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

[Karenc]

Thanks for that peeps. Am on the home straight now! Going in for the kill.  Bruce says "it's unlikely you will be doing this for the first time" er wrong, this idiot is.  I'll post a picture, promise, good or bad.

[curryhell]

Thanks for that peeps. Am on the home straight now! Going in for the kill.  Bruce says "it's unlikely you will be doing this for the first time" er wrong, this idiot is.  I'll post a picture, promise, good or bad.

 
I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised

[Manterik]

For anyone starting out this is great. It was the first, or one of the first, sauces I made when I first found this fabulous site and it tasted like a very spicy Tomato soup. It really gives a powerful flavour when cooked as a curry as per the instructions. Very versatile.

[livo]

It has probably been very remiss of me to have never tried this base and curry, so today I have decided to give it a go.  I found that this topic has developed into 2 threads, being this main one and then another which is follow up comments from BE, found here, https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3074.msg27201#msg27201.

Upon reading both of these threads, I noticed one very odd contradiction, as shown in the following quotes from the 2 threads.

As you know I have been in discussion with Bruce Edwards and he has kindly provided CR0.co.uk with an article on the restaurant Curry Sauce and Basic Curry.  So here it is.......

Bruce Edwards
.........
I always make curry sauce in late afternoon, and when I reach this point, I refrigerate it, then blend it the next morning. So you can follow exactly if you want, or fit it into your own schedule.  But I think it is probably best if you at least allow it to cool fully before blending.  When you are ready, top up the water to its' original level. Then blend until really smooth, and return to the fridge.

It is my opinion [but not proven] that curry sauce is at its' best on the third day after cooking.
......

Original Post Here http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=2815.0

Comments received from Bruce Edwards 14/10/2008

The method I have presented is tailored for home use. In a restaurant, it will be modified to meet local requirements. If, for instance, the production of sauce is on-going and it is being used straight away, it could be blended while still hot on top of the cooker, and used immediately. The remnants of one pot could be added to the next; after all, it has more flavour than water. I have done this myself. It gives some interesting variations of flavour. What I wouldn't do is re-heat blended sauce that has been allowed to cool, as there will be a marked change / deterioration in flavour. And of course, any excess oil floating on the base sauce can be used in the cooking of dishes.

                                        BRUCE EDWARDS.
                                        NORTH NORFOLK.
                                        7th. OCTOBER 2008.
               

So, the contradiction is quite obvious. He initially says that he always uses his base after it has been cooled overnight and blended the following day. He goes on to say that he finds it to be at its best on day 3. However, in the follow up comments he says that he wouldn't use the base once it's been cooled and re-heated.

Curiouser and curiouser.  Has anybody still hanging around from early days used this base before, and if so, did you notice any deterioration / improvement from allowing it to mellow before use.

Note: I assume the forum admin at this time was Stewy and not Yousef.

[Peripatetic Phil]

He initially says that he always uses his base after it has been cooled overnight and blended the following day. He goes on to say that he finds it to be at its best on day 3. However, in the follow up comments he says that he wouldn't use the base once it's been cooled and re-heated.

No !  He goes on to say that he "wouldn't do is re-heat blended sauce that has been allowed to cool" — "re-heat", not "use".  Yes, of course, "re-heating" is implicit in "using" but he was writing in the context of mixing one batch of sauce with another, not of cooking a curry.
--
** Phil.

[livo]

I don't see that logic at all Phil.  I understand what you are getting at but, he actually says that the gravy, once cooled and re-heated suffers a marked change and deterioration, and yet that is what he suggests in the first place.  I believe it is usual in the BIR method to use gravy that is already hot when added to the dish pan and so if it's been cooled, it must be re-heated to use.  No matter which way I look at it, I see a contradiction.

Regardless, I have to say that when I cooked this gravy last night, I used it immediately to make the basic chicken curry. I'd pre-cooked the chicken (breast and thigh) by poaching in a weak chicken stock with a bit of mild curry powder. (Knorr Chicken Powder and Clive of India Curry Powder.) The resulting curry was superb. However, I have to agree with other earlier comments in that for some reason the heat from chilli powder appears to be amplified when using this base gravy.  As my family is not fond of hot curry, I used only a small amount (about a tsp in a double serve) of "Mild" Chilli Powder and the dish was on the edge for my wife, whereas I and my daughter found it ok.  The original recipe calls for a TBSP of Chilli Powder in a single serve for a "serious vindaloo".  I won't be going there.

