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

[adriandavidb]

I don't have an electric or a 'poor' gas cooker; Chris303, I wonder if you have actually read all that I have written??  Perhaps you have just fixated on the line in bold at the bottom of my post!

Haldi, I am very well aware how a BIR chef cooks a curry, at least in one curry-house near me, as I seen a demo.  You may well have greater knowledge here, which I defer to.  HOWEVER, this chef cooked me the best madras I had eaten up 'till then, and he did not achieve it by using a high heat, or with specacular flames leaping out of the pan!  I have seen BIR chefs do this on the tele, but I suspect that is just 'showmanship', for the cameras, and is not necessary.

I'd be very grateful if you would both take the trouble to read my earlier posts in this same thread, they explain WHY I think that high heat in not essential.

Thanx guys.

[haldi]

I am very well aware how a BIR chef cooks a curry, at least in one curry-house near me, as I seen a demo. 

I didn't mean any offence
I am totally puzzled what the missing factor is, if it's not the cookers
You are right technique is all important
Cooking ingredients/spices for the right time is essential
But when I see a demo, it looks so easy
There is no rush "quick get the gravy in before the spices burn!!!"
At a couple of takeaways I was allowed to cook my own
I'm not bragging, but they were the same takeaway quality that they cook
Now if I can do it there, why is it so different at home?

Puzzled

One day I shall get my restaurant cooker connected to gas mains, rather than using bottled gas
That'll cost a small fortune and to be honest I don't actually 100% believe my theory.
But it's a possibility I need to prove or eliminate

[adriandavidb]

You're right Haldi, it does seem to be a bit of a puzzle. It's particularly interesting that you have been allowed to 'flash-up' your own curry in a curry-house kitchen, and got results as good as they produce, which I don't doubt for a moment.

That also knocks the 'cooking smells' notion on its head also. I'm partial to the odd 'Full English' cooked breakfast, but they  not good if I've cooked it myself! Presumably that's because: a) I'm a crap cook; or b) becasue I don't enjoy it so much, having had my palate temporarily spoiled by the cooking smells during the cooking. 

It's very difficult to account for this, Having read lots of your posts I would be very supprised if your ingredients were not up to scratch, so that leaves technique.  Are you sure you're not just being hard on yourself, do you really think your results are not as good as the one you cooked under supervision??

From what you have said I infer that you have seen big flames that did not seem hot.  I have noticed that also in kitchen footage on the TV.  A blue bunsen-burner type flame would be very hot as it is fully oxygenated, I seem to remeber also on a bunsen, it is possible to close a valve that admits air into the burner, giving a incandescent orange/red sooty flame that is a lot less hot.  Perhaps these large professional flame are not fully oxygenated, then they would be cooler.  Did the flames at your demos seem less blue (i.e. more orangey at the tips) than at home?

If garlic/ginger paste you saw was able to fry for some time without burning it does seem as though the flame must, if anything, be cooler!  A chef tipping the pan to ignit some of the hot contents does not necessarily mean the heatis very high.  I sometimes ccok a curry in a small wok (karahi sized), over a normal ring, but when the contents is really hot I sometimes scare the wife by deliberately letting it flare-up!  The result does not seem to taste any better though, for me at least!

One thing I would like is a few more demos!!

[haldi]

It's particularly interesting that you have been allowed to 'flash-up' your own curry in a curry-house kitchen, and got results as good as they produce, which I don't doubt for a moment.

Actually, when I was allowed to cook there was very little flashing/flambeeing.
The flames were high though
They were creeping up the side of the pan

From what you have said I infer that you have seen big flames that did not seem hot.(i.e. more orangey at the tips) than at home?

