Hi all

[Bjornloser]

Hi All - Ive just joined this forum because I'm getting inconsistent results. Sometimes brilliant ( ta da ta da ta da da da da da ! - blowing me own trumpet ). Sometimes. hmmmmm...not quite right. Have got all the ebooks ( Julian Voigt-excellent, Misty Ricardo, Dan Toombs ) and watched loads of videos ( Latif Inspired, Steven Heap (brilliant seasoned oil - wow !) , Huiseen Rashin - Rishton Balti - incredible but more authentic than BIR whatever this means). But...and it's a big but...sometimes it just doesnt work. I think its to do with the cooking process more than what I'm putting in. Undercooking or low temp definitely gives a raw excessively "cuminey" taste. Overcooking or too high a temp sometimes makes the curry bland. Every third or fourth attempt and it's "wow-that's it. THAT taste!!. And the plates, bowls, spoons get licked clean to the point of removing the plate patterns. I've noticed different results with different pans too. Always turns out better when i'm in a hurry and don't "over think" it. Familiar anyone ??

[Peripatetic Phil]

Hallo BL, and welcome aboard.  I would be surprised if there were any member here who could say, hand on heart, that he or she had never had a failure, and most would admit that failures are simply a fact of life that one has to come to accept.  As regards "authorities", I would instinctively place greater credence on texts written or videos produced by someone from the sub-continent than I would on something written by a westerner, and so on that basis let me make two recommendations :

• The Curry Secret, by Kris Dhillion
• Britishian food, produced by Chef Syed Rahil Ahmed

The first taught me how to cook BIR food at home, and whilst Kris's methology goes against 99% of the received wisdom, it will allow you to create first-class (and repeatable !) curries at home without first needing to learn how (for example) to bhoon spices without burning them.  The second is a series of videos produced by Chef Syed Rahil Ahmed, former Head Chef at his late brother's restaurant in Derbyshire.  Unlike far too many Youtube videos, there is no nonsense about "now I am going to teach you the real secret to achieving BIR food at home"

[noble ox]

Agree with your findings with Syed and Dhillon amazing how both methods are light on spices and simple its easy to wreck a curry with overspicing

[Peripatetic Phil]

Further thoughts on "what is a failure", based on this evening's curry (no name, chicken leg chopped through the bone into curry-sized pieces, pre-cooked (still on the bone) using Syed's recipe and method, then cooked this evening with no recipe whatsoever, just "played by ear".  So, what is a failure ?  It is not failing to get to within 85%/95%/98.5% of your local BIR