Hi Folks,

Over the last couple of weeks Ive been thinking about what could be the source of the taste we seek in BIR curries. To my mind it came down to 2 options. First option is the preparation/cooking of garlic/ginger and most of all onions I think this is probably down to technique and experience, the other option is the spiced oil.

If the strong smell/taste we seek is tied to the oil then I think we have no chance of reproducing this, reason being is this strong taste is most likely due to the constant reclaiming of oil from curry gravy and curries of which the BIRs will cook several hundred during the course of a week, there's no way we can replicate this.

To put this theory to the test I have tonight obtained a sample of spiced oil from my local BIR, I go to this place every week and have done for a few years. They are very friendly and were more than happy to provide this sample for me (pictures attached below)

I will cook with this oil this weekend and to my mind this will put to bed one of these theories, if I can produce a dish to their taste then it must be down to their oil.

Pics

Looks good to me Mark, and I know that this is right!  I have been professing this for a long, long time!  It is the only explanation, we have all done the gravies, different ones and on the whole they work.  It's down to the oil.  I have experimented enough with oil, but, not on the same scale as bir's.  I hope this works out and it will cofirm what I have been saying for a long time.

That oil looks the business!
This is the final piece of the puzzle
Well done Mark
I can't wait for you to cook with it!

This may also be all we need to add to any of our recipes & make them all work.
Which would be very nice as we could then simplify/adapt them.
Looking forward to your post Mark.

Ill cook with it on Saturday, cant wait  ;D

The sad fact is, if this is the key then they have given me about a months worth of oil, so all I will need to do is keep asking them each month for a new supply 

If the Oil is the actual ingredient we are all looking for then at least this will give us all a direction in our quest & then its just down to what Spices,what temperature & length of time to cook the Oil.
I have cooked oil without any ingredients in it for 15 on medium/high once,prior to making a Curry & the end result was that it made the the curry very sweet,which is one of the key factors i think we are all looking for.
My main objective is that very savory smell that is also so strong it becomes part of the taste of the Curry that emanates from a lot of bir Curries.

Sorry to be a bit negative on this, but Mrs B and myself have been using our favourite takeaways old oil drained from our food for some time now. The oil looks very similar to the pictures of Mark Js and also smells fantastic.
There is no doubt it adds a fanastic something to any dish we have used it in, but I fear that this is not the missing link, or at least not on its own!

I really really hope that this works and proves me wrong though!!

Best of luck.

Broon

Im not so sure that it makes "the" difference myself, i've re-used oil a few times and it never made that much of a difference to my currys.  I think this is also something that is restaurant dependant, so do some don't some use ghee etc etc..

I've not used re-used oil from a takeaway though but I might well try it.

I think we can all make a good base
There are lots of good ones on this site
But the oil is very special from my local takeaway
Sometimes it is more intense than other days
But the whole aroma of the meal, it's essence, is in it
If you get a drip, on the table, it will make the whole room smell the next day
I think this oil is created by temperature, volume of ingredients and time cooked
I don't think cooking a bulb of pureed garlic in half an inch of oil, will give the same result as cooking six bulbs in 3 litres of oil
I think if you tasted the oil, from both, the six bulb oil would have a different flavour
I am sure, if this were not so, someone would have arrived at the perfect restaurant curry by now.
Maybe this is why Darth is so pleased with his results
He cooks in very large quantities
Unfortunately I can't use those amounts on my cooker (and I don't have space to freeze that much either)