Topic: How do you know when you are "there" ?

[livo]

Having recently tried the KD base, I would have to agree with you SS. Having also recently tried Latif's base as well, I would not say his could be used in a Korma, or at least not a mild Korma as I'd expect it to be served. I did however still enjoy Latif's base very much for more spicy curries. Horses for courses as they say.

Andy's curry base could well be a very versatile gravy. At the end of stage 1) it could be split and some spiced, some left neutral. Something to consider for the next banquet night.  It could work well indeed.

As for Andy's departure from this forum, it was before my time but there seemed to be a couple of protagonists that appeared to be pretty relentless in attacking him (and CP).  It is a shame if his intentions were good. The forum has missed out on quite a bit I'd say, but others may disagree. As I say, before my time so I can't really have a valid informed opinion. I wasn't there at the time.  I did briefly join RCR before I found CRo and the first thing I had to do to be able see anything was make an international funds transfer.  I was reading some stuff over there this morning as a result of a google search link, and it was all about not being able to see unless you subscribed. Nothing posted publicly but available if you paid up..

[livo]

"2 teaspoons of chilli in 10 fl oz of sauce is not twice as hot as 1 teaspoon of chilli in 10 fl oz of sauce. This applies to all ingredients and the tastes that they produce"

I agree 100% with the first half of this comment. I would assert the other half should read "This applies to some other ingredients...." 
Chilli is definitely non linear in scaling upwards. As we are rarely likely to cook actual dish quantities less than a single serve, scaling chilli down will never be an issue.  Scaling down a base gravy, even like Andy's or Latif's heavily spiced ones, does not involve a lot of chilli, if any at all, and so it becomes irrelevant really, in the context of base gravy.

[Secret Santa]

"2 teaspoons of chilli in 10 fl oz of sauce is not twice as hot as 1 teaspoon of chilli in 10 fl oz of sauce. This applies to all ingredients and the tastes that they produce

All I can say about that is that the chilli heat is directly attributable to the quantity of capsaicin released into the oil from the chilli. And, all things being equal, a doubling of chilli in the same quantity of oil, cooked the same way, will double the quantity of capsaicin in the oil.

So, unless the taste buds are non-linear in their response to capsaicin (a quick Google did not enlighten me), a doubling of chilli will double the chilli heat. But capsaicin desensitisation is a well known effect that will undoubtedly complicate the effect.

In general I would say that Phil's statement is demonstrably incorrect.

[Peripatetic Phil]

In general I would say that Phil's statement is demonstrably incorrect.

Andy's statement.  Everything in string quotes is quoted verbatim from Andy.  But I agree with his analysis on empirical grounds.
** Phil.

[Secret Santa]

Mulling as to how one could test the theory I recalled the Scoville scale in which chilli heat is measured. And from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_scale) we get:

A weakness of the Scoville organoleptic test is its imprecision due to human subjectivity, depending on the taster's palate and number of mouth heat receptors, which vary widely among people.[1][4] Another weakness is sensory fatigue;[1] the palate is quickly desensitized to capsaicinoids after tasting a few samples within a short time period.[9] Results vary widely (up to

[Secret Santa]

As for Andy's departure from this forum, it was before my time but there seemed to be a couple of protagonists that appeared to be pretty relentless in attacking him

You say attacking, I would say rigorously questioning his motive and authenticity both of which were ultimately proven to be dubious. He succeeded in building a base clientelle for his fledgling forum RCR (his real motive) and the Indian restaurant he claimed to work for didn't exist (authenticity, or lack therof).

[Peripatetic Phil]

You say attacking, I would say rigorously questioning his motive and authenticity both of which were ultimately proven to be dubious. He succeeded in building a base clientele for his fledgling forum RCR (his real motive) and the Indian restaurant he claimed to work for didn't exist (authenticity, or lack therof).

As I read only Andy's messages and not (most of) the replies thereto, I will have missed this.  To save me (and perhaps others) searching, could you provide a link to the message in which his putative restaurant was shewn not to exist ?

** Phil.

[Secret Santa]

could you provide a link to the message in which his putative restaurant was shewn not to exist ?

** Phil.

I could not. I'm afraid it's from memory only though it was all on the open forum at the time. The restaurant he claimed to work at was shown to be a defunct restaurant he had pulled randomly (I assume) from the web. You'll note (or perhaps not if you haven't read it all) that he was constantly evasive when asked and then when one member wanted to visit, at his open invitation, that's when he left the forum.

It was important to his ruse that he establish some authenticity to attract members to his rival forum.

[livo]

All I got was that it was supposedly a restaurant and associated Takeaway in Leeds and one of the chefs was from Bradford.

[Secret Santa]

All I got was that it was supposedly a restaurant and associated Takeaway in Leeds and one of the chefs was from Bradford.

Yes that was the claim. But it was never proven.

There were pictures posted of the defunct takeaway (or maybe links to the pictures, I don't recall exactly). There seems to be some stuff still missing but it could be buried in another thread. You know how these threads wander from the initial premise.

And his use of the term cilantro for coriander just didn't lend credence to his Leeds/Bradford/Yorkshire supposed roots. Brits do not call coriander cilantro. The only time I've ever heard it referred that way is in the USA and maybe countries that are AmE speakers.

Ultimately, in spite of the fact that the recipes seemed authentic, and even then there was well founded suspicion of plagiarism. his back story didn't really hold up. I'd put more meat on the bones of what is just ancient history now anyway but my memory just isn't up to it. I've even tried this base recipe and I don't remember doing that but it couldn't have impressed all that much or I would have stuck with it.