Topic: The Curry Book

[George]

So, can anyone post the sample book (more free advertising!)?

Here's page 3:



Other pages to follow...please check later.

Come on guys. I'm keen to hear of any of these recipes which work. I don't mean recipes lifted from here or elsewhere, which we already know work, but recipes which MAY be new. Can anyone report any success from any of the 10 year / RCR recipes they tried?

Regards
George

[chinois]

I've downloaded the sample book and it doesnt really say a lot. I cant post it as i didnt try printscreening it but it didnt give much of an idea about whether the book will be worth the money.
The establishment is not named.

I post regularly on RCR and have had success with the recipes lately. The earlier mild base recipes didnt really do it for me but the new melting base ones are very good. They are also very similar to what i have seen in the 2 BIRs that i have visited. I'd suggest giving it a go as it's a simple base sauce and doesnt make too much. Personally i thin it down more so it's the consistency of milk.

I think the biggest and most constant source of our disapointment is the fact that a lot of us (on both sites) are not decent cooks already. This isnt an attack, it's just obvious from the way people talk about ingredients/techniques. We are attempting to perfect one of the most highly regarded cuisines in the world. You cant just give a recipe to someone and have them make the same dish as a decent chef, it's never going to happen.

[George]

I post regularly on RCR and have had success with the recipes lately.

Chionis

What a refreshing post. Many thanks for giving some idea if what the new RCR base sauces offer. Especially if they don't require 20Kg of onions as a starting point, I may give one or more a try.

Regards
George

[chinois]

When you learn about classic cuisines you notice that the original recipes dont have amounts or much instruction in them. Ingredients may have been measured but they were not recorded in the recipes because the cook was expected to be able to understand and work it out for themselves.

A good example is a thai curry paste: each ingredient is added to the pestle & mortar separately until the aroma balances the previous ingredient (which are added in opposites, chilli then lemongrass for example). People started to write comprehensive recipes so we could shortcut the experience & learning needed for this task. Now we have standardized recipes but they dont take into account the differences occuring in nature. Ingredients vary dramatically and modern recipes have now forgotten to mention this. Then the food processor arrived (which shreads and doesnt pound like the pestle) and the result changes again. The difference is obvious when written out like this but in a recipe they would be identical.

This is an example of why you need to be discerning in who you learn from (i.e. dont just trust google to come up with a recipe) and how keenly you learn/get involved. Recipes should be like essays basically! With regard to BIR you need to understand the ingredients and how they work, which is no small feat. You need to be constantly smelling/tasting so you get used to the differences that occur each time you do something. I find i often have to do control experiments to work things out. When you taste you need to be discerning rather than accepting. You need to try and criticize every aspect of the food in your mouth. Check there is enough salt to bring out the flavours (and spices need salt as much as anything else, dont listen to the health experts), that the sweetness is correct and that the overall 'feel' in the mouth is correct. I'm sure most of you have tried making multiple base sauces and found shortcomings in all of them. All you need to do is keep tasting them to work out what is wrong with them. Be the critic. The presence of onions which havent been completely cooked is the most common IMO so you'll probably recognize that 'vegetable sharpness' already. If you keep on with the other ingredients, even smelling a piece of ginger between tastes of the sauce to help you notice a subtle spicy edge to the aroma which you previously thought was to do with the ground spices, you'll be on the right track.

This way you'll find that with most recipes you will actually do them slightly differently to how they are written down, and might need to make adjustments each time. Dont let this deter you or make you think the recipe isnt perfect as this is how the professionals do it. They taste each dish & each sauce before it is served.

[IanR]

Come on guys. I'm keen to hear of any of these recipes which work. I don't mean recipes lifted from here or elsewhere, which we already know work, but recipes which MAY be new. Can anyone report any success from any of the 10 year / RCR recipes they tried?

Regards
George

I have made quite a few of the melting base recipes and think they are excellent. I made a chicken Jalfrezi on Friday and it was equal to if not better than a lot of BIR's in my area. I also totally agree with what Chinois says regarding cooking skills.

George - I do not understand why, if you are genuinely interested in the quality of the RCR recipes. Why you don't try them yourself? It is not a secret society. It just seems to be some sort of sport for certain people to keep ridiculing without actually trying.
Give them a try, you might be impressed.

regards
Ian

[Curry King]

It is not a secret society. It just seems to be some sort of sport for certain people to keep ridiculing without actually trying.
Give them a try, you might be impressed.

I think a lot of what has been said is based on mistrust Ian, plenty of people have tried them and the results have been mixed.  The recipes have even evolved according to peoples feedback and to see the next 'version' it's going to cost you 15 quid.

Excuse my suspicion but it's been under a year since RCR started up yet theres a spice shop, an ebook and a video store on the way.  Not bad going given there was supposed to be no money angle but I suppose it's going to fund the seven grands worth of servers for the new video store  :

[George]

George - I do not understand why, if you are genuinely interested in the quality of the RCR recipes. Why you don't try them yourself? It is not a secret society. It just seems to be some sort of sport for certain people to keep ridiculing without actually trying.
Give them a try, you might be impressed.

I agree that some of the latest recipes may be worth a try, so I will! Thank you for your feedback. Here's some ways that RCR could allay some of the doubts and suspicions:

1. If some of the recipes really do produce good results which from what you say, it sounds like they might.

2. To name the restaurant which these recipes are claimed to come from, which it sounds like might happen in the book, and I hope it does.

3. For a few bonus points, if we went to dine in the restaurant and the dishes were very similar to the ones cooked up at home then, wow! - that would be a major breakthrough. It's just that we've lost count of the number of previous books which have made this claim, yet it seems as if none have fully delivered, despite grand promises on the covers like 'your friends won't be able to tell the difference'!

Regards
George

[IanR]

It is not a secret society. It just seems to be some sort of sport for certain people to keep ridiculing without actually trying.
Give them a try, you might be impressed.

I think a lot of what has been said is based on mistrust Ian, plenty of people have tried them and the results have been mixed.  The recipes have even evolved according to peoples feedback and to see the next 'version' it's going to cost you 15 quid.

Excuse my suspicion but it's been under a year since RCR started up yet theres a spice shop, an ebook and a video store on the way.  Not bad going given there was supposed to be no money angle but I suppose it's going to fund the seven grands worth of servers for the new video store  :

I hear what you are saying and I myself had no success with the original savory base recipes. The ones I have had good results from though are the melting base recipes. Personally I have no problems if people see a business oportunity and want to make some money, good luck to them. At the end of the day it is all down to individual choice, No one has to pay anything if they do not want to ! There is an e book available but the recipes will also be on the site as some of them already are and that is free the same as here.
If you can achieve the taste you are after from a group of people who are willing to help you, does it really matter whether you have dined in the source restaurant or not?
Anyhow as I said, it is all personal choice I just don't understand people who knock things they haven't tried. Obviously I can't demonstrate the taste to you but I am willing to put a couple of pics of the ones I have tried (As long as the feedback is constructive  )

Ian

[George]

Here's the 2nd of 6 pages of content from the Curry Book demo application. It was said to have 8 pages but two are blank! I hope they don't mind the advertising. More pages to follow.

[haldi]

The only thing that bothers me about RCR, is this niggling doubt that the recipes are genuine
I keep finding things that make me doubt it
I really want it to be real
There is nothing wrong with posting recipes, you have made up
But I don't want to be decieved about it
I hope this book finally sorts this issue out