The flames are not fierce like on a domestic cooker
They wave in the air as they burn
I believe there is an air valve to adjust for this
I have one on my big cooker but it has no effect on propane gas
The propane always burns fast and blue

The takeaway's flames are really big sometimes
They rise about 20cm above the ring, when no pan is over them
I am sure that they wouldn't waste such gas if it wasn't required
You could quarter the size of your gas bill, couldn't you?
Everything else at these takeaways is done at the cheapest cost possible
I have even seen whole spices (bay leaves & cinnamon) used more than once
I should also add, that this was to no detriment of the cooking

[Bobby Bhuna]

I've spent the past few weeks running the supply of base in the freezer down and finally emptied it out. So, last night I had a good trawl of the forum and decided that given the quality of Bruce's previous offerings, this one must be worth a shot. How right I was!!! Here are my ingredients (it is optional to use red or green pepper for this recipe. I used red because I think it works better in base sauces). I didn't include the onions in the photo because they wouldn't fit in.



At this point I blended the garlic and ginger in some cold water. I didn't think this would make much difference but the effect is actually huge!!! My kitchen is still reeking - it reminds of the smell from making the KD base for the first time. This smell remains strong throughout the cooking process and the end result tastes much more garlicy / gingery than when I add them to the base coarsely chopped.

I added all the ingredients specified in stage 1 to the stock pan and poured in the 2.5 pints of water from my kettle. This exactly covered the ingredients and no more. At this point I thought to myself "Bruce, you precise little recipe maker!!!" and had a feeling things were going to plan. I brought the base to the boil, put the hob down to mark 1 and stuck a lid on. In a hour, it looked like this.



I then added the tomato puree and spice mix, and boiled for 5 mins. This is how it looked.



I cooled the pan in the sink and blended away for around five minutes. Here she is.



Finally, I followed Bruce's curry recipe and plated her up.



The result? Excellent. Great texture and robust garlicy flavour with a lovely lustrous finish. I personally think this is one of the best. However my gf thinks I've made better (although she really enjoyed it). To be honest she always rates my curries higher when I have popodums, onion salad and lime pickle on the side, so perhaps it was just the lack of trimmings she was missing.

I personally enjoyed this curry so much, I'm going to have to go and make another shortly ;D

Thank you very much Bruce! Brilliant recipe!

[haldi]

That looks absolutely fantastic, Bobby
I thought Bruce's new base was first class
My only problem, was that I thought the curry tasted, almost the same as the base.
What did you think?

[Bobby Bhuna]

My only problem, was that I thought the curry tasted, almost the same as the base.
What did you think?

Thanks very much Haldi! I hope I'm not shocking everyone when I say I don't usually taste the base. I've tried a couple of times and I don't really find I can pinpoint what a good or bad one is because they all taste pretty bland (and I don't have the most experienced palette in the world). That said, even if it does, I don't really mind because it (the curry) tastes great.

I'll be interested to find out if Bruce had any other recipes for different curries, that way we could see if they all taste like the base, or if the base is quite versatile.

Have you tried the base with other recipes yet?

I'm pre cooking my lamb right now for curry no 2 for the day. ;D You know it's good when I can't prize myself from the hob!

[haldi]

My only problem, was that I thought the curry tasted, almost the same as the base.
What did you think?

Have you tried the base with other recipes yet?

No, not properly
I was hoping Bruce would post specific recipes
That's going to a little while, isn't it?

[Bobby Bhuna]

I was hoping Bruce would post specific recipes
That's going to a little while, isn't it?

If you read this recipe he says he'll add to it in late summer / early autumn if he has the time, so here's hoping. However, I think he puts in a lot of time to his curry making and quite fairly may rather sell his recipes in book form, so I would imagine that he has many, many more great recipes up his sleeve.

Let's hope we can all look forward to Bruce getting a book published because I would buy it, that's for certain (and I'm not one to buy books if I can avoid it! ). That said with a bit of luck maybe he'll give us a little more... Who knows! To be honest he's been more than generous so far and so personally I would feel bad asking for more for free.

[SnS]

Nice post Bobby (as normal) - I will really have to give this one a go soon.

SnS