Who else thinks they could reproduce any of their average local BIRs curry?

[Curry King]

I've only been eating curry the last seven years or so and wouldn't know an 'old' style BIR curry if it jumped up and slapped me in the face.  An old style curry to me  has raisins in it and was made by my mum 

[CurryOnRegardless]

i can remember two of those curry houses SS is talking about  but they are from liverpool

one was the Kismet and the other was the kohi Noor

The Kohinoor was on Commutation Row and as the song says "ah yes I remember it well..."

http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/food/chef/2008/04/08/family-recipe-for-success-at-the-gulshan-64375-20732999/

CoR

[JerryM]

CurryOnRegardless,

very much appreciate the link - a real good read. i remember the gulshan on aigburth road but frequented Lark Lane at the time.

the text in the link on the base is good background, "The base is mainly the onions, with fresh tomatoes, garlic and ginger added. You add water and simmer with bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamom, clove. Before you even add the garam spices, you can smell the flavour of it. Once all that?s done, you add tomato puree and all the other spices. How much of the other spices you add makes the flavour."

[adriandavidb]

I've only been to a couple of the sort of places that I think SS may be refering to.  Both were in the early 80s, and both were in Leeds.  They were both 'spit and sawdust' type places where the was hardly any difference betweena Korma and a madras, apart form chilie of course.  They were very cheap, the chicken was stringy, but the amazing hot savoury flavours haunt me still!

I am CERTAIN that it is not a nostalgic hankering for my student days that is deluding me here!

These places would not have known what a CTM was!  'Classy' they wrere not!

The one I remember best was the 'Islamabad' opposite the Parkenson building of Leeds Uni.  There were two others within 100 metres: Chakwells & Naffies, both popular (the food was less greasy!), but not in my opinion, anywhere near as good!

The closed I can put the flavour waould be Balti, from Birminghams Sparkbrook/Sparkhill area; or The Lahore Kaebab house in London's East End. but none of these are as good, in my opinion.

I still dream about Chicken Madras & a paratha from the Islamabad, ri=un by a little chap in late middle age, whoose wife seemed to do the cooking!

[Derek Dansak]

any home cook who can fully reproduce a high quality bir madras with all the final 5 percent taste, must be a fecking super hero! will anyone ever do it? how many extra techniques would they need to master, to do it at home. is it actually impossible at home? some bir chefs say it is. christ knows why though. odd hey

[Domi]

I know exactly the flavour SS talks about and I'm sad to say unless you have actually eaten the old style curries, you'll never know that taste (sadly) simply because curries have changed drastically over the years, back then you had a choice of keema, chicken or lamb curries with the choice of mild, medium or hot (korma, madras and vindaloo didn't appear on the menus...or at least they didn't in Huddersfield!..until a few years later - early to mid 80's) they did tandoori chicken portions and the only choice of rice was plain boiled or pilau and you could either have chapattis or a plain naan...nothing like the choices we have now lol which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it's sad to lose that unique flavour....I've never been able to replicate that flavour, but I can make as good (in alot of cases better) curries in me own kitchen than alot of the local places, with no doses of the tandoori trots to boot! Oh, and some of those old curries were cooked on a bog standard, white, gas 4-ring cooker...They were grotty holes alot of them, but the curries were divine!

[Cory Ander]

I guess the trend has been, and is likely to continue to be, towards "healthier eating". So I suppose this means BIRs using less oil and "healthier" oils, etc, etc.

I believe Kris Dhillon prescribes using olive oil in her new book.

And I suppose that the taste of BIR curries is almost bound to change, over the years, accordingly (much like with any other food outlet), for better or for worse.

[commis]

Hi

Domi, I think you make an excelent observation in the use of domestic gas cookers in the old style curry houses. But that is another debate.

Commis