With respect domi people (like you) being satisfied with their results is not the same as fully replicating the taste and smell of a decent bir curry is it?
So are you saying that I (and people like me, who have posted that they get the BIR taste) don't actually know what we're talking about? Are you somehow more experienced than us? Or are you calling us liars? Does it matter that the people we have fed our curries to also say it's the same or better in some cases than BIR? Are they mistaken too?
For some reason I'm fully expecting you to say that they're only saying that in order not to hurt my feelings, which if you knew Yorkshirefolk, is definitely not the case..They're honest to the bone, as it were.
Just because some people claim to have the exact smell or taste which you yourself cannot produce, does not mean that we have lower standards, it could well mean that some people are better cooks, since they can smell and taste where things are going wrong. The fact that you have had bitter bases does not mean therefore that everyone has, that's measuring people by your own standards isn't it? As I've said before, my sister can't boil an egg and she's been attempting to cook for 35 years! - let's face it Rai, the desire to want to be a good cook is not enough to actually BE a good cook.
You argue every point, yet you have not answered why, when the general consensus is to roast spices at lower temperatures -I'm assuming any high heat would have a negative effect on the spices or their cellular make-up, otherwise the advice would be the opposite- and when most chefs advocate (again, don't ask for proof, it's well documented enough) mixing the ground spices either in water or oil to
avoid burning? Why would you then conclude that maybe the answer is to whack the heat up? Of course you need higher temperatures to cook certain things, and bhaji do have spices in them, but bhajis are cooked at a higher temperature and the spices are already in a watered-down state in the bhaji mix and so are protected, bhajis are also cooked for only a short time, and you could instantly see when the spices were burning as the bhaji would be burning too.
Surely the more we question and understand the basic food science the better off we are? Or are you also going to disagree with that too lol?
No, I'm not going to disagree with that. However, the best way to understand fully is to experiment yourself. You have to know your ingredients, which are the basics in cooking. Even Michelin starred chefs experiment fully with tastes and textures and cooking methods, it is from our own mistakes that we learn. After all, I know the smell and taste of burnt garlic, because I've smelt and tasted it...and I've only ever burnt it once! but if someone doesn't know that smell or taste, how the hell can I tell them via text what that smell or taste is?
Domi, i cant understand why you refuse to see the simple logic here? If someone aint getting their pan hot enough, and never has done (because they use a piddly domestic hob and add the spices with the onions, garlic, pastes, water, etc) all their experience is maybe of bad practice. And some people will (seemingly) never question if this is actually the correct thing to do or not or whether it can actually be done better for a good reason
I could use the same argument in reverse, Rai, if someone doesn't know whether their pan is hot enough they should experiment and find an ideal temperature to get the
ideal taste from their spices
for themselves. If someone has a bad palate, they're not going to be able to taste properly, and you can't teach someone a taste from your own perspective, they have to taste it themselves to know that taste according to their own palate, which is where personal preference comes into it, Rai. I see you scoff at my insistence of personal preference, but food will
always come down to personal tastes, since most BIRs have their
own taste, no two ever taste or look exactly the same, and we use our own personal preferences (there, I said it again
) to judge what is or is not right for our palates. The tastes we try to replicate are not the curryhouses we avoid like the plague, rather the opposite, wouldn't you agree? So how hot you have to get the spices
for your own tastes is up to you...Personally I prefer to cook at a medium heat for longer than a top notch heat (where the risk of burning would be much higher, and would cause bitterness) because I like a well rounded albeit more robust flavour from my curries, and I cook my spices to suit that. Which is possibly why I have had more success than others who blindly follow a recipe to the letter each and every time they cook it, therefore replicating whatever mistakes each time and getting a lesser standard of curry at the end of it?
How easy it would be if to get a good curry all you had to do is flash fry your spices at 200 degrees for twenty seconds (I've never seen a chef checking his watch to know when it's time to add more ingredients either :
) Surely if you want to cook like a BIR chef, you have to know the ingredients like an BIR chef? The more you cook and experiment, the more used to the ingredients you become. I'll bet the first time anyone made a curry on this forum they followed a recipe to the letter, measuring out exactly the quantities needed, whereas someone who has been cooking the same recipes for years will use more "freehand" methods. I think you sometimes overcomplicate issues. A novice cook may get good results following a recipe, but over time will change or alter the recipe to suit either their techniques or understanding of the ingredients, both of which you need a practical experience of, rather than reading it from a book or a post on a forum.
Another anology I could use is yeast....yeast, it's reported, needs warmth to allow it prove more quickly, but even in a cold room the yeast will work eventually, it just takes longer for whatever chemical reaction to occur, just as you can actually bake a cake at 100 degrees, it will just take an awfully long time to cook. Just as you can burn spices at high or low temperatures, the trick is to
know when they have reached their peak :
unless you know that, the temperature is a moot point.
You see, when Parker21 mentions that toffee-like smell, I know exactly what he's talking about, because that's the smell I get too ;D we may get it using different methods, but the smell is the all-important focus, and I can't properly describe that smell, but once you have smelt it once, you know it forever
but in order to know it, you have to smell it
yourself first, experience and experimenting is everything Rai.
So can you get good results from a piddly little home cooker? ABSOLUTELY!
Does a bad tradesman always blame his tools?
I rest my case ;D
Topic: How hot do i have to get my spices? (Read 57865 times)
