Topic: Who believes there is a secret ingredient to the curry base?

[Bobby Bhuna]

I have a far fetched suggestion...

It is a fact that reusing vegetable oil lowers its smoking point each time.

BIRs probably reheat the oil in their deep fat fryers many times, e.g. they may change the oil in their fryers once per week.

By the time they then use it in a curry (assuming that is what they do) - at high heat, it is probably smoking like a chimney. Could this deteriorated oil's smoking effect on the ingredients being fried account for the taste missing from our currys?

[haldi]

Could this deteriorated oil's smoking effect on the ingredients being fried account for the taste missing from our currys?

I don't know, but I spent another day in my curry laboratory (garage)
trying to match this wonderfull curry gravy I bought
I thought I was really close, but when it came to cooking with it, absolutely zero aroma
Maybe it is old oil, as you say
I think they must add something that we haven't got
There certainly nothing used in my kitchen, at any time, that smells or tastes, like what I am looking for.
It is quite unique
There was this asian chef I knew, really nice bloke
His takeaway produced brilliant curries with this extra "taste"
Then his lease ran out, and he had to move premises
The new place he started, had loads of new equipment
It even had an electric potato peeler
This machine looked and acted very similar to a tumble dryer
You put potatoes in with skins on, then turned on the machine
A couple of minutes later you took them out: whole, but completey peeled
I was very impressed
He even got a new cooker
My gosh, you should have seen the flames it could produce of the big gas ring
They were probably about a foot high
But the funny thing was, that he never produced a curry with the "taste" again
His curries were very good, but never as good
I used to pester him with many questions and he always insisted that " the curry is created in the pan, not by the curry gravy"
If I could just make curry gravy with the "aroma" I would be happy
There is only one place left around here that does that
I think this is the aroma/flavour George talks about
I'll have to go back
I feel like I am running out of time, and will never know
Maybe I can find out more over Christmas

[Bobby Bhuna]

Could it be an industrial strength dose of msg? I bet I'm the 1,000,000th person to suggest this lol.

[George]

It even had an electric potato peeler
This machine looked and acted very similar to a tumble dryer
But the funny thing was, that he never produced a curry with the "taste" again
His curries were very good, but never as good

Haldi

Your efforts and reports continue to be so interesting. You can get a potato peeling bowl for a Kenwood Chef food mixer, on a domestic scale. It's basically got an abrasive surface inside and, as the spuds are tumbled around, the skins get scraped off.

It's amazing that the chef's curries went downhill just because he moved premises, unless he simply doesn't agree that his old curries were better. But you'd think he would be aware of a change and could explain what he'd done and why. One possibility is that he replaced an old seasoned wok. I forget the Chinese word for wok 'seasoning', which supposedly adds something, but I've never thought it possible that it could add much - not the high strength aroma I've smelled wafting down the street out of a sealed take away container, or from a BIR premises.

I think the used 'chip' oil idea has some potential as part of the answer.

Regards
George

[adriandavidb]

I hope I don't upset the venerable contributers here when I suggest that the secret is not so much in the the base, but in knocking up the final dish.

I believe I have got pretty close to the BIR taste, but I have to admit, there is still something missing!!

The closed thing that comes close to the rich aroma wafting from your local curry house is, I believe, as lot of people here have already suggested, fengreek leaf.  I add ground dried methi leaf to many of my curry dishes, and although it produces results nearly as savory as my local, it is 90% 'there' but not quite!

Could it be that as we, as 'chefs', are exposed to the cooking smells, it's never going to taste quite right?  I cook a mean Sunday morning 'fry-up', but it always tastes better if someone else has done the cooking!!

[Yousef]

I believe it in the final cooking process as well, yes the base is the building block but its understanding spicing, what works & how its fused to get maximum spiciness using technique and the correct heat that would take years to master.

I am in ore of Indian chefs when i can sneak a view in their kitchen its like Christmas come early.

Even accepting this it still frustrates me that i can not replicate at home

Stew

[lorrydoo]

I definitely believe there are secrets in BIR cooking.  It could be in the technique or  the ingredients or both.  Either way there has to be some secret to it because if there wasnt, then someone would have recreated it, even on a small scale at home.  The food industry is renowned for keeping secrets, look at Coca Cola for instance.   

[SnS]

The closed thing that comes close to the rich aroma wafting from your local curry house is, I believe, as lot of people here have already suggested, fengreek leaf.  I add ground dried methi leaf to many of my curry dishes, and although it produces results nearly as savory as my local, it is 90% 'there' but not quite!

Could it be that as we, as 'chefs', are exposed to the cooking smells, it's never going to taste quite right?  I cook a mean Sunday morning 'fry-up', but it always tastes better if someone else has done the cooking!!

I agree with you. It's because our smell and taste senses are linked.

I love that curry aroma wafting down the street. However, it soon disappears once you step inside the restaurant and you certainly can't smell it AFTER you've had a curry.

If you're actually cooking curry, you wouldn't notice that gorgeous aroma that we're so familiar with. Only way to check to see if that authentic smell is being produced is to get someone else (a curry head preferably) to walk past your kitchen door when you're cooking ... or even ask the down-wind neighbours, I'm sure they'll soon comment on the smell wafting around outside!

 

[Bobby Bhuna]

I'm back in St Andrews for a few days so nipped along to The Balaka for my take out Madras. I have a broken finger with a bandage on and got some sauce on it. For the past day or so I've been smelling and smelling the sauce trying put my finger (no pun intended) on the aroma. I am now convinced that it's Heinz Cream of Tomato soup. There is also a sour, bitter smell. I'm quite sure about the soup though!

[SnS]

I'm back in St Andrews for a few days so nipped along to The Balaka for my take out Madras. I have a broken finger with a bandage on and got some sauce on it. For the past day or so I've been smelling and smelling the sauce trying put my finger (no pun intended) on the aroma. I am now convinced that it's Heinz Cream of Tomato soup. There is also a sour, bitter smell. I'm quite sure about the soup though!

Hey Bobby

Got the recipe for you here http://southernfood.about.com/od/okra/r/bl10814d.htm

 ;D