Topic: I have finally found that missing taste the one we are all looking for.

[George]

The taste it's there oh my (moderated) god i have done it.

I'm pleased to hear of your success but could you please watch your language. Four letter words, derivatives and thinly disguised versions are not allowed on this forum.

[h4ppy-chris]

I always cook on full heat on my electric hob and I use the halogen ring, which is 2.5kW from memory. I give the pan and hob ring two mins on full heat to preheat before adding G&G paste. I think allowing the base sauce to catch a little is important to the flavour of the curry and for that you need a high hob heat, a plain aluminium pan and also in the later stages of cooking it helps not to stir too often.

Not sure what the heat output is of my hotplates I have nothing to lose by giving this a go other than the bloody mess to clear up afterwards   My pans are black iron and i manage to get a bit of "catching" currently with setting up half way.  God only knows what's going to happen when i turn the puppy up to full blast  :  If i have to scour the pan afterwards  I will not be a happy bunny and will be blaming you lot ;D ;D

I don't think my electric hob or for that matter and industrial stove will generate or match the heat output of  that the burner of yours.  Hardly surprising if its main use is to melt pitch  ;D

As it was cooking i did think at one point i hope my pan don't melt, but not one burn mark on the inside or out 

[h4ppy-chris]

The taste it's there oh my (moderated) god i have done it.

I'm pleased to hear of your success but could you please watch your language. Four letter words, derivatives and thinly disguised versions are not allowed on this forum.

i have modded it now  thanks for pointing it out.

[h4ppy-chris]

How did you make your burner ? Here in Ireland we have to use bottled gas & there's very little heat from it.

sorry pauly i missed your post. you can buy a variable regulator, so you can let more gas though and make it hotter
like this one http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PROPANE-BUTANE-CALOR-GAS-REGULATOR-0-5-4-bar-/320706378079?pt=UK_DIY_Materials_Plumbing_MJ&hash=item4aab96f95f

[h4ppy-chris]

now add finished curry pic to post one.

[JerryM]

h4ppy-chris,

well pleased you've found the connection to the smell.

[h4ppy-chris]

h4ppy-chris,

well pleased you've found the connection to the smell.

Thanks Jerry, i have to tell you it as blown my mind how the heat can change a curry so much.

[Alchemist]

I've been thinking about the heat factor recently, especially as I'm cooking on electric and the heat is just not as intense as a decent gas burner.  Three things I have done which have really helped get "that" taste:

1) added some jaggery sugar with the spices, as sugar helps to raise the temperature
2) added my ingredients in stages, so not to overload the pan and reduce the heat
3) once all gravy added, in stages, just let it blast on full and not been tempted to touch it until ready, I found it really caught on the bottom, but no burning at all, just a fantastic BIR taste.

Hope this helps others who are not lucky enough to be "cooking on gas" or a shopping trolley for that matter!

[goncalo]

I've been thinking about the heat factor recently, especially as I'm cooking on electric and the heat is just not as intense as a decent gas burner.  Three things I have done which have really helped get "that" taste:

1) added some jaggery sugar with the spices, as sugar helps to raise the temperature
2) added my ingredients in stages, so not to overload the pan and reduce the heat
3) once all gravy added, in stages, just let it blast on full and not been tempted to touch it until ready, I found it really caught on the bottom, but no burning at all, just a fantastic BIR taste.

Hope this helps others who are not lucky enough to be "cooking on gas" or a shopping trolley for that matter!

Interesting, is there a reference for [1]?

Also, you can try 2 other tricks which have been discussed previously:

1. Foil around your pan
2. Add anything new in the emptiest part.

[Peripatetic Phil]

Interesting, is there a reference for [1]?

It is briefly explained here, Goncalo :

Water (and milk) boil at 212 degrees F (100 degrees C) at sea level, but the sugar changes that. In general, a solid dissolved in a liquid makes it harder for the liquid molecules to escape. Consequently, the solution has to be hotter for the liquid molecules to get away at the same rate, and the boiling point rises.

In our fudge, the rise in boiling temperature is an exact function of the amount of sugar in the solution. Consequently, we can use the temperature of the boiling syrup to tell when enough water has boiled away to give the syrup the right ratio of sugar to water. For fudge and similar creamy candies, the syrup should boil at a temperature 26 degrees F (14 degrees C) hotter than the boiling point of plain water. When it reaches that heat, some of the initial water in the syrup has now boiled away. Because the sugar couldn't dissolve completely until the mixture was near boiling, the syrup reaches saturation very soon after it starts to cool. If you've done everything right, however, sugar does not come back out of solution. Instead, the syrup continues to cool as a supersaturated solution. The solid phase -- in this case, sugar -- cannot start to crystallize without something to serve as a pattern, or nucleus. You don't let a crystal get in the mix. Like off the edges of the pan. If a single sugar crystal is present, the syrup will start to crystallize, the crystals will grow steadily as the syrup continues to cool, and the result will be very grainy fudge.

** Phil.