Topic: Derek Dansaks demo

[joshallen2k]

Great intel Derek. OK, the seasoned pans have some significance as evidenced by BB's "new takeaway/just like ours" observations.

Great idea to have him review the Saffron base. Worth asking him also how much he makes at a time. The Saffron may be scaled back, and they may use a larger pot. Some have suggested the sheer scale is an important factor in hitting BIR taste. Also have him critique the method (boil the veg, add the spices, blend, simmer....)

-- Josh

[Derek Dansak]

Yes thats a good idea Josh. its on my ever growing list of things to ask !

[Bobby Bhuna]

Great idea Josh.

I'm all about the underspicing these days. My latest is a batch of the Rajver and it tastes great... Too good. Like a tasty curry soup and is reasonably thick. The result is very fair but not near up there with my greatest curries. As with a few of my recent efforts, they are good but all taste like the base.

Is there any chance I can persuade anyone to try my July base, as this is what I'm going back to next. In my opinion it produced some of closest results I've had. It's here.

[JerryM]

Bobby,

i'll be pleased to try out your base (it'll be the following w/e - across the border Dumfries this w/e ruddy wedding's).

i'm pretty much done on base now - i'm back to my original belief - once passed a certain threshold they don't much matter.

your base has the last few thing's i haven't tried - the mooli and green chillies. i'd go for 1 tsp of the ajwain

am i ok to put my slant on the cooking though - 2hrs to blending and 1 hr after blending (c/w 1hr 40 for as spec). everything else looks good. the only other thing i do as std practice is to add a little bag of fragrant spice but i'm happy to leave this out as i know what taste it adds.    I would also add a little extra oil for ron but u don't need to worry about that.

[joshallen2k]

I tried a mooli in my last BE base. I found it added absolutely nothing to the taste, and after an hour boiling, the mooli chunks were still quite solid and not easily crushed. I feared having noticeable bitty chunks in the final base, but that didn't happen. Nonetheless, I failed to see what it added in terms of taste or texture. Perhaps Bruce can elaborate as to what it does and why he left it out of the revised base.

Jerry - as for the ajwain, be careful. In Bruce's base recipe he mentioned the original 1tsp being way too much.

[Bobby Bhuna]

i'll be pleased to try out your base

Thanks Jerry, I would be very glad to discover what a valued member such as yourself makes of it. Your changes sound reasonable and won't alter the base for the worse. If that's how you like ?our base, go for it. Let me know how you get on, I welcome all critisicm that gets me closer the goal  ;D.

[JerryM]

Josh,

appreciate the warning - i use the ajwain in the ifindforu base so happy to go with the 1 tsp (8 off onions 1360g).

Bobby,

thanks for your kind words. the tweaks in cooking time are aimed at getting the best taste - i find the moorish taste develops in that last hr after blending. it looks a very good spec on paper (up their with the rest). other than the mooli and green chillies it's exactly how i would wright a recipe - i'm not too sure it will get us closer to the goal - but it's only by trial that we stand a chance - so looking fwd to it.

rev1 - forgot to mention that i add water at the start of cooking after blending - i guess/judge the amount to get back to the original blended volume once the final 1 hr cooking is complete - i normally add between 300 and 800ml of water depending on the base volume.