Topic: Where are you going.

[cottageofindia]

Hello.

After spending quite some time trawling through the posts on here, i thought i would put down some observations.
If this site is about obtaining, as you put it "The BIR taste" then this is not going to happen with the way you seem to be trying. It seems to have become a game and not reality as it seemed to be even a month ago.

Let me say, quoting a statement from suggestions for improving this site.

"It would become intresting for individual currys\sides as we would generally all be using different bases etc..  worth a thought anyway"

What is all that about?

Here is another one form another section.

"hi can you recommend a madras recipe to use with this (stews) base sauce,as i am trying this one out tonight, many thanks Andy"

Let us evaluate what both the above mean.

Take a bir down south say no.1. They will have a base sauce or two that they use. The bir further down the road say no.2 will have a very similar base and so on and so on.
They will all produce say a madras that is very similar.

What no.1 don't do is sell a portion of base to customer "A" who then runs off down the road with it to no.2 to have it turned into a madras. The chef's would not do it. They might laugh.

What you are suggesting is mix and match methods. That is just absolutely mince. You are on the road to nowhere and just complicating what should be quite simple and which is really not rocket science or indeed as keeps getting said SECRET.

You will never ever achieve what you are looking for doing things this way.

What you need to do is go to your local bir or take-away and order a medium curry, be it chicken, lamb or prawn. This should be your starting point. Very little added to the base sauce. If you can emulate that dish, you are 90% there to being totally accurate. Then move on to other dishes. You cannot work in reverse.

As regard to the bases on here:

Poppadom Petes is very close to a true standard base but there are discrepencies on the quantities and methods but the basics are there. Needs attention.

Andy2295 is a typical north england savoury one and very accurate. No doubt the supplementary base will come for other milder dishes.

Darths madras is very good as a copy madras alone with too much chilli. (but he points that out).

The important things are.

Get the base right first.
Don't mix and match bases and final dish recipes ingredients. (That just does not happenand you will still be searching 12 months from now).

Finally get rid of all the meaningless posts from the forum. It's too long winded ploughing through the crap.

You will get there if you take a step back. At the moment that will not happen and you are on the wrong course.

Only my honest observations

Naresh.
Restauranteur.

[Curry King]

Hi Naresh,

You say yourself that if the base is right the rest will follow, if thats the case could'nt any curry be made from that base regardless of slight differences, I mean a madras is a madras at the end of the day? 

The site does have a lot of chaff but that is becuase the majority of members are into curry as a hobby not a professional like yourself, if we all knew excatly what to do then the site wouldn't exist. 

Anyway, any chance of posting your base recipe  ;D

cK

[George]

Naresh

Thank you for your suggestions. I find your comments very interesting and potentially one of the best contributions here for some time.

Here are some of my thoughts, in response:

>It seems to have become a game and not reality as it
>seemed to be even a month ago.
Recent events may have rocked the boat a bit but I'm sure we will soon stabilise and get back on track. I'm sure we're serious about making progress and cracking all the main recipes, complete with their BIR taste but, as I've suggested before, we are not as well organised or methodical as an effective team or organisation, which often have a coodinator or manager.

 
>Let me say, quoting a statement from suggestions for improving
>this site...What's all that about?"
We're not all journalists and our sentence construction, clear writing and other aspects of English grammar may leave a bit to be desired. I hope I write OK but as I achieved nowhere near grade A for English at O level, who am I to say!

>The chef's would not do it. They might laugh.
I suspect you are correct for many chefs, but a few might and do oblige.

>What you are suggesting is mix and match methods.
>That is just absolutely mince
I reckon you are correct, like Andy suggested, that you can't simply mix and match bases because each base is designed by each individual BIR to go with their specific curry recipes. 

>What you need to do is go to your local bir or take-away
>and order a medium curry, be it chicken, lamb or prawn.
>This should be your starting point. Very little added to
>the base sauce. If you can emulate that dish, you are
>90% there to being totally accurate. Then move on to
>other dishes. You cannot work in reverse.

Good advice. Many thanks.

>As regard to the bases on here:
>Poppadom Petes is very close to a true standard base
>but there are discrepencies on the quantities and
>methods but the basics are there. Needs attention.

Can you please help suggest specific improvements to Pete's recipe, so it is even better.

>Finally get rid of all the meaningless posts from the forum.
>It's too long winded ploughing through the crap.

I agree, as suggested in a recent post I made on 'suggestions'.

Regards
George

[Cory Ander]

Hello Naresh,   

Thanks for your post; quite hard-hitting for a new guy to the forum!    

I'm not sure that I can agree with what you say about not being able to mix and match curry bases with final recipes.  In my opinion, provided you are judicious in your approach, it should be fine (i.e. provided the ingredients in the curry base are balanced/matched with those in the final recipe).

