With all the recent discussion about tsp, dessert sp, tbsp and chef spoon, I thought i'd throw another huge variable into the equation.

Whilst cooking ifindforu's final base recently, it became very apparent, the size of the stock pot! When a recipe calls to half fill the pot with water etc, that can be a great difference, not only that, cook on a low light for "about an hour". The reduction of the gravy can differ enormously if the pan's tall/thin against short and wide or indeed somebodies interpretation of a low light against another's. If the gravy's over reduced and the recipe calls to double the remaining amount with water then still another mistake.

I pm'd ifindforu and he said the pan should be about 1 ft wide and about 10 inches tall. Bigger than i would have thought!

This is by no means aimed at terry / ifindforu as he kindly bothered to pm me back, but rather an enquiry as to what other members use as their stock pot size of choice

Wayne

Hi Wayne
Just go to your nearest Asian Food Supermarket and buy
the right tool for the job, 1 foot X 10inch Ally curry pot will be around a 10ltr
more than ample for any base recipe on cR0 and will last for years.

I've got 2x5ltr, 10ltr, 20ltr, and a jumbo 40ltr which doesn't get aired very often.

cheers ChewyPots

Hi Wayne,

It is a good point that you raise.  I would also add to this, you may remember my remarks with regards to the amount of veg/onions that I'd witnessed in my local TA's stock pot, and that of c2g and Dipuraja?  The onions clearly over filling the pot.  With regards to the c2g base, doesn't he say to add the same amount of water as you have gravy?

So, if I have this correct, his pot looked like a 5L pressure cooker style pot.  His veggies/onions came above the brim of the pot and he added about 750ml of liquid (water & oil).  Once cooked, it appeared to have around 4L of gravy ingredients before the water was added.  Blend, then add equal amounts of water, so, the there would have been around 6-7L of gravy before the 'seasoning' was added.

So with that observed, that rule could apply to any size pot that you use, as long as you stick with the c2g method.  Where this methodology falls down, is the amount of spices that you would add to achieve what c2g intends us to?  Plus, with the added ambiguity of the exact measurement of a chefspoon, it's always going to give varied results.

I've got to admit, I've never tried to do a gravy with so many solid ingredients and very little liquid as c2g or Dipuraja.  It's quite amazing to see actually how much liquid is in the pot once the onions have cooked before blending, especially as he makes no mention to using a lid, which of course would slow down any liquid evaporation.

Ray

QuoteI've got 2x5ltr, 10ltr, 20ltr, and a jumbo 40ltr which doesn't get aired very often.

Bloody hell chewy, you have got some equipment, 40 ltr, that'd feed a street! Haha

QuoteI've got to admit, I've never tried to do a gravy with so many solid ingredients and very little liquid as c2g or Dipuraja.  It's quite amazing to see actually how much liquid is in the pot once the onions have cooked before blending, especially as he makes no mention to using a lid, which of course would slow down any liquid evaporation.

Ray, C2G's base is gonna be my next effort. I have a few ifindforu bases left so it won't be for a short while yet.
My biggest concern is exactly what you've said above, just how much liquid comes out of the veg! I can't believe how that pot differed, I wonder if the overcrowding of the pot helps release this as i noticed he states this is important in one of the other threads?

I followed C2G's base sauce recipe in terms of ingredients but used my 6.5l slow cooker overnight. As ray says, it's incredible how much liquid appears during the first cooking, all coming out of the veg. It was a leap of faith to turn the slow cooker on and leave it overnight when it was practically dry, but lo and behold in the morning it was half full of liquid.

Following the blending and adding spices it had another 4 or 5 hours on "high" as per the C2G method of cooking post blending, and during this time the sauce darkened and became richer in flavour.

Glad to hear that natterjak, what did you think of the finished base? Much different to any others?

W

Yes, far less undercooked in flavour than the Ashoka and Abdul bases I'd tried before. The 2nd cooking post blending really seems to develop the flavour even to the point where some caramelisation seems to start. The resulting curries are sweeter and richer in flavour IMHO

Quote from: natterjak on January 09, 2012, 10:13 PM
The resulting curries are sweeter and richer in flavour IMHO

Good I'm up for that

Quote from: Whandsy on January 09, 2012, 10:16 PM

Quote from: natterjak on January 09, 2012, 10:13 PM
The resulting curries are sweeter and richer in flavour IMHO

Good I'm up for that

Me too but I never really got a definitive answer with regards to the oil.  My oil has mainly been used for bhajis, samosas and onion rings but it has done the odd batch of frozen chips, not too many mind.!  Some say it should be fine, some strongly dissagree.  Julian from c2g never responed either way, so I'm not sure what to do?

Ray

Quote from: natterjak on January 09, 2012, 09:53 PM
I followed C2G's base sauce recipe in terms of ingredients but used my 6.5l slow cooker overnight. As ray says, it's incredible how much liquid appears during the first cooking, all coming out of the veg. It was a leap of faith to turn the slow cooker on and leave it overnight when it was practically dry, but lo and behold in the morning it was half full of liquid.

QuoteFollowing the blending and adding spices it had another 4 or 5 hours on "high" as per the C2G method

of cooking post blending, and during this time the sauce darkened and became richer in flavour.

natterjak , the C2G base recipe (going by julians video) does not state the base should heated on ' high' but low as per the first stage.