achieving toffee, how to get the hit

[Derek Dansak]

Interesting PP. The last time i was in a bir kitchen (my 10th demo) i made a point of looking at the heat going into the madras he was making. i will never forget this: For between 5 and 8 minutes it was vigouresly bubbling away at very high temp. small bubbles were rapidly breaking the surface, and the whole thing was furiously bubbling. There base is about as thin as you can get. out of 20 bir madras from different bir, there's is easily the winner nearly every visit. there base is unique, and closely guarded secret. its a bangledeshy bir btw. they seem to be the best type. all the food is very mild but loaded with toffee taste. very subtle spicing.  I have given up trying to replicate there style, as i make better progress when i just experiment for fun. I am convinced these bir recipies are handed down through generations, and to some extent are secret.

[PaulP]

I now believe that the fast reduction of the first ladle of base and subsequent scraping and stirring helps to create the smokey flavour and I find the toffee aroma is present at this stage.

As I posted elsewhere, I now mix up oil, base , G&G, spice mix, tom puree, chilli at the start of cooking and reduce the first lot of base so there is virtually no water showing.

At the same time some of the base is catching on my wok and going dry and brown - I believe that the onion in the base is caramalising when this happens and it has to be rapidly stirred back in.

I've definitely got more of a BIR flavour since adopting this technique.

I hate to admit it but until this point I was using teflon non-stick pans and now would not recommend this to anyone trying for BIR curries.

[George]

I assume this requires a gas stove?

If you have a non-gas stove, perhaps you could try using a match, a bit like with Xmas pudding.

[emin-j]

I find the ' Toffee ' aroma appears just as the Garlic / Ginger / Tom Puree / Spices ( fried in that order ) get to  certain level of frying and if fried for much longer will burn  that's when I add the first ladle of base , I only use a standard Gas Hob but the largest burner if put on full would overcook the contents of the frying pan very quickly and I also don't think it necessary to flambe a Curry and after watching my Madras being cooked at my favourite T/A without Flambe or even heat more than a domestic Gas Hob is capable of producing and the flavour was awesome 

[JerryM]

The best workaround i can do, with my gas cooker, is to pump up the heat to full (once all the base is in) and blitz it all for 3 to 5 mins.

this has been said before by quite a few others. i must admit - It when in and straight out for quite a while.

"add the base a little at a time" (sort of chef spoon ~ 60ml or say 1/2 ladle 75ml) - it's a workaround that make help on the hob - the intent being that the hob can keep the temp up without dipping.

[Cory Ander]

perhaps you could try using a match, a bit like with Xmas pudding.

I'm not sure what you mean by that George?  Would you please explain?

[George]

perhaps you could try using a match, a bit like with Xmas pudding.

I'm not sure what you mean by that George?  Would you please explain?

It was a tongue in cheek comment, following the earlier question about whether it could be possible to get flames to hit the pan if you only have an electric hob. Warm Xmas pudding is sometimes doused with brandy and then ignited for the visual effect as well as a bit of extra flavour.

[Mikka1]

Actually now you mention it that sounds awesome  ;D

It was a tongue in cheek comment, following the earlier question about whether it could be possible to get flames to hit the pan if you only have an electric hob. Warm Xmas pudding is sometimes doused with brandy and then ignited for the visual effect as well as a bit of extra flavour.

[Panpot]

The constant scraping of the sides of the aluminium pans as the chef cooked in front of me at The Ashoka was explained to be critical and it was a feature of the TA chef working last week in my local.PP

[Cory Ander]

It was a tongue in cheek comment....about...Xmas pudding is sometimes doused with brandy and then ignited

Hmmmm, NOW I understand (I thought that's what you were getting at  )