Topic: Why we cannot produce that missing taste ?

[joshallen2k]

You know that makes a lot of sense. I wonder if a dust mask would be enough though. Nose plugs might work better.

Hey if it works!

[Bobby Bhuna]

Maybe some sort of gas mask might be better. Only I don't have one round the house! ;D I tell you what, it would help with the chilli fumes!!! WAFFFFTTT!

[Spottymaldoon]

You know it isn't just Indian food that poses this problem. How many people can honestly claim to have been able to make (good) Chinese restaurant food? Chinese chefs, like the Indians, use very high temperatures and you see the wok literally burst into flames as part of the process. They too have their own version of the 'smoky taste' and what comes out of their woks cannot seem to be reproduced at home. There is a TASTE there that I should dearly love to emulate. Again, my own Chinese food tastes pretty nice but in no way does it compare to the best restaurant food. We are not looking for 'nice' here - we want to be astounded!
Chinese chefs DO use ingredients that are officially illegal (like boracic acid in the prawns to keep them crispy) and flaming the pan like that will surely crack the oils and form some nasty byproducts (and they, like the Indians, use a lot of oil). Chinese (and I think Indian) chefs also slip in a lot of monosodium glutamate (I tried, no real benefit at home).

I even once had an ex Indian restaurant owner working for me and he gave me a recipe, but it was like all the others! - I should have asked him over to cook! But maybe that was why he worked for me instead of his own restaurant.



Spotty

[adriandavidb]

Made Bhuna last night, good but nowhere near as good as the one I made a couple of weeks ago.  I'm left trying to mentally 'unpick' the whole episode to see where I went wrong...

Spice didn't taste as 'fried in' as it should, I wonder if using slighty too much chopped onion and pepper interfered with the 'spice fy-off'

I alwys use the Ali Haydor technique of pre-cooking my lamb, and I have to say it works REALLY well, it wasn't the lamb that was wrong, or the beautifully fried tomarto wedges that decorated the surface of the finished dish, the sauce just smelt too 'boiled', and the level of tomarto puree too high, even though it was the same amount as last time when it works.

I think it just goes to show that if one stage of cooking isn't quite correct, it upsets that subjective balance of the whole dish.

I'm f--cked off!  My madras's I'm completely happy with, and untill last night diito, with Bhuna, ah well, back to the drawing board!

[mickdabass]

My missus reckons that the first curry I msde using this websites recipes was by far the best that I have ever made. To be honest,If I hadn't had that initial sucuess, I think I would probably have given up "the quest" by now. When I made my daily pilgrimage to the offy, the girl in the shop took one whiff of me and told me that I smelt of the most amazing curry aroma.......
 Anyway, back to the cooking. I think the recipe was UBs lamb bhuna, after lightly browning the onions and pepper, I dumped the spices into the oil, and for some reason I misread the next line of instruction and mistakenly? turned the heat right down (electric hob). I remember smelling the initial spice aroma (toffee??) but carried on lightly frying the spices. I think the instructions specified 2 minutes - so I followed them pretty closely. I then remember realising that I had the heat too low and then cranked it up to nearly full. I had the Darth Phalls base simmering in a pot next to the wok, and when the spice mix was bubbling well, I started to add a little base at a time as per standard cr0 practice. Anyway the resulting curry was amazing. We thought it was better than the average bir by far. At that time I thought this home cooking malarky was pretty easy. (I have not even come close to that curry since then). The bhuna I made last night was pretty good though. I used BE base.
One question for you all is this: If spices need high temperatures to release their full aromas, doesnt it follow then that in the case of the BE (and most other base recipes I have tried) that the spices are only boiled for a few minutes and are therefore not fully activated until they are fried and reduced in the wok in the final cooking stages? There are probably more spices pro rata in the base than are dumped in the wok at the start of the cooking process.
With regards to all these demos etc, I would be interested to know what the chef does with his wok immediately after cooking the curry. Is it washed? wiped clean? or what?

Mick

[JerryM]

Adrian,

what bhuna recipe and or spice mix are u using - bhuna is my current focus.

Mickdabass,

i've not done a calc but for me - most of the spice is added at cooking the dish ie the spice mix and not in the base.

cleaning the wok/pan for me has 2 stages - in between dishes i just do a very quick rinse with water - after cooking i clean it out with fresh oil and a paper towel. the only difficulty i have is if i cook straight away after rinsing with water the water splashes violently as soon as i add oil - to avoid this i leave the pan on the stove for the water to evap off before starting the next dish.

[mickdabass]

JerryM- you're right about the spices. Actually I use CK's bhuna recipe slightly modified 1 tsp tomato pure, (I add extra fresh toms to compensate. I find the fresh toms add a certain "Sweet Tang" to the dish) and some frozen fresh? methi instead of dried, 1 tsp each fresh ground coriander & cumin per portion. What spice mix do you use?

[JerryM]

Mickdabass,

i've just realised that my local has fresh methi (next to the coriander) and a few posts have convinced me to try it (i've not really gelled with the dry despite most people's ravings - i do use it but only if i put it in with the spice mix ie not after the base has gone in).

i too am using CK's as my starting point. the cumin's the thing i don't like overpowering the rest. i tried Derek Dansak's but that was not right either (more for tomatoey dishes). i'm going to try kushi on my next base. rest of recipe i feel is spot on.

[mickdabass]

the cumin's the thing i don't like overpowering the rest.

Next time I try this dish, I will reduce the cumin. What do you reckon: 1/4 teaspoon?

[JerryM]

Mickdabass,

it's a good point to try reducing the cumin (the generally accepted ratio being 2:1 coriander : cumin although i feel happier around 3 or even 4). i think 1/4 tsp might just do it and will try it too. it might need a bit of messing with though - to maintain the spice at 2 tsp overall for the 1 portion dish. i'll post results on CK's Bhuna post.

thanks for the thoughts.