Topic: What Makes a BIR Curry a BIR Curry

[Garp]

This may have been covered before, and if so, sorry.

When I joined this forum, a wanted to make BIR/TA style curries and I'm getting there.

Just wondered what you guy and gals thoughts were on what makes it BIR.

Is it the taste?
Is it the method of cooking?
Is it the ingredients?
Is it a combination of the above plus others?

[Peripatetic Phil]

I think you might get more targetted responses if you identified with what you are intending us to compare and contrast BIR.  Are you mentally comparing it with traditional sub-continent cuisine, or with home cooking, or with what exactly ?

** Phil.

[Garp]

I'm not sure myself, Phil.

Just wondered what peoples' thoughts were on what constitutes a BIR/TA curry, as opposed to traditional Indian cuisine, home cooking, etc etc

[haldi]

It has a special aroma and yummy taste, that my curries lack.
As soon as you open the bag or carton, a beautiful aroma fills the room

[Stephen Lindsay]

I have a few cook books at home that describe traditional home cooking and are written by Indian women. Recipes start with frying onions, garlic, ginger and spices, before chicken or lamb and water is added along with other things like tomatoes. They usually serve 4 to 6 people or more.

As I understand it BIR describes what we, white Brits, are used to being served in TAs and restaurants. To me the term describes not only the finished dish (for one person) but also the cooking processes and business ethos that underlies the finished dish. This encompasses a lot of pre-production (pre-cooked poultry or meat, spice mixes, base) but also the notion of cooking curries to suit the tastes of us as customers. The term BIR may have been coined here on the forum and I certainly didn't come across it before I joined this forum.

[LouP]

I hadn't come across the term BIR until today but after months and months of trying "Authentic Indian recipes" from online and purchased cook books (Which were lovely, but not what I am after all the time) today, after following the Zaal restaurant base gravy recipe I have finally gotten close to what I have been after.
Now I know it is going to take some tweeking for "my" perfect curry but I am after re-making the best takeaway curry taste that I have ever tasted after inconsistency from my local curry houses.

I will get there and will enjoy sharing/ learning with you guys

[curryhell]

Welcome to the forum and the start of what will seem like a never ending journey  ;D You will make consistantly good curries but you will become ultra picky like the rest of us and say that your results are inconsistant but nevertheless still more consistant than some your local TA produce  ;D ;D
Good choice of base gravy.  I always have this in the freezer along with one other i may be trying out.  The Zaal mixed powder works well with the base too IMHO.

[Derek Dansak]

Hello all, long time no see !  happy new year   

To my mind what makes a bir curry is
1) the taste should be curry, BUT with a modern taste/twist (offering something very new compared to traditional indian).
 
how is this achieved?

using elaborate techniques (e.g custom onion pastes, specialist custom gravies, making spiced oil, using the whole range of ingredients,  eg lime juice, lemon juice, lentils, tamerind, ghee, butter, garlic powder,

making a curry in stages  e.g  pre cooked marinated chicken, spiced tomato puree paste, gravies, spiced oils.  Ever noticed how pre cooked chicken can influence the final taste of a good curry? 

traditional indian curry is rarley made in so many stages, this is what separates the taste from bir curry , in my humble opinion !     

good restaurants charge more because they have developed more effective ways at making each stage of the curry (base, spice mixes, pre cooked meat , meat stocks etc)  . This skill only comes from experience and a gift for cooking. 
For part time, home cooks this is hard to match.  Hence we often get disapointed

These secrets of top bir kitchens are rarly exposed.  Although the basics are freely shared.
 
curry tastes evolve in the best restaurants. the best bir cooks were from india when royalty paid them to produce cutting edge curry.  i bet the taste is still evolving

my 2 penneth worth   

 

[spiceyokooko]

Just wondered what peoples' thoughts were on what constitutes a BIR/TA curry, as opposed to traditional Indian cuisine...

I think Stephen Lindsay defined the difference pretty well.

It's a combination of things that differentiate BIR style from traditional Indian - predominantly the commercialised streamlining of cooking processes and pre-bought, pre-cooked ingredients. Everything in a BIR kitchen is geared up to producing a wide variety of dishes quickly and consistently using a minimum of man hours.

The curry sauce, gravy, gurabi, base - call it whatever you like is all pre-made in large batches ready to go. The mix powder or the 'generic' curry powder is all pre-mixed ready to go. The garlic and ginger pastes - pre-prepared and ready to go. The meat, all pre-cooked and ready to go.

You rarely get that level of pre-cooking and preparation in traditional indian cuisine where masalas, pastes, marinades etc are all made fresh. Traditional indian cuisine also generally tends to use a much wider range of ingredients which intentionally imparts quite distinctive flavours to each dish as opposed to the somewhat 'generic' flavour you will likely get from each BIR restaurant and kitchen you visit. This is one of the reasons why so many BIR dishes taste pretty similar often the primary difference between a standard chicken curry, a madras and vindaloo being the amount of chilli powder used in it.

It's an interesting subject and one that has been discussed here in some length in other threads although I accept that actually finding those threads may take a little time.

[DalPuri]

Turmeric, Madras Curry Powder and a variety of condiments.