Got an invite to my local resturant kitchen!

[JerryM]

all of this getting at each other is no good to any of us.

we need to focus on haldi's words for me. the 70's bit is a red herring.

There isn't a 100% home made recipe for what some of us are after
And I really don't understand why

for me "what some of us are after" means good BIR.

i feel i'm now stuck with no real ideas on how to close the gap. we need ideas on what to do.

[Bobby Bhuna]

all of this getting at each other is no good to any of us.

i feel i'm now stuck with no real ideas on how to close the gap. we need ideas on what to do.

I'm totally with you Jerry. I too am on the same boat. At the moment I'm just knocking up custom base sauces with additional ingredients but am not making any real progress.

Sorry to be off topic but has anyone tried Bruces original curry house cookery base with just the onions, oil and turmeric? This is my next venuture, with the bundles spice mix and madras recipe. I like simple so this recipe really does it for me.

[haldi]

Sorry to be off topic but has anyone tried Bruces original curry house cookery base with just the onions, oil and turmeric?

Hi Bobby
         This is the first Bruce recipes from the curry club magazine.
I bought them as back issue photostats.
They came on coloured paper.
Yes, I tried these recipes
I thought his second curry house cookery was better though
My family thought that his latest (recently on this site)were the best
There seems to be a hardcore group of us that are obsessed with getting this flavour exact.
I am wondering if I will ever get a result I am happy with.
It's been really good the way so many people have got into kitchens.
Funny that no new ingredients or techniques are turned up, though.

Going back to BB's original question, I am sure a very simple recipe of onions,salt, turmeic, oil, water and garlic will defintely produce the result we are after.
At one time, that is all that Curry Houses had to work with

Things like peppers, ginger, mooli and even coriander were very difficult and expensive to buy.

[kid curry]

I feel exactly the same,we all need to get our heads 2gether cum up with the right method and go from there,but the way they cooked the madras with no base is still buggin me.

Is it just perfecting it or should i forget about it!

i forget about it?

[Derek Dansak]

Hi all, sorry to hear about the disapointments some of you are having. personally i am pleased with having achieved 95%. i can now put a decent curry on the table every night if i wish! they taste miles better than the recipies in traditional indian curry books. The only word of advice i have, is use plenty of oil, and if using electric cooker, really pump up the heat to almost full capacity. fry the garlic at high temp in the oil. also make sure the base is really bubbling away at very high temp. this works for me, and hopefully it will help some of you. i am convinced very high temperature is part of the 'taste' factor. (provided the balance of spices is also spot on) Never over do one spice too much, as it drowns out the rest. Bir dishes are really well balanced, in terms of spicing. this gives that 'interesting' taste we all love.    anyway enough of my waffle! laters dudes

[JerryM]

DD,

your encouragement is much appreciated and brought a smile.

i know we can all live with the gap - the trouble is i feel the last bit is within our collective grasp. for me this gap is in the recipes & spice and therefore covers a wide area but if we can get the basic sauce right then the rest is purely trial and error.

KC,

did their no base madras seem to have lumpy onion. the reason i ask is that this was the only thing that really put me off whereas the taste was probably better (more BIR) than making the same using the base.

what i'm saying is if the lumpy onion can be perfected then i feel their is mileage not as a replacement but the ability to turn out a decent curry on the spur of the moment very quickly would be well worthwhile.

[JerryM]

DD,

sorry missed the important part in my last post

also make sure the base is really bubbling away at very high temp.

this i do not do. from Maliks and my own TA i know this to be BIR practise. the question is though is it more convenience ie speed of order completion or does it really make a difference.

i make my base quite thin so that it evaps off at the cooking stage - i know this is important in getting close to BIR. would heating the base 1st make that much difference for me given i'm belting it with heat once it's in the pan.

[Bod68]

Just to let everyone know I did your base this weekend Curry Kid WITH a variant of Deathphall's Madras recipe but I got the measurements wrong as the finished result was excellent "BUT" wasn't anywhere near spicy enough.

I was a bit concerned too with missing fresh coriander.

Anyway on the PLUS side my first attempt from here and was given glowing reviews. Cheers guys

[Derek Dansak]

Hi Jerry, glad to hear you are still on the curry quest ! Your question is a good one. When i really concentrate on whats going on in the pan, and also turn the heat right up, i end up with an amazing taste every time. However,when i cook at lower heat, i end up with a overly spicy thick soup taste,which is not great. I believe the heat transforms the spices, and gets rid of the raw taste of the spice. it also seems to result in much more bir tasting oil in the dish. for me, the 8 minute flash fry at high heat is a must, (with thin base.) This method only failed once, when i added too much oil. the whole dish was fried, and the sauce was seriously greasy. i wont repeat that mistake again. well i probably will 

[joshallen2k]

Agreed we need to try new things to close the gap.

BB's base from the takeaway got me thinking. He said it was very mildly spiced. My current fave base is the BE, with a couple of minor tweaks. What I will do is the next time I make base, to cut the spices in half. Conversely, I will add more spice mix to the finished curry.

Just an idea to see if it makes a difference.