Topic: Bruce Edwards Curry Sauce & Basic Curry - From The Man Himself

[Peripatetic Phil]

[OT] What exactly is "an easy carve leg of lamb", Livo.  Are the sheep genetically modified to ensure this (presumably desirable) trait ?  I have to confess that using bog-standard non-genetically-modified sheep as my starting point, I have never encountered a "hard to carve leg of lamb" — I wonder if the latter are found only in the Antipodes ...

[livo]

An easy carve leg of lamb is one that has been almost completely deboned.  Only the shank (shin) bone remains which gives the ability to easily carve the majority of the cut as it is mostly boneless. The upper (thigh) part of the leg has had the bone removed and is usually tied with 3 wraps of butchers twine to hold shape.

I always buy all that I find when reduced for quick sale. I usually cut the shanks (with bone) off and freeze them seperately for lamb shank dishes and keep the boned out section to either roast or make curry or souvlaki. The last 3 I bought were frozen whole.

I also buy boneless chickens whenever I see them. Gary Larson drew a Far Side cartoon of the boneless chicken ranch.  It's very hard to find the eggs though as they're quite rare.

[Peripatetic Phil]

Sigh, near-boneless lamb, boneless chicken — what next, shelless eggs ?!  I have always believed "the nearer the bone, the sweeter the meat", and I am unconvinced that this continues to obtain once the bone has been removed.  Incidentally, I don't know when Kentucky Fried Chicken (or "KFC", as they euphemistically prefer to be known) started offering boneless chicken, but when I ordered a portion yesterday and answered emphatically "with bone, please", the waiter smiled and I asked him "do you not agree that the flavour is better on-the-bone ?" and he replied "Oh yes, but these days most of our customers don't seem to know that ...".

[livo]

I'm buying them and using the lamb meat for curries and souvlaki skewers Phil. I also buy whole legs and have to debone them myself. Buying easy carve just saves me some time and effort. I can buy lamb rump or other portions without bones, like rolled shoulder for example, but the legs work better for me.  In saying that though, I have seasoned and roasted these legs, as well as those on the bone, and I find no real discernable difference in flavour.  I've never needed to spit it out.

Boneless chickens, seasoned and cooked well, are absolutely delicious.  Do you never buy and use breast or thigh fillets?  I believe there would be a more significant flavour difference between birds that are free range or corn fed compared to factory grown meat birds.  I once taught myself to debone whole chickens but only did it once.  Aren't turduckens assembled using boneless birds?

Back on topic.  I've pre-cooked 3.5 kg of mixed chicken breast and thighs as well as 1 lamb leg which was just under 2 kg of diced meat. I again used Misty Ricardo's pre-cook recipes and today I'll make some dishes using this Bruce Edwards base gravy.  For both my own and my wife's convenience I've purchased a pack of 16 Haldirams frozen naan.

[Robbo141]

Also back on topic. I’m defrosting some skinless, boneless chicken things overnight, plus a portion of this new (to me) base.  The missis has dinner with daughters tomorrow so that’s a curry night for me. Vindaloo begging to be repeated.
This base is an absolute winner for me. Today I typed up the base and vindaloo recipes, printed them and made a neat little laminated card, double-sided, to keep in the pantry.
Yes, I am that serious about this. It’s so good.

Robbo

[livo]

I've just decided that I don't have enough to make Mrs L's curry dishes for tomorrow so I'm about to put another batch on.  This time I'll do it under pressure in 20 minutes to half hour.  The thing I like about it Robbo is that it is so easy, and it really does make a good curry.  Make sure you let us know how the vindaloo works out.

[Kashmiri Bob]

Seriously?  This Brucey recipe is a bog-standard (generic) Bangladeshi base gravy from years ago.  Blank canvas ilk. Dutch class II onion style.  Been there, done it, got the tee shirt too. 

Rob

PS mutton for BIR curry, save the lamb for tikka/kebabs.

[Robbo141]

Order me that tee-shirt. It may be years old, but for me this is the closest to BIR I have come across and makes a delicious curry.
The simplest set of ingredients.


First reduction



Final cook


Chicken tikka vindaloo



This is so good, I’m defrosting another portion of base and cooking another tonight.

Robbo

[livo]

Seriously?  This Brucey recipe is a bog-standard (generic) Bangladeshi base gravy from years ago.  Blank canvas ilk. Dutch class II onion style.  Been there, done it, got the tee shirt too. 

Rob

PS mutton for BIR curry, save the lamb for tikka/kebabs.

Yes, seriously KB!  That must be why the staff at my wife's work asked her if I would take orders, and after eating curry for dinner on Tuesday night and lunch at work yesterday, Mrs L happily ate it for dinner again last night and an hour later heated up another serving.  At the school word spread quickly and luckily I'd cooked plenty, as they soon had the Campus Principal pay a lunchtime visit to the faculty.  The faculty staff then requested the leftovers be kept in the fridge at work so it can be eaten again for lunch today.

When I was recently making Brum Balti, with the 3 pot, ahkni stock gravy using wheelbarrows full of cassia, and other methods, she turned her nose up at it.  While this Brucey gravy may well be bog standard Bangla recipe from 15 - 20 or more years ago, I'm glad I found it here and the proof is in the pudding, so they say.  Some of the best curries I've cooked have been this last week using this base gravy.

As for mutton, it is not something we see over here unless you travel to the city and go to speciality butchers.  I can remember mutton being available when I was a child, but it was always spoken of as a poorer quality and cheap cut.  I'd have to ask a local butchery if they can obtain it, but unless it's cost effective I'll keep using lamb.

[livo]

Order me that tee-shirt. It may be years old, but for me this is the closest to BIR I have come across and makes a delicious curry.

I can't vouch for it being true BIR, but I'd imagine it has to be.  All I can say is that it makes darn fine curry.  I've now made the basic chicken curry, Mango Chicken (the test in my household), pseudo Butter Chicken, Lamb Curry and a Coconut Seafood Curry (Prawns and Pink Ling).  All 5 dishes were delicious and easily as good as I've had served anywhere.  There was no missing 5% to even think about.

This is so good, I’m defrosting another portion of base and cooking another tonight.

Luckily for me I was wrong in thinking I needed to make more for my wife's dishes.  I now have another week of curry to get through the additional gravy I made anyway.  I will need to freeze some portions.