Topic: 100%

[Secret Santa]

I'm still very interested in the outcome of all this. If it really is the missing link or last 5% I would be a bit disappointed but pleased to know "the truth".

If that is really what it takes I'll have to make do with my present 85 to 90 percent BIR taste and forgoe the rest.

Same for me PaulP. I just need to know where that last 5% is. If it is due to filth ( as Bobby Bhuna puts it  ;D ) that's no problem. At least I will die happy!

[Secret Santa]

We won't mention triglycerides or free fatty acids...

Awww come on they're FREE! How can something that's free be bad for you?   

[Derek Dansak]

if it is due to filthy oil, why does my local favourite bir get more of the elusive taste some weeks, than others. if its just down to filthy oil then surely the taste would be there in every takeaway i purchase. this is not always the case though. especially when they are very busy on fridays, the taste is often less prominent. i believe this inconsistancy is due to an occasional sub standard base made when they are low on stock. the chef being rushed and tired, after a long week. and less time taken over preparation that week.

[JerryM]

i've got the base made and will try curry tonight.

getting the oil out of the deep fryer was a doddle - used my ladle. i've used 275ml black fryer oil (chicken and bhajis), 200ml curry gravy oil (cooking oil leftover from last base), 75ml fresh veg oil. i reclaimed 450ml for cooking before blending. i cooked the base for 2hrs before blending and 2 hrs after (would normally only cook ~1 hr after blending).

the smell of the base was different during cooking - not as nice as normal. after blending i could tell the base tasted different - i can't really say how - a bit more depth maybe. the taste difference did not jump out as significant though but having taken out most of the oil that's not surprising.

i've tasted the reclaimed oil and it is different but again not significantly so.

i'm still open minded and hopeful albeit no more than i was before making the base. i am beginning to think that my black oil may not be as potent as i thought and short of that from a chicken or kebab shop.

my camera is not back from hols till next week so unfortunately can't add pic of the black oil.

[haldi]

i am beginning to think that my black oil may not be as potent as i thought and short of that from a chicken or kebab shop.

I tried for months to duplicate this oil
I couldn't do it
That's why I went out to get some, instead

if its just down to filthy oil then surely the taste would be there in every takeaway i purchase.

About ten months ago I was allowed to make up the full size base for a restaurant.
It was an amazing afternoon
The scaled down recipe is posted at the start of this thread
I knew every ingredient that went into it except one
Yes, you've guessed!
The oil!!

This oil was old, dark, and previously used
I tried making the base, at home, with all fresh oil, but it lacked a very important flavour.
So I got some old oil and made the base again and it was perfect
It compares exactly to a frozen genuine base sample, from this place
The curries I made, using this base, were also exact in aroma and flavour.
I froze a few, and I had one, of these, last night
Absolutely stunning
Now I have copied one place, I shall be trying recipes from another
Starting with the base
No wonder we have been told this can't be done at home
Who's going to have this oil?
Let's face it hundreds of us have been trying to get a 100% result for decades
It's no surprise to me, that I achieved this doing something, I hadn't done before

[JerryM]

i did get a "different" taste in the curries i cooked last night. the potency and ingredients in my deep fryer oil are very likely to be well down compared to the oil from commercial operations. so i'm not sure how close i am to what Haldi is experiencing.

trouble is i found that the taste clashed with what my stove produces. i don't believe this will be the case for members cooking in their kitchen ie it may well be a short cut to using a high output burner.

for info i made 1 off CK's madras, 1 off Kashmiri, 1 off my std madras.

[Derek Dansak]

Hi Haldi. thats my next quest... to be allowed to make a base in the restaurant. and get there recipe. i am jealous !  good work. true dedication. 

[Cory Ander]

I think the terms "filthy oil" and "worn out oil" might be being a little melodramatic.

I'd guess that most places turn the oil around pretty quickly (a day or so) and all that's happened, in the meantime, is that they have fried plenty of stuff in it (hence the flavour of it).

My boys tell me that, in the fried chicken outlet they work in (though, granted, not a BIR), they change their oil every day!  I've asked them to give me an idea about how much food gets fried in it before they change it.

Interestingly, they also tell me that the oil they use is a solid oil...though they have just changed to a liquid oil (at room temperature).

PS:  I'm now using said oil to make a base (Bruce Edaward's) and a subsequent curry...I'll let you know the outcome soon.....

[Cory Ander]

Yes, I agree CA.

Bloody hell SS! 

You're not going through the male menopause are you!  ;D

[Secret Santa]

I think the terms "filthy oil" and "worn out oil" might be being a little melodramatic.

Seriously CA, I've seen some of this used oil and "filthy" is no exaggeration!