Topic: Back To Basics

[CurryCanuck]

Scanning the various forums , I find it rather amusing that people are constanly in search of that illusive , authentic restaurant taste and in doing so , are quite willing to sacrifice the original recipe flavour of a dish by adding either obscure or off the wall ingredients .  Time to get back to basics and perhaps read books such as those by Charmaine Solomon ( The Complete Asian Cookbook ) .

[pete]

I have various traditional indian cookery? books.
Madhur and EP Veerasawmy amongst them.
They are very interesting to read, but I don't find the meals anywhere near as tasty as takeaway dishes.
Prawn vindaloo or vegetable madras or tarka dhall are just some of my favourites.
The Vindaloo in traditional cookbooks use vinegar, poppy seeds,cardomon pods and cloves.
They often use pork too.
Curry houses don't cook with pork.
The two cooking styles are separated by a flavour that we all love on this forum.
That flavour has become my quest.

[George]

I have various traditional indian cookery  books.
Madhur and EP Veerasawmy amongst them.
They are very interesting to read, but I don't find the meals anywhere near as tasty as takeaway dishes.
...The two cooking styles are separated by a flavour that we all love on this forum.
That flavour has become my quest.

I agree in large part.  I agree that the two cooking styles are associated with different flavours. I haven't tasted the UK Indian restaurant flavour outside of the UK, for a start, not that I've ever been to Bangladesh (yet). Perhaps one would find the flavour there. But I group together top Indian hotel restaurant food (in India itself), London places like Chutney Mary, and well cooked Madhur Jaffrey dishes as 'fine food'. I rate it much higher/better than typical UK Indian 'curry house' restaurant food.

But I still love the UK Indian restaurant food, hence my interest at this forum.

[thomashenry]

Scanning the various forums , I find it rather amusing that people are constanly in search of that illusive , authentic restaurant taste and in doing so , are quite willing to sacrifice the original recipe flavour of a dish by adding either obscure or off the wall ingredients .? Time to get back to basics and perhaps read books such as those by Charmaine Solomon ( The Complete Asian Cookbook ) .

Are you trolling?

This is a rather patronising and OT post IMHO. The purpose of this forum, the reason it exists, is purely to try and re-create BIR food at home, and to be able to do it reliably. Whether or not any of us are into authentic Indian food is beside the point. There are plenty of resources and user groups to futher the awareness of real asian food - this is the only communuity I've ever come across that is specifally aimed at BIR food.

I happen to love 'real' Indian food, and overall I'd say I prefer it to BIR food - but that does not stop me wanting to know how to do BIR food. That is what this forum is for!

[joe2]

Curry Canuck

I appreciate that Indian cuisine is truely fantastic, producing woderfully tasting meals, but for years I only knew the restaurant style and taste.  That taste became my quest and when I finally got hold of books etc - I was then able to make a traditional Indian curry, but it was too late, I was already addicted to the BIR  curry.
In culinary terms, BIR food is trash compared with a good traditional Indian meal, it's equivilent to a ready made meal, it's cheating, it's a short cut to the real thing, and it's definately un-healthy if you were to eat too much of it.  But like the rest here, I just cant stop eating it, and I want to be able to re-produce it, it's a real obsession.   

[DARTHPHALL]

CurryCanuk we don't hold your ignorance against you  ;D