I also made a very basic Masala Prawns using a splash of the gravy and it was also delicious.  I regret not trying this gravy earlier and Mrs Livo has already requested that I make a Lamb Curry using the remaining (refrigerated) gravy.  She wants to take it to work next week to share for her staff luncheon.

If you've never tried this gravy, or perhaps it's been a while, I recommend giving it a try. Oh, nearly forgot.  I only made a 1/2 quantity which is plenty for home use and will easily produce 4 or 5 double serve dishes.

[Robbo141]

Thanks for bringing this back to life Livo. I was going to re-do the Chat GPT vindaloo tonight but tone down the heat for me and the missis, but if you regret not trying this old base sooner, that’s good enough for me. I will 100% be going the 1 TBSP chilli powder vindaloo route at some point but first instance will cook for me and the missis.
Feeding unused base to his chickens?  I bet that makes for even better curries!

I will be making the base via trusty instant pot pressure cook rather than 1 hour slow cook.
It’s brought excellent results on other bases.

Will report back with pic.

[livo]

I see no reason why the instant pot wouldn't work robbo, and I'd imagine you could put the spices in from the beginning without too much change. It would be done in 20 minutes under pressure. A stop and start is do-able anyway if you want to add the spice at the end.  I'll try my instant pot knockoff multi cooker next time. 

The simplicity of this base really shows that all the fluffing about with 3 hour gravies and cooking till the oil seperates is totally unnecessary.  Bruce actually gives a good explanation of why oil separation is not important, or possible, with home sized base gravy. 

The comments about the inclusion or not of the radish is interesting. I've only ever seen Mooli radish used in one other (very complicated) base gravy. It's not a very Indian ingredient at all. I would never bother to include it again.

Off topic comment:  I saw an article over here about a month ago informing that the parent company of Instant Pot has gone belly up.  They also sell Pyrex and Corningware among other brands.

Haha. Yeah. Pre-seasoned chickens. Very funny.

[Robbo141]

Yesterday was a good day.  Made chicken tikka on the grill in the morning. And then this base in the afternoon.  Pressure cooked for 20 mins, natural pressure release, added the ‘part 2’ ingredients then sautéed 5 mins before cooling a little.  No pot of cold water to cool completely, just gave it 10 mins then blended.  No need to top up water as no evaporative loss in Instant Pot.
Made a vindaloo, used 2 tsp extra hot chilli powder and, hands down, the best curry I have ever made. So good, I neglected to take a pic. And ended up waxing lyrical to the missis far too much I’m sure. Seriously, I’m still thinking about the dish this morning.
I made the full batch and am so glad I did.  Got 6 more portions in the freezer.

The ingredient list for the curry itself is so sparse, I wondered what kind of dish would result. Also a bit worried at the amount of turmeric in the mix powder.  But in the end, it was amazing.

Thank you again for bringing this back to life Livo.  I think this is ‘the one’.

Robbo

PS: yes I’d heard about the instant pot company filing for bankruptcy.  How on earth does a company with such great products get into such trouble? Very sad.

[livo]

Well there you go. What do say about forests and trees?  Glad you enjoyed it as much as I did.  I didn't cool the base in a water bath to blend it either as I used a stick blender.  I think that instruction is more for safely blending if transferring to a lidded blender. 

I've defrosted an easy carve leg of lamb and 2 chickens so later today I'll be doing pre-cooks ready to cook curries for Mrs L.  I'll make sure she doesn't get to take all of it to work though as I'm very keen to try this gravy with the lamb.

An hour or less to make a top notch base gravy.  I'm also glad I found this one and it was pure chance.  I did a search for Chip Shop Curry Sauce and for some reason the second thread, started by Admin, came up so I started reading it and then followed the link to the main thread.  Just goes to show that there is really good stuff buried in this forum.