Topic: Glasgow curry base sauce

[Stephen Lindsay]

I agree George I don't see how 7 kg of onions can possibly be essential or that the recipe is doomed to failure if reduced. I'm also a bit confused by the amount of spice - 1/2 chef spoon (is that 2 tbsp?) seems a bit light for 7 kilos of onions.

I usually make base using 1 or 2 kilos of onions which gives me roughly 8 or 16 curries. A 1 kilo batch has 1 tbsp of each spice. I want to have a go at this but there's no way I'm doing that amount of onions. Will await your 10% trial with interest.

[George]

I'm also a bit confused by the amount of spice - 1/2 chef spoon (is that 2 tbsp?) seems a bit light for 7 kilos of onions.

Once the spoon measures are confirmed, I'll be interested to compare the spice levels with my normal base. I don't want to pre-judge this Glasgow base too much before trying it but one would expect the amount of spice, curry/mix powder or whatever to be higher than normal in order to deliver what amounts to a near-finished curry, which doesn't need any more spice added, if I understand the concept/methodology correctly.

[Micky Tikka]

Just been reading this thread would I right in thinking this base would be good for doing large quantity of curry in one go as the base is nearly the finished article ?

[bigboaby1]

we're talking about scaling down, but at the top of his recipe he says

"Don't be put of by the amount of onions...It wont work otherwise"

I have to agree on that,seemed like an awful lot of onions to use but they're quite cheap to buy in bulk,it's really worth it.I believe the recipe itself is a scaled down one to what is used his place(heaven knows how many onions they use there),but to do this justice I really think you should follow his recipe.

You can't send my base down if you don't stick the original recipe....It is no longer my base sauce if you have scaled down in anyway so the only comments you can make is on the base you have created not mine..So you can't come on and say  "sorry mate this one's not for me " when you haven't stuck to the recipe i posted..Am i bad for trying to help...

[George]

You can't send my base down if you don't stick the original recipe....It is no longer my base sauce if you have scaled down in anyway so the only comments you can make is on the base you have created not mine..So you can't come on and say  "sorry mate this one's not for me " when you haven't stuck to the recipe i posted..Am i bad for trying to help...

The forum just crashed for the first time, so I need to reconstruct my response to bigboaby1. Oh well...

I'd still like to try making a 10% quantity. If it turns out well, I'll say so with the expectation that it could be even better if you start with 7Kg onions. Please confirm how the spoon fulls were measured, as that's likely to cause an even greater difference.             

Just been reading this thread would I right in thinking this base would be good for doing large quantity of curry in one go as the base is nearly the finished article ?

I guess you're right. It could make cooking a large quantity much easier.

[Martinwhynot]

Martin

This looks very promising and your curries look great. Just wanted to check in terms of the amount of spices added to the base - 1/2 a chef spoon , coriander and cumin and one of turmeric- how much spices would you say that is in terms of tablespoons?

Steve


(sorry, don't know how to quote properly!)

Steve,

My Chefs spoon is pretty standard (arguement on it's way no doubt!) and can place 3 TBS of water onto it.  When loading on spices I would say I roughly kept it level but didn't get too anal on it.  With that in mind I halfed the recipe in total: 3 TBS = 45ml of volume so I used 2 slightly rounded DSP.  Hope that makes sense.  You need to remember that things like that are less critical when making large amounts, etc. 

Regards,

Martin

[Martinwhynot]

Guys,

Regarding scaling down: if you scale down by a lot the need for ABSOLUTE accuracy/risk of different results becomes disproportionatley higher.  *Personally* I'm struggling to work out what spicing I'd be putting into a dish scaled down by a factor of 10 but I do appreciate the restrictions you are under, George!

It's probably not meant like this but some are suggesting lowering the quantity of onions (inferring they will keep other items the same) this would be quite wrong.  I halfed the ENTIRE posted recipe.  Even then I knew that this would probably change the outcome slightly but would give me enough to go on if I fancied taking things further (God, it sounds like some illicit affair, lol)

For measurements I hope this may help (although it'll no doubt kick off a sub-argument  ;D)

1 Chef Spoon = 3TBS.  (yes I know some are only 2 but most are 3)
3TBS = 45ml by volume.  (Yes if it is water but, as we're picking up spices, and they don't naturally level off on the spoon, I will *estimate* that I probably was picking up 60ml by volume each time).
Halfing a chef spoon would *roughly* equal 1.5 rounded/2 level TBS by volume.

Good luck reducing by x10, George as, by my rubbish maths, a Chef Spoon would become 6ml by volume - rounded TSP? - suddenly we're in the area of fluctuation, unfortunately, due to the proportionate changes small variations would cause? 

We see the restaurant chefs on You Tube/local BIR use the chef spoon for everything - they are much less worried about conversions due to the volume they are making.  Heaped/rounded/slightly rounded all become more unimportant to them and also helps to ensure 'consistency' in the results we eat.  Bigger the better, unfortunatley.  I know there is an arguement that they are more experienced, etc but when even the chefs are saying 'about a TBS of x' and 'just a tsp of y' clearly we need to appreaciate that keeping to the spirit of these measurements will get you near enough - it works for them! 

Just my opinion but we need to be less hung up on being so exact with something which is, afterall, something we consider to be an art.

 

For the record I will not be halfing the next batch I make as I am lucky enough to have a 24 pint stock pot and inherited a spare freezer to keep it in. 

Anyone in Shrewsbury area is welcome to PM me and try some first hand as I'll give you some to try?

Hope that helps!

Martin   

[Peripatetic Phil]

we need to be less hung up on being so exact with something which is, afterall, something we consider to be an art.

Hear, hear !

Anyone in Shrewsbury area is welcome to PM me and try some first hand as I'll give you some to try?

Could you ask your local mincab company what they would charge to deliver to Kent ?!

** Phil.

[Achille17]

I'm worried about the Red Chilli:

Is it Red Chilli Powder?

Is the final gravy not too hot?

[George]

struggling to work out what spicing I'd be putting into a dish scaled down by a factor of 10 but I do appreciate the restrictions you are under, George!

Thank you for your information in what you used and, given you got quite good results, it might be useful for my hoped-for trial. The only restriction I'm under is the OP not having responded to my question. It's very disappointing.

I don't agree that it's splitting hairs when talking about the differerence between a (roughly) level spoon measure and one that's (roughly) heaped. It could be twice the amount of spice. I say that's significant and far more important than whether rice is called fried or pilau.