Topic: Staff Curry.

[Peripatetic Phil]

From the outset the use of the "B word" has troubled me, but I'm a bit odd like that.

Well ...  I think that if one were to go to a good balti restaurant in the heart of the balti triangle and order a balti curry, one would stand a reasonable chance of getting a curry that was (a) cooked in, and (b) served in, a genuine balti dish.  It would also almost certainly include so-called "balti spices".  If, on the other hand, one were to go to the average non-Brummy T/A and order the same, it would almost certainly (a) be cooked in a frying pan, (b) served in a foil or plastic T/A container, and (c) possibly have some so-called "balti spices" in it.  So "balti" as we know it in in the UK is a continuum, ranging from the real deal to a complete travesty.  Perhaps it's time for the BIR trade to set up the BIR equivalent of AOC (appellation [d'origine] contr

[Bobdylan]

Perfectly correct Phil.

Response to Post below.

Sverige I am most happy for the post to be moved as you see fit, please make the required recommendations and I shall be mindful I don’t turn the post into a recipe.

[Sverige]

A thread started in the "recipes" area of the forum which contains no recipe. An epic topic drift into a discussion about balti....

... and of course not a single visible admin or moderator (as usual).  Just another normal day on the forum!

Since we can now apparently post anything anywhere, let's turn this into a discussion about why posting in the correct sections of the forum is a good idea. Not to satisfy my OCD or to dampen the enthusiasm of anyone who wants to fly off at a tangent and change the subject of half the threads they participate in. Purely so that members who wish to read the threads at a future date stand at least some chance of finding the discussions they're interested in. 

If we could use the "let's talk curry" or "pictures of curries" sections to post pics of our efforts and discuss them, that will keep the recipes area clear for people who are posting recipes. And if we could start a new thread about balti, if that's what is to be discussed, then it would be a lot less confusing for anyone who has searched for info on staff curry and found this thread.

And if, one day in the far distant future, the forum could find an admin or moderator team who will provide some visible leadership, then I'm sure the revival in the forum's fortunes will follow soon after!

[Secret Santa]

Well ...  I think that if one were to go to a good balti restaurant in the heart of the balti triangle and order a balti curry, one would stand a reasonable chance of getting a curry that was (a) cooked in, and (b) served in, a genuine balti dish.

You might think that Phil but you'd be wrong. The baltis are almost universally served and sometimes cooked in a kadhai which is a small wok-like pan with two handles. Balti though, as I'm sure you know, translates as bucket and some restaurants do indeed now serve in tiny, ornamental buckets. The curry won't have been cooked in them though. It's just a sales gimmick of course but apparently they do exist as serving bowls somewhere in India so there is a touch of authenticity to it, even if it is naff.

...a balti can be almost anything its chef/owner/whatever chooses it to be.

Exactly but in most restaurants outside of "genuine" balti restaurants it will just be a standard curry with a dollop of Patak's Balti paste added and then served in a kadhai.

[Secret Santa]

Since we can now apparently post anything anywhere, let's turn this into a discussion about why posting in the correct sections of the forum is a good idea.

I agree in principle but it'll never happen. The subject is so broad and varied that it's inevitable that even just one word will lead to unrelated enquiries and there goes your plot. And it was (is?) in no small measure attempts to moderate threads to maintain the plot that led to many of the really bad bust-ups in years past.

This is a perennial topic, you weren't the first to suggest it and I doubt you'll be the last! And I believe the forum is a far better place sans moderators.

[livo]

I agree with you Sverige that this thread probably should not have been OP'd in the recipe section. A simple beginners mistake which can be both forgiven and amended.

BOBDYLAN could solve this dilemma and also give answer to the Balti claim by using the modify process to include the recipe for his dish.  If the modify time has elapsed then even a new post of such detail could suffice. But then, is a Staff Curry a purchasable BIR dish? Should the thread be in a different area no matter what?

As for being off topic, I think it was fair to ask him what qualified the claim of his curry being named a Balti Staff Curry. Not off topic at all IMHO.