Topic: What would you do if, you held the secret to BIR?

[Kashmiri Bob]

Have to say making a McDonald's cheeseburger is not a priority for me at the moment.

Rob 

I knew that was going to be brought up but could you make a McDonalds cheeseburger? They make them the same across 1000's of "restaurants" but can you do it at home?

Well, I have only ever had 1 McDonald's cheeseburger.  I thought the burger part was just mass produced in a factory somewhere, boxed, then distributed to the various outlets, and heated up by someone exploited on minimum wage.  The cheese slices seem to be readily available from Lidl. I could be wrong though.

Rob 

[George]

Didnt Julian C2GO claim his recipes deliver the secret to the takeaway taste? Well they didnt for me

I think all the books have made false claims, over the years. None of them delivered what was on the tin:

That's Pat Chapman, Kris Dhillon, various Balti cook books/videos, CBM, Undercover, C2G and many, many more. They all promise that 'until now, it was a secret, but we'll now let you in' and then failed, too.

Even the Kushi Balti book - whilst better than most - does not produce results which sound as good as reports on delicious food served up at the actual restaurant.

[Secret Santa]

I thought the burger part was just mass produced in a factory somewhere, boxed, then distributed to the various outlets, and heated up by someone exploited on minimum wage.

Exploited is the word. McDonalds use zero-hour contracts where they call their staff in at their whim. One month you might get a couple of hours work another month sixteen! How are you supposed to make a living like that. Add to that that they use forced labour from the dole office because the job seekers have to work for free or lose their dole money. They're a f*****g disgrace and anyone who eats there deserves the deliciously toxic nag-meat they've been tucking into recently for supporting this abomination!

[Secret Santa]

Sliced white onion, tomato, cucumber, and a little bit of dried mint...It also goes in a lot of different curry dishes and is part of the taste, apparently.

We've already had cucumber in the base sauce but now in the curries too! 

[Kashmiri Bob]

Didnt Julian C2GO claim his recipes deliver the secret to the takeaway taste? Well they didnt for me

I think all the books have made false claims, over the years. None of them delivered what was on the tin:

That's Pat Chapman, Kris Dhillon, various Balti cook books/videos, CBM, Undercover, C2G and many, many more. They all promise that 'until now, it was a secret, but we'll now let you in' and then failed, too.

Even the Kushi Balti book - whilst better than most - does not produce results which sound as good as reports on delicious food served up at the actual restaurant.

Julian

[Secret Santa]

Didnt Julian C2GO claim his recipes deliver the secret to the takeaway taste? Well they didnt for me

I think it depends on when you started to eat curries as to whether you'll think the books deliver or not. If, like me and several others on the forum, you ate in the 70's and 80's they won't even come close to producing the taste and smell of that era. If you started in the 90's or later they may fit the bill.

The real test for me is always the bhuna. All of the 'secret' books give laughably poor bhunas in comparison to the rich, savoury unmistakably delicious flavour of old style bhunas. Now they think chucking a few pepper and onion chunks into the curry and cooking it to a thick consistency is a bhuna...well it ain't! 

[BIR-TY]

Didnt Julian C2GO claim his recipes deliver the secret to the takeaway taste? Well they didnt for me

I think all the books have made false claims, over the years. None of them delivered what was on the tin:

That's Pat Chapman, Kris Dhillon, various Balti cook books/videos, CBM, Undercover, C2G and many, many more. They all promise that 'until now, it was a secret, but we'll now let you in' and then failed, too.

Even the Kushi Balti book - whilst better than most - does not produce results which sound as good as reports on delicious food served up at the actual restaurant.

Wow George, you must be very keen if youve bought and tried recipes from all of those books to make that statement, have you made the simpler curries like a Madras from each one or do you go for more complicated recipes?
Bert

[Peripatetic Phil]

What would you do if, you held the secret? You know the one! That taste? That smell? what would you do with that information? Because its keeping me awake at nights.

Open an Indian Restaurant and invite all members of CR0 to my opening night.
** Phil.

[Kashmiri Bob]

Didnt Julian C2GO claim his recipes deliver the secret to the takeaway taste? Well they didnt for me

I think it depends on when you started to eat curries as to whether you'll think the books deliver or not. If, like me and several others on the forum, you ate in the 70's and 80's they won't even come close to producing the taste and smell of that era. If you started in the 90's or later they may fit the bill.

The real test for me is always the bhuna. All of the 'secret' books give laughably poor bhunas in comparison to the rich, savoury unmistakably delicious flavour of old style bhunas. Now they think chucking a few pepper and onion chunks into the curry and cooking it to a thick consistency is a bhuna...well it ain't! 

I found my mum's hand-written recipe note-pad from the late 60's.  The curry recipe contains lots of beef dripping, curry powder, and onions  Could make a nice thick curry if I remember correctly; it was just the raisins that spoiled it.

Rob 

[Secret Santa]

The curry recipe contains lots of beef dripping, curry powder, and onions  Could make a nice thick curry if I remember correctly; it was just the raisins that spoiled it.

That reminds me of the Vesta beef curry I used to eat (and love) as a kid. I saw a packet in LIDL when I was in there the other day...I was sorely tempted.  ;D