Topic: Does ANYONE remember the old style Bhuna?

[Cory Ander]

How can you possibly know whether BIR's here are still producing curries from the 80's ... I don't know of any .. if there are, they must be as rare as rocking horse sh*t.  :

Let's put it this way SnS; up until the time I was last there (i.e. a couple of years ago, now, admittedly) I could, in my opinion, get curries that were no different to those I recall from the 1980s.

So, unless something drastic has happened to these BIRs in the past couple of years (and friends, who frequent these BIRs, assure me that nothing has), then I presume that this is still the case.....

....but good luck hunting for your rocking horse sh*t!   

[Cory Ander]

Excellent news, care to name a few of those 'many' BIRs that do? I for one would be very grateful.

We have discussed this before and I have given you several recommendations SS (see previous posts on the same topic and refer to the "Highly Recommended BIRs" Section of the forum). 

Have you tried any of them yet?

As they say, you can take a (rocking) horse to water but you can't make it drink...

[SnS]

Let's put it this way SnS; up until the time I was last there (i.e. a couple of years ago, now, admittedly) I could, in my opinion, get curries that were no different to those I recall from the 1980s.

UK has changed dramatically...(thanks to Blair, Brown and Co) - and that includes BIRs
... so unless you've regularly visited UK during the last 10 years or so (which I'm sure you haven't), you cannot possibly make comments (opinion or otherwise) such as "many BIRs still produce curries from "yesteryear".

I believe PanPot, who you contradicted, actually lives in UK.

[CurryOnRegardless]

I think the whole BIR business has changed beyond recognition over the last 20 odd years. In the 60's and 70's most BIR's were independent small family enterprises, the owners were in many cases also the chefs and took great pride in what they did, their reputation and therefore livelihood depended on providing good food and looking after their customers.
During the 80's and since we have seen the growth of the BIIR (British Industry of Indian Restaurants) with its own trade magazine(s), bodies, restaurant chains (national and local)  and the proliferation of pre-prepared ingredients, take a look at the Booker trade catalogue sometime.
The days of the individual chef/proprietor are long gone and sadly I fear the knowledge base that was so cleverly and carefully built by them is fast disappearing also. These days it seems we have restaurants run by bean counters who through market research dictate that what the customer wants is fast service, good food and they want it cheap. As anyone who has worked in any service industry can tell you, only two of those conditions can be met at once, so invariably the quality of the food suffers.
More people are eating out than ever (recession, what recession?) but what are they eating? The Korma and the CTM now dominate and make no bones about this, any chef will tell you the easiest way to disguise poor/cheap ingredients is to smother them in fat and/or sugar so this suits the restaurant owners and the non-discriminating customer down to the ground. What suffers of course is the trickier, more difficult to 'fake' dishes, like bhuna, madras, etc. as the whole industry moves ever further 'downmarket' in attempting to pander to the lowest-common-denominator with ever blander more stanardised fare in the pursuit of greater profit.
If you still have an old style artisan chef/owner run BIR or T/A local then count your blessings and give them your custom, they are a dying breed unfortunately.

Rant over, regards
CoR

[Panpot]

Guys I do live again in the UK and travel extensively with my business and as I have pointed out I make it my duty to enjoy Indian food wherever I go. I have to say there are regional variations from the spelling of dishes to how they even look and taste. I suspect our own tastebuds were massively shocked into a new dimension of reality when we first indulged way back when the typical British food served up to families would have been fairly bland and the only spice salt and pepper. The impact I believe would have been an intense explosion of experience and as such will have been recorded in our brains with a depth that later acclimatisation and regular consumption may well cause to distort our taste bud feedback to our brains. I am probably talking crap here (enhanced greatly from the effects of eating too much curry) but maybe too as we age our sensory experience of taste diminishes. I suppose I still love curry and my love of cooking it will never leave me but I do believe there was something different back then.

[Panpot]

COR I absolutely agree with you here. At The Ashoka I was truly inspired and all I learned has taking my cooking to a new level yet I was surprised that they used Pataks Tandoori Paste. I also know that in the chains the cooking is absolutely standardised and srticlty adheared too, while it ensures high quality in The Ashoka Brand it may well not be the case elsewhere. PP

[Mikka1]

This is probably the or one of the very best posts I have ever read on Indian cooking and the problems we all have with it from time to time. Excellent post PP.  ;D

Guys I do live again in the UK and travel extensively with my business and as I have pointed out I make it my duty to enjoy Indian food wherever I go. I have to say there are regional variations from the spelling of dishes to how they even look and taste. I suspect our own tastebuds were massively shocked into a new dimension of reality when we first indulged way back when the typical British food served up to families would have been fairly bland and the only spice salt and pepper. The impact I believe would have been an intense explosion of experience and as such will have been recorded in our brains with a depth that later acclimatisation and regular consumption may well cause to distort our taste bud feedback to our brains. I am probably talking crap here (enhanced greatly from the effects of eating too much curry) but maybe too as we age our sensory experience of taste diminishes. I suppose I still love curry and my love of cooking it will never leave me but I do believe there was something different back then.

[976bar]

My favourite dish has always been a Lamb Bhuna. 90% of restaurants in my area get it totally wrong, but there are a couple that get it right. A lovely very tasty thick sauce. I've noticed that most Bhuna recipes on this website call for the block standard 1 level teaspoon of Garlic paste and 1 level teaspoon of ginger paste, that seems to go for most recipes on here.

Bhuna has a lot more garlic in it than that. I use around 4-6 cloves of garlic which I squeeze through a garlic press, then add to the onions when they are nearly done. It is very important not to burn the garlic as it will impair a bitter taste to the dish which would totally spoil the Bhuna.

Fresh Chopped Coriander should be added at the final stage just before serving.

[Domi]

'Ere Secret Satan, there's a curryhouse in Huddersfield that does old style curries but it's an absolute shithole...we found it purely by accident...lovely curry but it'll have you shitting through the eye of a needle after a few hours, their side dishes were terrible.....If you're ever round Hudds I'll give you the address....as long as you don't mind waking up the next morning with an arsehole like a blood orange, that is!

[Cory Ander]

Can you be a little bit more specific and stop beating aroung the bush please Domi?  ;D

We named one of my favourites "smellies" and I fondly recollect my wife running from it gagging from the "smell"    Still, I got to eat her curry too!  I guess they had an off night! Also a shtihole!  :-X

I remember the guy behind the counter (all of 16 years old) proudly telling me of the dog shti down the banister when they first moved in...then proudly proclaimed that it was, in fact, still there! 

Great tasting food though! 

PS:  they got closed down eventually...crying shame, in my opinon! So CHEAP too!