Topic: Where to next

[Cory Ander]

Cory - they do a mean Mushroom Bhaji so you might be in luck if we have time!

That would be brilliant!  The other thing I'd be particularly interested in is their special (fried) rice 

So who have you got that's interested so far Chris?

[chinois]

I agree. A group "calibration" is a great idea. Unfortunately logistics dictate otherwise. For those close to ChrisWG's offer should try and take it up.

Anyone near (north) london? Surely? I'm in

Sorry i dont seem to have finished the above post. I was really referring to meeting up with members. I meant to say i'm in harringay which is near finsbury park, camden, hackney, tottenham etc

[natterjak]

Hi Jerry,

There is only one place you can go now and that is to put your hand in your pocket and pay a top chef to teach you the tricks of the trade.

I have been speaking to a local top-notch BIR about lessons and they are happy to arrange for their head chef to come to my house and teach me to cook whatever I want using my ingredients and equipment. I think this is the only thing that can now be done to get over the final hurdle. If he can get the taste like that then we know it is possible. If he fails then we know it is something do do with their equipment.

If any other members want to attend (I live in Fleet, Hampshire) then let me know and we can spread the cost. Our kitchen is very big so there would be ample room for 4 students and a master. I know of one member who is very keen for this already.

Im working weekdays in London for the next few weeks and as the Chef is off on Mondays and Tuesdays it would have to be on one of those days.

Jerry - Is it worth the train ride to get those final questions answered? The more of us that are there the more likely it will be that we don't miss anything. You would be a good person to have there if possible.

Post or PM me if you are interested and we can try and get a date that suits everyone.

Did this idea ever happen?  I'd be interested in being a part of it if it's still in the offing.

[JerryM]

Did this idea ever happen? 

natterjak,

No it did not happen. i think at the back of my mind is scepticism that what is commercial know how will truly be delivered.

[natterjak]

Yes, I guess it would be easy for the chef to take the underestimate the prior knowledge of the group and to spin a line about recipes without giving the full inside skinny.

[Masala Mark]

Hi,

Take the opportunity and give it a go, you might be surprised and learn something new, got to beat guessing what they do doesn't it.

You might also find that it's not so much about them guarding things either.

The first IR kitchen I went into for lessons we made a cut down version of their base which we then made a number of dishes from. I asked to take a sample home from their normal big pot base home to compare with to make sure I was doing fine.

Oh, I also went their the Sat night before and ordered a number of dishes that we would make so that I could know their take on the dishes and ensure that what we made in the lesson was the same.

Went home and followed the recipe but it wasn't quite right. So I rang them up, talked to the chef and asked if I could come in and watch the big pot process from start to finish to work out where I had gone wrong. Next Sat I went in and found out exactly what I did wrong, it was actually a miscalculation on the cut down version, and went home and could produce exactly the same thing!

I also learnt too that using the Ashoka brand of Vindaloo Paste which I had in the fridge did not produce the same dish as using the Lashand Vindaloo Paste that the restaurant uses even though they had the same ingredients. So guess what I did, I went out and bought the Lashand Vindaloo Paste, all 5kg of it as it is made just for restaurants, lucky I like Vindaloo!

These things and many more I learnt in there which would never have come up without going in.

Cheers,
Mark

[JerryM]

natterjak,

Masala Mark has clearly hit lucky and well pleased for him.

one thing i would urge is to ask for a portion of there base so that you know what you are aiming for.

[solarsplace]

Hi Masala Mark

Do you have a link to any website that shows the Lashand Vindaloo Paste please? cannot find it anywhere?

Thanks

[Masala Mark]

Sure, here it is, they may only be in Australia though, not sure.

http://www.allindia.com.au/

There should be something similar though in other parts, when the chef was telling me about it he said it was a commercial paste rather then what you would get in the supermarket/grocery store.