Good work Jerry.  At least some members are working away for the common good and avoiding the debacles that have broken out elsewhere    If only some people would put as much effort into cooking as they do questionning, disagreeing, sniping, spitting hairs after they've already been split several times, theorising and harking back to a byegone era, we may actually make some progress on this forum. But i don't suppose that is going to happen, is it  :

ive been meditating (literally lol) the secret of what makes BIR oil unique, compared to a home cooked oil.

i think we can agree now that there's no secret ingredient that is slipped in during the cooking process, a supressed spice.

if you look at oil as a sponge that likes to grab aroma's, as you enter a restaurant it is alive with aroma's that are being spewed into the air, spice's, ingredients being roasted, those lovely smokey flavours, a diverse range of spicey ecstacy    constantly coming into contact with this oily sponge, quickly accumulating many complex smells and tastes, exciting & intriguing to the palate.

the smell of a BIR, especially when your next to the kitchen is heaven to the nose. I dont think a small home kitchen has the intensity, in smell (and heat), to infuse the oil with that BIR kitchen smell.

its the smell of the BIR kitchen itself that breathes into the oil.

what do you think?

Quote from: Whandsy on January 20, 2013, 04:45 PM
Even the oil on the brown paper bhaji bags have the aroma

Well that's a pretty big clue then. The oil can only come from the oil that the bhajis are cooked in, and the bhajis themselves and whatever else they deep fry.

Haldi always said the only secret is in the oil.

thanks all - i'm in no rush on this and don't expect a quick result.

i'd go along with stevejett66 on No tamarind in the base - i love tamarind and am pretty sure it was not in the TA sample.

fried i'm not fan of curry leaves and can see the idea but the more i think about it's not a herb.

i tried black salt in a little spiced oil heated in the microwave and felt it has potential - i will use in the next base.

i've tried bhajis oil and whilst i don't dispute it use or effect it does not give a "zing".

i've tasted the frozen oil/base and it's defo flat - this oil uses my reworked chef garam mix and has been recycled through something like 5 off bases. the taste is good but misses that zing.

from DPN ideas one thing that does come to mind is that i've seen the TA chef pour off oil from cooked dishes (only some types). i know this has been reported several times - in fact Secret Santa and CurryQueen being the 2 most prominent in my mind.

i think this would have a very good chance of delivery the effect i'm after. i would have to take my blinkers off to adapt as i feel that most best curries have very little surface oil. the obvious perceived downside raised previously being that of chilli but that could well be offset in the base by reducing the new chilli being added.

if the black salt does not work then i either need to buy an oil essence or collect dish oil.

many thanks - some real good steers - well pleased

fried,

the word fresh "herb" is another of those areas that i'd like to tryout. the example for me being in buying fresh coriander - there are always a good few "herbs" along side and i always tend to taste the methi and feel it tastes far better than the dried (i've only recently got to like the dried). chewytikka's hari is another example of something that has taken me by surprise and remains at the back of my mind for cooking dishes in general.

i will need to check if i can get fresh curry leaf - the dried taste quite sour.

i do have dried lime leaves which i use in thai green curry - they may be a sticking plaster - the taste difference i'm after is like you describe.