Topic: Describe "The Taste"

[Curry King]

I know topic has moved on a bit

Fear not, you will find every single thread on here nearly always goes on to a disscussion about "The Taste"?

By no means a bad thing tho? ;D

[thomashenry]

I know topic has moved on a bit, but a local takeaway near me has the most beautiful "smokey" smell when you enter.? It took me a while to place it, but it turns out it is black cardomoms ...lovely? - my jar of these is over 5 years old and still they are very pungent when slit open...

Indeed, black cardomans are the soure of the smokey taste. However, we are still struggling to find the correct way to use them in order to get the smokey smell into out curries!

My new line of research is that the flavouring picked up by the meat during its cooking is vital to the flavouring and aroma of the dish it is in. Tomorrow when I cook my meat in the stadnard way (oil, small amount of liquid, cook on low heat covered with some spices), I am going to overload on two things - cassia bark and black cardomanns. I hit on something today with my curry and I need to pin down what it was.

[pete]

I am going to overload on two things - cassia bark and black cardomanns. I hit on something today with my curry and I need to pin down what it was.

Black cardomons are a very important ingredient but I have overdone it with them a few times and got something quite disgusting.
More than two in a meal, and you can be in trouble.
If you smell them uncooked they have an almost medicinal aroma.
Almost like TCP.

[Mark J]

But surely the BIR's dont use an ingredient like black cardamom, apart from possibly in the base?

[George]

Many recipes just specify 'cardamons' without saying whether they mean green, black or any other colour. It's not good enough! I'm sure I've got it wrong before now, when I guess which type seems most appropriate.

Regards
George

[thomashenry]

But surely the BIR's dont use an ingredient like black cardamom, apart from possibly in the base?

I think some curry houses must be using them somewhere, as the place reeks of them in the nicest way. I can only think they are used in the cooking of the meat...?

[Blondie]

Hi Thomashenry,

Most of the curry houses in this area don't have the smokey taste, but the one that has a very definite smokey taste definitely has the taste in the sauce even without meat etc being added. So in this case I wouldn't say that the smokey taste come from only the main ingredients but comes from the sauce as well.

Just my twopenn'th,

Blondie

[Curry King]

I was reliably informed a while ago that black cardamoms are used when precooking lamb but not chicken or prawn.

[merrybaker]

But surely the BIR's dont use an ingredient like black cardamom, apart from possibly in the base?

If I remember correctly, Kris Dhillon puts them in her garam masala, and then uses that garam masala in almost every curry.? ?

[pete]

Garam Masala is a really different spice.
In more ways than one.
Compare the Rajah and East End versions.
They are nothing alike.
East End is really nutmeggy.
Keep them out of you curries, they add nothing restaurant to them.