Topic: Consistent results - do you get it?

[pauly58]

  No I don't get consistent results, which I put down to lack of practice. i generally make a curry once a week.
I often think if I was locked in a kitchen from 6-midnight & cooked all that time, then I would be more consistent.

One thing I've noticed watching all the videos recently, is none of the chef's ever taste their dishes. Are they just confident ?

[Peripatetic Phil]

One thing I've noticed watching all the videos recently, is none of the chef's ever taste their dishes. Are they just confident ?

No, they just prefer fish 'n' chips or pizza

[spiceyokooko]

Then I try to recall what I did, after a successful fry-up, and make a few notes. But my 'recipes' don't tend to work again.

Well that's a flaw in your methodology! Solution: improve methodology!

Seriously though, what are the main changes you make? Are they ingredient or technique? I've pretty much adopted the same cooking technique now whatever BIR dish I make and the primary variations are ingredient orientated which I think are much easier to track.

[Malc.]

The probable cause of my apparent failure to replicate a successful recipe is that I've been experimenting when I come across fine flavours in the first place. I don't write down everything I do before I add stuff to the pan. Then I try to recall what I did, after a successful fry-up, and make a few notes. But my 'recipes' don't tend to work again.

That puts a different light on your original post then, i've had this happen many a time. I now make a note of every subtle change I make, which ever way I can. Even if that calls on the wife or kids to jot it down for me, though they normally moan about that. :

[spiceyokooko]

Are they just confident ?

Why would they need to if they're using the same techniques and ingredients they've used 100 times in the past? That's the very epitomy of consistency.

But then, they are churning these things out as a day job, day in day out, week in week out.

[George]

One thing I've noticed watching all the videos recently, is none of the chef's ever taste their dishes. Are they just confident ?

I think a proper professional chef would probably say they are rank amateurs, which may be why the taste of dishes in a single known BIR can vary from sensational to disappointing, from one day to the next. I always thought a good chef will taste everything before letting it leave the kitchen.  But that's probably a different debate which we've discussed before. At least they know what they're supposed to do (the confidence element) but I certainly don't!

[Peripatetic Phil]

I always thought a good chef will taste everything before letting it leave the kitchen. 

You are in good company there, George.  Messrs Blanc, Roux & Wallace insist on it.
** Phil.

[spiceyokooko]

I always thought a good chef will taste everything before letting it leave the kitchen.

Who said BIR cooks were good chefs? In any case they're not chefs in the strict sense of the word, they're just line cooks. Just replicating dishes to a known recipe in a conveyor belt line.

In any case, imagine having to taste every single BIR dish you have to cook from a Korma to a Phall? Your taste buds would probably be frazzled to the point you couldn't taste jack shit.

Let's not confuse the delicacy, complexity and general high level of French Haute Cuisine (where tasting each dish is essential) to to your average BIR line cooks. They're about as different as chalk and cheese.

I expect Atul Kochar's restaurant tastes all their dishes before they leave the kitchen, but your average BIR is light years away from the food of Atul Kochar in terms of sophistication and price.

[_Jon_]

I get reasonably consistent results when I want to, but I'm (overly) obsessive about removing variables.

I make a double batch of base sauce so I can maximize the number of curries I make before I have to contend with the variability of the quality of vegetables. There is of course a deterioration of flavour due to freezing but that's one variable from the infinite number of possibilities that a new batch of base sauce provides and it is easily identified. BTW this isn't a criticism of those who don't make large batches of base it's just an observation of the consequences in relation to the consistency of results.

The same observations apply for the mix powder, from a consistency point of view it's better to have a larger quantity of powder that remains the same except for the deterioration due to time. Of course the best tasting curry will come from fresh ingredients, but if like me you're still working on technique I think the consistency is essential otherwise you can't judge the results of your technique.

I make my curries at night and use the same lighting arrangement each time so that I can more accurately and precisely judge frying times on colour (and the bubble rate of course), variability of the hob's temperature becomes less of an issue but of course there's an element of experience to know what colour is good (this is something I need to work on). For anyone who doubts that lighting makes a difference try cooking bread to as brown a shade as you can get without burning it under artificial light then view it daylight. On a related note anyone who tries to judge colour from a video or picture is likely to fail

When making the final dish I have my ingredients measured out as accurately and precisely as I can before i start cooking, I even have my saucers and bowls laid out in the same order each time I make a dish I also have a watch with a second hand on display to give an indication of the heat of my pan and adjust it to give about the same cooking times on each occasion. I always use the same pan too. I find that different pans can give very different results.

When I experiment, which I would never do before getting consistent results with a recipe first, I change only one thing at a time and decide ahead of time what that will be. Knowing what changed the quality of the end results is then trivial.

I expect that the reason the chefs don't taste the individual dishes is that taste is too subjective an assessment to be useful, as spiceyokooko pointed out: "Your taste buds would probably be frazzled to the point you couldn't taste jack shit."

For the record I'm not a great cook but I know a variable when I see one

[_Jon_]

I forgot to mention that when a recipe calls for "roasting" spices in a frying pan I use an oven instead  because it's more repeatable (it must be true Heston says so)