Nonetheless, your post certainly does make for interesting reading and your suggestions are most welcome!   

You will see that there is also a new thread for suggested site improvements here:  http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=1641.0 and all suggestions are welcome.

I am particularly interested to note that you are a restauranteur!  You should therefore be very well placed to give us specific pointers (and recipes and techniques) on how to best proceed, if you would be so kind! 

I would also be very interested to learn more about your BIR restaurant cooking background and experience which should, no doubt, prove invaluable to this forum!

I look forward to hearing more from you soon Naresh.

Regards,

[laynebritton]

Hmmm Hi Naresh A very interesting post
You have stated a few things you think could be improved ......It would be interesting if you gave us an insight into Your Curry Base I'm sure a recipe would be greatly appreciated by all :
Or are you also part of the Indian Secret Society  :-X
Layne

[cottageofindia]

Layne,

There are no mystical or secrets regarding indian cooking. I said what to do in the first post.

Naresh

[Curry King]

There are no mystical or secrets regarding indian cooking. I said what to do in the first post.

If thats the case can you tell us your base recipe then 

Just a couple of questions regarding your original post, reading back through I notice you pick up on Darth's madras clone and Andy's base recipes.  Now I was under the impression that your standard BIR is not going to make a base sauce just to make a madras ala Darth's so that rules that one out and Andy's base seems over complicated, expensive and time consuming for your average BIR, have you seen that it needs a paste that takes over two hours to make?

Both of these bases pretty much go against everything else we have seen or been told by actual BIR staff?  What sort of restaurant do you run as it would help to know where you are coming from?

Cheers
cK

[cottageofindia]

Hi,

I picked up on 3 recipes, 2 bases and a madras.

The madras.

Darths recipe for madras is very good. But basically that is what it is a madras. You could easily turn it into a vindaloo for example or hotter still. I have not worked backwards to see what it would be like as a base by removing some of the ingredients.

In general there are 2 bases that are used in the industry. These are based on what a restaurant produces in terms of depth of menu.

Andy's is a savoury base and as explained is used a lot in the north of the country and where the menu is extensive in terms of medium-hot-rich dishes with a lot of speciality dishes as well.

It is not a complicated recipe. Bear in mind that they are using and producing it day after day so on first view it looks heavy. I would put my head on the block and also say that they will also have what we term a basic yellow base. This will be used for all the milder dishes.

With regard to the paste you mentioned, this will be made in large amounts, so 2 hours is just the same for a large amount as a small amount and this will be their taste signature.
This taste signature can be done in different ways but sometimes it is difficult to get the older chef's to adapt to newer ways.

Back to the yellow base. This yellow base is also used extensively in most other restaurants and take-aways that just provide your standard menu's, but requires a lot more in terms of spices to obtain the richer and hotter dishes.

Pete's recipe is near to this base as i said but the quantities are not quite right or the method.

You say that the above bases go against what you have been told by actual BIR staff. Were these the chefs?, the owners? or just serving staff? If you had been told then why are you still searching? Surely your answers would be there. I can say that i would use the savoury one given a menu to use it with, allbeit there are a few typing errors.

Ours is an on the street restaurant or as you would call it BIR.

Don't make things more complicated with what you are doing on here, go back to basics.

Remember the finished dishes are a combination of one base and spices, herbs and method. This produces the consistancy, there is no mix and match in the real world.

Naresh.

[Curry King]

Hi Naresh\Andy,

I picked up on 3 recipes, 2 bases and a madras.

If you did then you have contradicted yourself, you are saying that we should go back to basics and forget mix and match bases and currys, how can you rate Darth's madras on it's own merit without the base? 

Remember the finished dishes are a combination of one base and spices, herbs and method. This produces the consistancy, there is no mix and match in the real world.

According to you there would be no place for Darth's Madras recipe in the real world without the base yet in your own words, "Darths recipe for madras is very good."

 :

cK

[George]

Andy's is a savoury base and as explained is used a lot in the north of the country and where the menu is extensive in terms of medium-hot-rich dishes with a lot of speciality dishes as well...Pete's recipe is near to this base as i said but the quantities are not quite right or the method...I can say that i would use the savoury one given a menu to use it with, albeit there are a few typing errors.

Niresh

Your comments continue to be interesting but could you please confirm where you stand, one way or the other? I'm sure we will understand if you say it would be a step too far for you as a restaurateur to give away trade secrets - for you to help us with much more detailed pointers. Or could you please do just that if you feel able to do so.

You comment on typing errors and a recipe not being 'quite right' without providing the required amendments.  Frustrating! It would be most helpful and much appreciated if you are able to suggest the required amendments.

Also, has anyone else heard of, or tasted, a BIR north-south divide?

Regards
George