Topic: New Cooker

[Cory Ander]

Hi Haldi,

Yellow flames indicate that there is too much gas and too little air for efficient combustion (hence the carbon monoxide that Santa mentions).  If the flames are blue but too pale, there is too little gas and too much air.  The flames should be blue with yellow tips.  There should be a "mixture" screw somewhere that you can play with?  Yellow flames are cooler than blue flames (where complete combustion is occurring).

I can get yellow flames (your so called "lazy flames") by turning down the supply of air to my 3 ring burner (check the gold control rings:  http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=1851.msg16037#msg16037).

This quote of Wikipedia may be helpful.  Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) is a gas mixture that is primarily propane or primarily butane:

"LPG has a higher calorific value (94 MJ/m? equivalent to 26.1kWh/m?) than natural gas (methane) (38 MJ/m? equivalent to 10.6kWh/m?), which means that LPG can not simply be substituted for natural gas. In order to allow the use of the same burner controls and to provide for similar combustion characteristics, LPG can be mixed with air to produce a synthetic natural gas (SNG) that can be easily substituted. LPG/air mixing ratios average 60/40, though this is widely variable based on the gases making up the LPG. The method for determining the mixing ratios is by calculating the Wobbe index of the mix. Gases having the same Wobbe index are held to be interchangeable"

As Santa says, perhaps you need to fiddle (being qualified to fiddle of course! ) with the gas pressure and air regulator.

My gas appliances state that the gas pressure must be regulated to 1.0kPa for natural gas and 2.75kPa for LPG.  As far as I can tell, they then have the more or less the same power consumptions (LPG being marginally less).

Hope this helps!  But I doubt it! 

[haldi]

Yellow flames indicate that there is too much gas and too little air for efficient combustion   There should be a "mixture" screw somewhere that you can play with?  Yellow flames are cooler than blue flames (where complete combustion is occurring).
(check the gold control rings:  http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=1851.msg16037#msg16037).

Thanks, I will take a closer look

Continuing the chat I had with the chef:-

He proceeded to make a veg vindaloo with extra sauce
The following recipe demonstrates why it's do important to have a perfect curry gravy
Some recipes are little more than heated curry gravy

Chef took a can of spiced oil from the fridge
The oil becomes thick when cold and looks most "un oil" like
He took two desertspoons of this and heated it in a pan for about two minutes
The gas flames were running up the side of the pan
He then added three desertspoons of tomato puree and stirred this round the pan for a minute
The tomato puree is straight from a can
Not diluted and made by "white tower"
Chef then put in two ladles of curry gravy and boiled it for about three minutes
All the time, little spits of oil were igniting at the side of the pan
This was giving an amazing BIR aroma
You would recognise it
Chef turned down the flame and added a teaspoon more of tomato puree and maybe half a ladle of curry gravy
He cooked on this lower heat for a couple of minutes then the sauce was finished
He put half of this into a foil container with a cardboard lid
This was the finished extra vindaloo sauce

So with half the sauce still left in the pan, he added half a teaspoon of salt
Some "thawed out" frozen mixed veg
Two small pieces of pre cooked potato (pre cooked in water,turmeric and salt)
A desertspoon of canned mushrooms from a fridge
Chef stirred this all round for a minute then added another ladle of curry gravy and half a desertspoon of hot spice mix
He cooked on for five minutes then added a tiny pinch of ground coriander and a tiny pinch of ground cummin
Chef scraped this delicious vindaloo into a plastic carton and carefully snapped the lid on.
It was brilliant that he took so much time and effort to help me with my curry cooking hobby.
Just because I know how to do it won't stop me buying from him
You can't always be bothered to spend hours cooking, can you?
And there is no way I would want to do this as a business

But seriously, having watched this very closely, I think you need big flames and heat to get the BIR flavour
This new cooker of mine will get me what I have strived, for twenty odd years, to achieve
I compared some of his vindaloo sauce with some made with my new cooker.
Apart from a very slight "dried fenugreek taste" it was the same
That brings me to another point
If you cook your curries, then you don't enjoy them as much
I had tried my sauce after I first made it
I thought it was really un satisfactory, when it was really ok

[Cory Ander]

This was the finished extra vindaloo sauce

So was this a vindaloo strength curry base then Haldi?  Because, if I understand you correctly, he made it into extra vindaloo sauce by adding nothing other than tomato paste and reclaimed oil?

I do agree that the curry base is critical to a good BIR curry.

[commis]

Hi

Remember that propane burns hotter than butane. But if your not getting total combustion be carefull!

Regards

[Yousef]

This is the most interesting post for a while and really indicates that the base with a combination of intense heat to cook, correct spicing and cooking technique could be the key here.

Are you going to make this base sauce Haldi?

Stew

[haldi]

So was this a vindaloo strength curry base then Haldi?  Because, if I understand you correctly, he made it into extra vindaloo sauce by adding nothing other than tomato paste and reclaimed oil?
I do agree that the curry base is critical to a good BIR curry.

Yes, you are right
Vindaloo round here, is a medium curry, not hot
So the base is suitable for that or things such as a korma
For the sauce he added no extra spice
But for the curry he added hot spice mix (bassar) and just a pinch of cummin and coriander

Hi Stu
      Yes, I will make the base, but I'm going to try to scale it down.
I don't know how, but my freezer is always piled high with frozen curries, curry gravies, rice & tandoori chicken.
When I come home from shopping I can't fit anything in it!!
It drives my wife mad.
So if I made fifteen litres of curry gravy, I think we might fall out

[curryqueen]

Hi Haldi,

My other half is a gas technician and says that if the restaurants flames on the gas ring were yellow it means that the gas ring would need cleaning and was blocked, hence its burning neat gas and there is no air mixture.  CQ

[Cory Ander]

Good point CQ! Start with the obvious and make sure everthing is unblocked! 

[Cory Ander]

Vindaloo round here, is a medium curry, not hot

What IS the world coming to Haldi!

[haldi]

Hi Haldi,

My other half is a gas technician and says that if the restaurants flames on the gas ring were yellow it means that the gas ring would need cleaning and was blocked, hence its burning neat gas and there is no air mixture.  CQ

Thank you CQ
I believe you use a large cooker, is that gas?