Video demonstrating cooking of Balti in Birmingham

[Malc.]

Jerry, salting the onions draws water from the onion in the same way as with tomato.

Spot on, which is why salt is used to cure and/or preserve meat, fish etc.

I would doubt that chopped onion is treated in such a manor in the restaurants. All the flavour and sugars are locked in that moisture.


PS Are you cooking in your garage?

[JerryM]

commis/Axe,

many thanks for reply on the salting. as u've probably know i can't really put my finger on where my gap is - i'm tending to think it's down to a need for recipe refinement. but of course i'm interested in all things that i've not come across or would never of thought of - Axe's garlic in tom puree is a real good example. it's the sort of thing a BIR would do without realising that it's a critical process.

when i saw this video i was surprised that the chef allowed the flame to continue. it's one thing doing it for show but another when u are cooking. i was also surprised at the timing - after the onion had gone in. my pan flames only after the addition of water in some way - usually base (i add a small amount with the spices). if i was to be picky i'd also say that my chopped onions are not quite cooked as good as BIR (too firm).

2 possibilities came to mind from the video - BIR coat the onion in water or apply salt. the coating being needed as onion dries out relatively quickly after being prepared. i'm still not sure which or even if either of them is right. i know the salting sounds wacky but it did cause consistent flaming but so does the coating. the salted onion after cooking did taste closer to BIR. i don't think it's the flame but the stream coming from the water seems to give the onion cooking a head start.

i'm going to try both the salting (only very small amount needed - i used pinch for 2 off onion) and the coating next time i have base.

it just seem's to be a bit of mileage hear for me.

ps Axe, yes been using garage for a while now

[Razor]

Hi Jerry,

Just another observation re salting onions, it makes them extremely difficult to caramelize them!

Ray

[Malc.]

I didn't know that Ray, interesting observation.

Jerry, as with alot of things perhaps the answer is a little more obvious. A little like the OB Demo, the onions are prepared way ahead of service and sit for oxidising for a while. This will help to soften the onion up, prior to it being used. Also, when you chop your onions and leave them to sit, break the layers up to allow the air to get in between them.

The only other thing I can think of is the onion itself. I know the IG buy onion in 25kg Netted Sacks. They are your basic market onion and fairly young in growth.

[peterandjen]

Ive read somewhere that if you add salt to onions it stops them browning too, but it would be good for drawing out moisture i suppose, also it helps them soften faster when cooking.
Ive tried alsorts to speed up caremlising onions, nuking em in the microwave for a few mins helps, but it always ends up with a long slow affair in the frying pan.
Also if you add pepper to frying onions it makes them sweeter, strange i know.

[Malc.]

The problem with onion is that contains an awful lot of natural sugars that can burn very easily if cooked on a high heat. So they take a long time to caramelise properly.

I remember watching one of the BBC2 Open University Cooking Chemistry programs about making Onion Marmalade etc. They described all the processes that take place by adding certain ingredients like vinegar which help to change the composition of the sugars etc. I can't remember it exactly but it was very interesting.

Perhaps the answer is as simple as a squeeze of lemon over the onion. Being an acid it might help to both soften and draw on the natural sugar in the onion. I know Lemon is used to stop some fruits from osidising when prepared, such as apple. Maybe it works in a similar way for onion?

[Bobby Bhuna]

Thanks, I really enjoyed that! Tomato powder eh? I have to play with that!

[Secret Santa]

Tomato powder eh? I have to play with that!

I don't think it'll make much difference BB. This was discussed not long after the forum started if my memory serves!

Haldi (Pete) was told by one of the takeaways that he got a recipe from that they used tomato powder, but we decided they probably meant paprika because it sounded odd.
Well perhaps it was tomato powder after all!

Anyway I still think it's one more unnecessary twist in the BIR tale.

[Malc.]

Perhaps they use tomato powder in place of tomato paste/puree? Google returns some interesting descriptions for tomato powder.

http://www.thespicehouse.com/spices/tomato-powder

[JerryM]

the onions are prepared way ahead of service and sit for oxidising for a while.

Axe,

i take it from this that IG don't do anything to their's. do they cover them as i've noticed they go dry quickly in open air.

ps i'm not looking to caramelise - just cook through enough to leave a tad crunch - just like in the BIR dish. it maybe that i just need to cook for longer - i was not sure how true the 7 min cook in the video was but i currently cook in 5 mins. i also think they cut finer and more consistently at ~3mm c/w with more like 5 mm for myself.