Where is everybody and where have they gone?

[Ian S.]

I actually started saving oil to reuse as an experiment a couple of years ago, but stopped when I when I realised that yes, the oil does pick up accumulated heat from the chillies.  The thing is, I have my curry a lot hotter than my partner, so I had to stop!  It also made me think twice about restaurants doing it.

I'm trying it again anyway as an experiment, 'cos i never found out how much of a difference it actually makes (in terms of heat).  I'll save the oil for my curries and use fresh oil for my partner!

[Dylan]

A thought:
if curry houses are reusing oil and, as a result, the base was getting steadily hotter and hotter, they would only need to reduce the amount of chili in the finished dishes to compensate.
Of course this would mean having a separate base sauce for the mild curries - this might explain why curries such as Korma, Passanda etc don't have much of that "missing taste" and are allot easier to recreate in the home.

[adamski]

There is no seperate base, curry, madras, vindaloo same curry same base just add chilli powder to change.

I know some people will disagree, but every curry house differs, but the cheap places do this and so do the better ones, but the better ones may add some potato for a vindaloo and so on.

The reusing of oil is very much a no no. Cross contamination would be a major problem, agreed oil is not a good medium for bacteria but and a very big but the health and saftey people inspect very frequently all food establishments.

Some of you may remember a program on TV that followed the health inspectors as they did their job around take-away places in the uk, one place was an indian resteraunt and they shut it down, what they were doing was taking left over food from the resteraunt and salvaging the chicken and meat, washing it under a tap then putting it in the take-away orders.

Makes you think.

[Curry King]

what they were doing was taking left over food from the resteraunt and salvaging the chicken and meat, washing it under a tap then putting it in the take-away orders.

Maybe thats it, thats how to get the "taste"   ;D

[Nessa]

For some unknown reason this forum has gone very, very quiet!? Where is everyone old to the forum and also those who have registered and are not posting?? Have you all left the country for good, gone on holiday or just can't be bothered anymore!? I used to look forward each morning to how many different posts and comments in posts were being made!? You will be forgiven of course, if you have been hard on the road to finding "the taste".? I still maintain that it is the oil that is taken from each curry and re-used.?

I haven't abandoned this fine forum, I've been so busy nursing son with a badly broken leg so there's not been much time for internetting or experimenting with curry cooking sadly, so I don't have much to contribute here yet.? ?It's nice to see there are lots of posts here for me to catch up on though!

[DARTHPHALL]

Darth's still hear I'm just bloody busy with my Computer business, still searching for the Curry Grail !!

[curryqueen]

well done Darthphall, keep it up.  How about your trip to your take away - managed that yet or are you too busy.  We have bought a take out again tonight, they still can't get it right when it comes to heat.  It is as though they are afraid to make it toooo hot for us.

[pete]

I bought three very fine curries last night for my family last night.
Vegetable Vindaloo
Prawn Rhogan Josh
Vegetrable Dhansak
Apart from obviously different ingredients, suggested by their names, they were all the same curry.
Also, and very important, is that these bought curries are not that spicey (so hold back on those spices!)
Subtle differences were:-
Rhogan Josh has a prefried browned garlic with fresh coriander added.
Dhansak has more fried sweet chunky onion.
But basically they are the same curry.
If you can make one then you can make them all.
I could also taste the chicken jelly in them too.
When you have spent four hours preparing that stuff you can't forget it! (I have tried)
And it was in all of them.
The base gravy tasted very like Curry King's home demo version.
The point I am making, is that I really think we are there now.
I think the diffences are minimal.
If you are prepared to take the time, all the information is on this site.
I daily check out this site and in2curry as well for something new.
I will keep asking questions and post any demos but I don't think there are any major secrets left.
I think that's why there has been a lack of recent posts,as most people feel the same.
Whenever anyone says they have spoken to a chef, I am always excited, but they seem only to find out what we already know:-
" the base is made of onions, garlic , tomtoes and spices"
I haven't totally stopped believing in a missing tecnique/ingredient, but seriously doubt it.
I believe that we are all better than we think we are, and improvement will only show with practice.

[Mark J]

I agree completely, always interested in anything new but all the secrets are now on this site

[Curry King]

I agree, I think its down to technique and lots of practice theres no hidden ingredient.  I had some friends over last night for a curry night, I did a vindaloo, chicken and mushroom balti a ctm with vegtable pakoras and tandoori chicken as sides, they were very sure that all of the dishes were as good as what you would have in a restaurant but im still thinking that they can be better.  Im sure the whole spread itself with dips, pappadums and naans all served in the correct dishes contributes to the "taste" in itself as much as a good curry. 

Im always looking for something new and different to try but im confident that I can reproduce the restaurant taste at home.