What is your favorite mix powder and why?

[RubyDoo]

Just out of curiosity RD, why do you find CA's mix too over-powering? It seems pretty similiar to a lot of mix powders on here.

Just the little additions here and there , eg and especially cardamon powder albeit the fenugreek and ginger are also to 'blame' . These spices are best left out of a general mix imho.

[Peripatetic Phil]

The BIRs of today seem to have refined the processes down to simplify dish construction for speed, ease and consistency, the trade off being that many of them taste the same and there's little differentiation between dishes.

The BIR's of yesteryear appear to have had simpler base sauces and mix powders but more complex final dish construction which would have led to more differentiation in the dishes produced. That sits quite happily with my own personal belief (and experience of) old school BIR's borrowing, adapting and relying heavily on traditional style Indian recipes for their dishes.

Old school BIR's appear to have started the commercial refinement of traditional Indian recipes for mass, repeatable, consistent kitchen production that the current modern crop of BIR's have simply refined down even further.

To revisit that old school taste one has to go back to that transition stage of traditional Indian food fusing with commercial kitchen practice.

I knew when I read this that I had read something similar a long time ago; it also resonates with my own feelings as to why 60's/70's curries were so much more exciting, and so much more unpredictable -- no two restaurants produced the same flavour for any one given dish.  So I searched around, and lo and behold, it was here all the time.  And guess who the author was ?

Consider how the restaurant curry probably evolved: Early restaurateurs starting out trying to make traditional Indian food acceptable to the British. What do the Brits want ? Something that looks and sounds interesting, but not too hot or spicy, probably with meat. That's easy, a toned-down version of a traditional meat dish. Takes too long to cook from scratch. So pre-cook the meat and onions separately, and they can then be assembled into a dish as and when required, and this gives scope for other dishes too. And  the Brits want gravy with everything. So make gravy. (Fortunately for us, the Indian idea of gravy is not the starchy gloop that an English cook would immediately think of).

So the early restaurants started out serving dishes that were fairly close to the traditional but made with pre-cooked ingredients. Then someone had the idea of blending the onion and the sauce was developed, probably in the sixties. I remember seventies curries as being fairly dark brown in colour, so onions were fried at this stage. Then around 1980, red curries appeared. Within a year or so, the dark brown curry had disappeared. This was when the present day 'boiled' sauce took over.  The restaurateur, however, is always at a disadvantage in that he is creating a dish for an imagined customer. He doesn't eat it himself, so simply aims to produce something that will be enjoyed, using ingredients that he knows.

** Phil.

[spiceyokooko]

I knew when I read this that I had read something similar a long time ago;

Bingo!

Another piece of the jigsaw drops into place and moves us all on a little bit further.

Good detective work sherlock

[chewytikka]

Because Gagomes/Gongalo has posted this this enquiry twice, for what ever reason
I'll just paste my answer from his first thread.

Hi Gagomes, back to basics...

As a general rule of thumb, a Bengali BIR "Mix Powder" starts off with 4 main
ground spices which are the primary elements.
1. Madras Curry Powder (A historic blend of at least 12 spices)
2. Turmeric Powder
3. Coriander Powder
4. Cumin Powder
Then each Chef/Restaurant usually might add secondary spices into the Mix
5. Paprika Powder
6. Garam Masala Powder
etc...etc..
If you made a Mix Powder with only the primary spices, that would work fine.

The most successful Restaurant I'm involved with (20k+) simply uses the primary 4 + GM

cheers Chewy

[goncalo]

Because Gagomes/Gongalo has posted this this enquiry twice, for what ever reason

For clarification, the former thread dates back to January and the main questions were regarding the word "parts" used in the context of a mix powder recipe which, up until then, I had never come across and wasn't sure whether a part could be just any constant measurement (tsp, tbsp, cup, a truck) and specifically asked for any pros and cons of the c2g spice mix. This thread's intent is slightly off that path and more about what you/we use and why you/we do it so. I think everyone will benefit hearing the different opinions and reasoning behind their choosing. Apologies if I seem to be repeating and thanks for still contributing by picking up and pasting your dated comment. :-)

[loveitspicy]

Because Gagomes/Gongalo has posted this this enquiry twice, for what ever reason
I'll just paste my answer from his first thread.

Hi Gagomes, back to basics...

As a general rule of thumb, a Bengali BIR "Mix Powder" starts off with 4 main
ground spices which are the primary elements.
1. Madras Curry Powder (A historic blend of at least 12 spices)
2. Turmeric Powder
3. Coriander Powder
4. Cumin Powder
Then each Chef/Restaurant usually might add secondary spices into the Mix
5. Paprika Powder
6. Garam Masala Powder
etc...etc..
If you made a Mix Powder with only the primary spices, that would work fine.

The most successful Restaurant I'm involved with (20k+) simply uses the primary 4 + GM

cheers Chewy

Agreed - but what is the powder ratio your chefs mix Chewy?

best, Rich