM
I think you miss the fact that lots of people on this forum cook very nice curries that they are happy with but some of us are after a little extra and that is the hard bit to achieve.

I miss nothing. What I do know is, there's a small bunch of 'forumistas' that have been here a while who seem to think they know it all, you being one of them and when anyone dares to challenge their collective established wisdom, they throw their toys out of the pram with comments like ...this is off topic, ...start a new thread and ...I won't continue to discuss this. Who cares what you want Paul? Perhaps other people here (yeah, god forbid, there's other people here apart from you!) that might actually find this information useful to them? And do actually want to discuss it? Heavens!

Quote from: PaulP on December 22, 2011, 02:39 PM
You don't need to understand anything for this malarky

Absolute rubbish! Once again you pin your own standards on everyone else. You might think it beneath you to understand the actual processes involved - but plenty of other people do want to understand them and discuss them. The Curry Universe does not revolve around you Paul and I don't care how long you've been here, how long you've been cooking curries or how much you think you know. This forum is for collective shared information for everyone to participate in - not just you!

Quote from: PaulP on December 22, 2011, 02:39 PM
If you want to talk about pans please start a new thread or find an old one and resurrect it, and I won't continue to discuss this in this thread.

Then don't discuss it - let others discuss it, you don't have to participate in every thread Paul, I think we'll survive for once without your omnipotent and omnipresent input!

Quote from: ELW on December 22, 2011, 07:45 PM
Hi all, Im going to stay off topic then hopefully bring it back.. I made the remark to try and clear up(in my own mind!!) some information on posts which were possibly conflicting of which there are lots on this site..it's a forum right??

You would think it was a forum for asking questions, discussion and clarification wouldn't you? And yes there's an awful lot of conflicting information, one of the biggest hurdles many new members have to get over.

It's no wonder so few new members ever dare to post or ask a question given the behaviour of certain 'formumistas' who seem determined to stifle discussion and only want their own opinions and views to dominate.

Look at your post, 'I'm going to stay off topic and bring it back' Good god - discuss what ever you want to!

QuoteI would say that the most important thing to understand here is, there are many varied techniques that can be applied to create the BIR flavour, Julians being one of them, Micks being another and Chewytikka's being another.  I have tried Micks(CBM) base and it was fantastic, and so was the resultant curries using this base in conjunction with his preferred methods.  I have also been using Chewytikka base of late, and his methods in the main, which is also giving me perfect results.  Two very different methods, two very different base sauces but both resulting in fantastic BIR style dishes, albeit very different from each other!

This post will probably stay off topic until we have a tate report from C2G
Agreed Razor, Julian has really stuck his head above the parapet with his venture, I really wish him all the best, he may steal a march with that. Personally I've been trying to sort the optional from the crucial, the conflicting information (as a forum should be) is rife. One of the biggest 's for me is the Ashoka stuff from panpot,purely because I know what it should taste like, which I still can't nail to an Ashoka dish, the base being not too much different than any other....their menus posted through my door state different ingredients than the bir observation on here.....I followed those threads like a good book as I had never heard a report from a bir kitchen. the Korma has nothing in but base & cream, but in restaurant korma still has the 'unusual taste'.

What happened to Panpot?

ELW