Topic: My Madras Lesson

[JerryM]

CA,

u and i don't need cheering up. given what my curries turn out like we have no need for anything else. yes u're always learning of course.

the cheeri up bit. i've only been to 1 PAR. well known and amazingly well rated in warrington called the cottage. it cost 70 notes around 3 yrs ago for 3 people. of course i've never been back. my local TA is say 20 notes - which i'm more than happy to hand over on a regular basis - i'd even help clean up if they asked me. u only have to see and say hello to the chef to instantly know how proud and comitted they are. they i know cook fresh too (no frozen here).

the PAR still stays in business though so some people must gel with it. each to his own!

[JerryM]

CA,

i quite agree on the Head Chef. i make it my business to find out who he is and what night he's off. that's sort of what i'm trying to say. make sure u know who the BIR is before complaining of it's food. there are many imitations but once u know how good it can be nothing else comes close.

[976bar]

Jerry,

Many thanks for the post of the base, and Corry yes of course I won't give up trying, sometimes I just get so dissapointed with the curries i have made, that I just revert back to the fresh ingredient ones.

So, I will try this base and let you know how I get on. Besides, this forum has taught me a lot over the past 2 years. My chicken tikka my kids say is to die for and I now have to make regular batches every week, I would also love to produce the perfect Madras as apart from a Lamb Bhuna it is one of my favourite dishes. I also love a Chicken Chilli Masala, but haven't seen any recipes for that on here, but my local BIR does it so well....

All of you keep up the good work, I certainly enjoy coming to this forum

[976bar]

Hi Jerry,

I think the link you gave me sent me to the Kashmiri Masala page. Can you send me the one you use for the Base please?

[emin-j]

JerryM ,
       Totally agree with you ,whatever Indian or other Restaurant / T/A we visit at busy times the service and quality definitely take a downturn .We have a favourite Indian Restaurant / T/A at a local Seaside Resort that we regularly visit and have now give up going to or ordering food at a Bank Holiday time as it's rubbish.    

[emin-j]

I have to say that I have made several different batches of base sauce/gravy over the past 2 years, and the curries I have made from them haven't been anywhere near as good as the ones I have made without a base sauce. Maybe I'm not cooking them on a high enough heat? maybe its something to do with the ingredients, I don't know.

I posted a Chicken Kashmiri Masala...it used just fresh ingredients and no base sauce, and it was one of the best curries I have ever tasted....

I'm not knocking base sauce, but I think in future I'll leave it to the BIR's to produce, and I'll continue to make my mouth watering curries without it..

With all due respect then, 976bar, you (and several others here) seem to be more interested in cooking traditional Indian curries and NOT typical BIR curries.  Nothing wrong with that but, to my mind anyway, not the focus of this forum!  Actually, forget that, I'm actually no longer sure what the focus of this forum is! 

Don't be like that Cory Ander  ;D I  believe individuals on the forum make ' the typical BIR Curry ' their   focus and carry on in a blinkered fashion refusing to take serious anything to do with Curry that has the word ' fresh 'in it ! The forum does a wonderful job of bringing everyone together to discuss Indian Cooking and even Thai and Chinese
Hopefully we will all get what we are looking for especially if we help one another and not poohoo ideas and practices shown by members just because they differ from yours 

[parker21]

hi 976bar there is a recipe for chicken chilli masala in bruce edwards curryhouse cookery i have made it and it is hot and tasty and quite aromatic because you fry the chillies/peppers and onion with star anise, mmmm lovely
hope this helps regards
gary

[976bar]

Many thanks Parker, I'll look this up and give it a go

[Curry King]

The madras recipe is similar to how I make mine but with lemon juice and methi, I'm sure this is how simple it is.  I have tried all sorts into a madras and it's just tom puree and chili powder.

[Bobby Bhuna]

In my experience, best curries are generally produced (by ANY BIR) on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights...their busiest nights and, presumably, when their head chef is present.

Hi CA, I hope you're well! It's funny you should say that, I'm utterly convinced Thursday is the best day to get any takeaway. It's always so good!

I couldn't agree more on what you said about the head chef being present. My new local Asha is really good. The head chef there looks like a wise old monk with a long white beard. He's just great.

They're a really friendly bunch and I give my usual chat to see what info I can get. You can see into the kitchen - it's pretty standard stuff that is mentioned on the site. They don't use too much heat mind you... Also, they LOVE the veg ghee. I see loads of empty ones in the bin outside. I think it's mostly for the rice.

I speak to one younger worker quite often who is usually front of house. He says he's spent a couple of years in the kitchen working when it's not so busy. I was explaining how much I enjoyed their curry. I was also talking about which takeaways are good / bad. Oddly enough my other favorite is run by their friends.

Anyhow, this young guy was happy to discuss technique but insisted that the reason they get it better than me (I told him what I do and he says all the ingredients etc are correct) is because their more experienced chefs have been doing it for so long and are very proud of their trade. Makes sense to me. I certainly doubt that someone given the tools and some brief info about how to do my job would produce results like I do!

Ultimately I think what I'm getting at is that you can give 2 people the same ingredients and recipe and get very different results. Especially when it comes to spices - a little deviation from the recipe makes a substantial change. The experienced and skilled chefs present in the better BIRs will just have so much more of a feel for curry making than the layman. I'm not suggesting that this is where "the taste" is per say but I am saying that this explains the consistent high end result offered by a good BIR's curry. Mmmmmmm curry!!! ;D