Topic: BRITISH-IAN FOOD IN THE MAKING

[Peripatetic Phil]

Well, if he were using "all the same techniques as at the restaurant", he would be using a 10kW wok burner for a start, and taking far less time that he takes using his domestic hob.  So given that my wok burner is still lacking an HP propane cylinder and regulator, and that I am therefore also using a domestic hob, I am quite pleased that he has adjusted his techniques so as to be more accessible (and relevant) to the typical home chef ...

** Phil.

[George]

Phil - I disagree strongly with your approach. It's like you're happy to create dishes which may fall short of restaurant quality. You are clearly not interested in perfection.  It's only if there's full disclosure that home cooks can decide if they want to follow all the same steps. I've never considered high heat to be very important, as it happens, but other aspects seems likely to have been left out. As I don't know what they all are, I don't know how significant they are. But it would be easy to imagine they could result in a 5% drop in flavour, so we'd then be back to the dreaded figure of only 95% as good as the restaurant dishes.

[Peripatetic Phil]

Better to be 5% short of target than to risk burning down the house by using a 45000 BThU wok burner in a small domestic kitchen because it is p*****g down with rain outside

[Peripatetic Phil]

So, for example, the Shah Cooks dishes can't taste quite the same as at his restaurants if they use base sauce which almost certainly includes green or red pepper and carrots (left out in the videos).

Just looking at his channel now, George, on your recommendation.  That is a most impressive Leamington RP accent, I have to say !

[Later] But if I was impressed by his RP, I am anything but impressed by his chicken Madras.  I shall not be subscribing.  And I've just taken a look at Livo's The Bengali Cook and given up even before the end

[JonG]

Well, if he were using "all the same techniques as at the restaurant", he would be using a 10kW wok burner for a start, and taking far less time that he takes using his domestic hob.  So given that my wok burner is still lacking an HP propane cylinder and regulator, and that I am therefore also using a domestic hob, I am quite pleased that he has adjusted his techniques so as to be more accessible (and relevant) to the typical home chef ...

** Phil.

The clarification provided in the comments of the bombay aloo video, was that in the restaurant he would not be boiling the potatoes in water then adding panch phoran and other spices when cooking the final dish, but would rather precook the pots by making a bengali stir fry of garlic, onions, spices and tomato then coating the potatoes in it and putting the whole lot in the oven to cook.  The final dish then becomes a much quicker affair of fried onions, some spices, the precooked (well flavoured) potatoes and a splash of base gravy to coat them.  That

[Peripatetic Phil]

Fair enough.  No argument with your analysis.
** Phil.

[George]

Better to be 5% short of target than to risk burning down the house by using a 45000 BThU wok burner in a small domestic kitchen because it is p*****g down with rain outside

I reject the point you are making about the use of a powerful burner. I said I consider it irrelevant so why do you keep harping back to it? I'm suggesting there could easily be a 5% drop in flavour from other simplifications and changes in the process used, like cooking wholly on a hob, rather than using the oven. You also said you rejected at least one channel because it stressed simplification. I share your concern because it probably equates to dumbing down and quality reduction. But the chef behind Britishian Food also make frequent use of the words 'simple' and derivatives.

[Peripatetic Phil]

George, you are welcome to reject whatever you wish, just as you are welcome to deny the relevance of the fact that in a typical BIR kitchen (and even in the kitchen of our hotel), the gas burners are infinitely more powerful than most have at home.  But no matter what you deny, these remain facts, and cannot and should not be overlooked.  And yes, Syed too adjusts for home cooking, and for this I commend him.  But when (for example) "Latif's inspired" shows the viewers a mixed powder which he is about to use, and then tells his viewers that it is nothing like the mixed powder that they use in his restaurant, I fail to see any point in continuing to watch.

** Phil.

[Bob-A-Job]

...when (for example) "Latif's inspired" shows the viewers a mixed powder which he is about to use, and then tells his viewers that it is nothing like the mixed powder that they use in his restaurant, I fail to see any point in continuing to watch.

** Phil.

I said the same thing about Parveens Indian Kitchen where she cooked "a firm family favourite" but then says she is using a generic (can't show the brand / product placement) garam masala but she normally makes her own... which is the same point.  Some families have garam masala recipes that are handed down through generations and secret.  Same thing as the saying the Americans use about 'Mother's apple pie' or 'just the way Mother used to make it', the way different people cook a dish by which all others are compared. etc.

I haven't managed to get through very many of Syed's videos yet as I will want to make them and for that I will need his 'mix' and base (set based as Livo mentioned), both of which I have plenty of in-stock at the moment.

[Peripatetic Phil]

I haven't managed to get through very many of Syed's videos yet as I will want to make them and for that I will need his 'mix' and base (set based as Livo mentioned), both of which I have plenty of in-stock at the moment.

I will be honest