I apologise for my post of the monkey.
i can honestly say it Never occured to me it could be taken the wrong way.
It wasn't until spicey said something that made me think.  I was shocked that i never twigged and gutted that it slipped past me. im usually sharp that way. 
i saw the monkey pic and it reminded me of chetah who had just died.
it was only meant to be a little tribute.

Frank.

Don't worry about it DP; I'm sure your's was harmlessly meant 

As a newcomer to this great site and not wanting to draw fire ... friendly or otherwise may I chip in with my 2 pence worth please ...

a) It would be a great help to people like myself if all measurements for all ingredients up to say 4 Tblsp were given in level Tsp or level Tblsp or increments thereof ie 0.25 Tsp or 0.5 Tblsp. I tried last Friday to interpret both heaped Tsp and heaped Tblsp whilst preparing for a curry and to be honest I wasn't sure if it meant as much as I could fit on the spoon ( with chili powder I can manage to balance almost 3 level as a heaped ) or just slightly more than 'rounded' ... 2 Tblsp ( level of course )would have been better for me than 1 Heaped Tblsp since the heaped option assumes some experience which I simply don't have at this stage. I wouldn't know where to start with a chef's spoon ... the bloke that sold it to me said he was a chef !. 

b) Not wishing to add fuel to the fire that is the 'monkey see , monkey do' debate I would say just this .. when I was learning to play golf I took lots of lessons so that I could at least hit the ball straight and long. At the time I had no understanding of the theory and no wish to get bogged down in it either ... I merely wanted to be able to consistently hit the ball straight so that I would not lose interest. Cooking curries is exactly the same .. by following some of the great recipes on here I've been able to produce curries the likes of which I've only seen previously in the foil tray we're all familiar with from the local T/A. I'm sure as my interest grows and I gain more confidence and understanding I'll try adapting some of these recipes to suit my individual taste but for now I'm extremely happy with my 'monkey sees , monkey does' approach.

Thanks to all who contribute here .. even the few negative types ... it would be a funny old place if we were all the same !!

   

Colin, I agree that lack of clarity / consistency in the descriptions used for measures can be a problem and it's compounded when you see video recipes and realise how often the chef says "one teaspoon" at the same time obviously shovelling over a level tablespoon in.  Note - that's certainly not aimed at anyone individually, it's simply something I've noticed watching a large number of videos of curries being cooked and noting the correlation (or lack of it) between the description given and the quantities you can observe.  If anything it simply shows the differences in the way in which we each perceive quantities, and if not using a calibrated measuring spoon there is plenty of scope for error.

I guess it will always come down to cooking not being an exact science and recipes only ever giving you a starting point to experiment from.  IMHO we've got to be grateful to anyone who makes the effort to share a recipe and responding asking for more precision over measurements might be seen as churlish. 

Natterjak, you seem to have gone out of your way to view my post as 'churlish' .. what on earth is so wrong in your eyes with requesting more precision over measurements  ... bearing in mind this is a curry forum where by most posters considered opinion quantities of spice and so on are of paramount importance.... even more so to a beginner such as me. Any small improvement which helps take some of the guesswork out of the exercise I would view as a positive. 

I've shown in many of my posts my unequivocal gratitude for the many people who have made the effort to both formulate and share with us their recipes. My observation in my original post was exactly that .. an observation (even to the most sensitive types .. constructive criticism ) and no reflection whatsoever upon the effort people on this forum make. If anyone else finds my post 'churlish' I  apologise without reserve .. it was not my intention.

     

While we are on the subject, I've been following Curry2Go of Chorley's vids and wonder if anyone might know roughly what his ladle size might be?

e.g: add the first ladle of base gravy.....   add half a ladle of the tempered oil....... 

Quote from: colin grigson on March 12, 2012, 02:53 PM
Natterjak, you seem to have gone out of your way to view my post as 'churlish' .. what on earth is so wrong in your eyes with requesting more precision over measurements  ... bearing in mind this is a curry forum where by most posters considered opinion quantities of spice and so on are of paramount importance.... even more so to a beginner such as me. Any small improvement which helps take some of the guesswork out of the exercise I would view as a positive. 

I've shown in many of my posts my unequivocal gratitude for the many people who have made the effort to both formulate and share with us their recipes. My observation in my original post was exactly that .. an observation (even to the most sensitive types .. constructive criticism ) and no reflection whatsoever upon the effort people on this forum make. If anyone else finds my post 'churlish' I  apologise without reserve .. it was not my intention.
   

Well I was actually trying to agree with you  maybe this is how wars get started?! 

Quote from: beachbum on March 18, 2012, 09:11 PM
While we are on the subject, I've been following Curry2Go of Chorley's vids and wonder if anyone might know roughly what his ladle size might be?

e.g: add the first ladle of base gravy.....   add half a ladle of the tempered oil....... 

I believe it's 150ml but could be wrong.

I'm guessing here, having had a look a some of the vids where the ladle is clearly visible, it's definitely 150ml and it could even be 200ml.  Mine is 100ml and Julien's (ladle)  is definitely bigger than mine ;D.  I think ladles are a bit like chef spoons; coming in  a few standard sizes, not helpful when looking to gague measurements though .

Don't forget we are trying to replicate BIR dishes, so when a chef makes his/her dish they don't use teaspoons and tablespoons as a measurement its by eye, as many people on this site have stated before.
So really if you take on board that an average serving of curry is 300ml (this is what i use) and the chef puts in 3 ladles there's your answer, if the chef adds 2 ladles and YOU don't think the dish looks "wet" enough add another half a ladle and take notes, use google to look up dishes and see what they should look like.
For example i didn't know what a Roshni looks like, there are descriptions and photos to look up, its not going to be laid on a plate for you, you have to do a bit of research for each dish, well i do anyway, i look up where its from, what region, and where its eaten the most and then i read descriptions.
Some people may have a different amount of curry served to them from their local T/A, but that's the region thing again.
Anyway hope that helped a little.