Topic: What is a good base meant to taste like?

[Malc.]

It will be interesting to see what the IG base tastes like. It has a more vivid yellow colour, appears to be thinner and also seems more opaque in comparison to pictures I have seen on here and indeed the base I made last night.

I'll battle that one first and if that fails Chris, I'll be on my way over. 

[canicant]

I don't know if its just coincidence but of the four different bases i've tried the raw base has got progressively more tasty with a corresponding improvement in finished dishes along the way, although this could also be put down to experience and better cooking methods.
I still have a small amount of darth's base and a shed load of ashoka base, plus a recent ca base to compare with but on the face of it the tasty bases seem better IMHO 

Rob.

[JerryM]

Axe,

real good question.

for me there is a threshold. below it the final curry won't do it. as canicant says is the same for me - the better the base the better the final curry. i do believe that the base threshold only has limited affect on the final dish - the dish frying has probably an equal impact down to both ingredient, proportion and to a certain extent technique.

i also feel that the cooking method has an impact along with the end point of cooking the base.

see previous for my thoughts on it:
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3607.msg32420#msg32420

[Malc.]

Ok, at the risk of treading old ground I shall leave this until the demo. But, does anyone want to have a go at actually trying to describe the taste. I am particularly interested in this as I want to try and imagine the taste before I return to IG.

The base I made in the short time was very much boiled onion with a hint of fresh coriander and a very subtle curry background followed by a kick from the chilli, which I realise was probably too much.

Smelling the base when frozen, you very much get the carrot that was put in. I have some thawing as we speak and will smell it again once completely thawed out.

[Razor]

Axe,

I would say, as you described it but without the chilli kick.

As for smell, I would say savoury, with a currish smell but, if you use whole spices like the Kushi base, they become the dominant smell and taste IMHO.

Ray

[canicant]

Well I don't know if this will help Axe.

I personally don't like the smell of a base as its cooking in fact i'd say it was pungent, however as the base comes up to the finishing point its smell changes considerably for the better.

As far as taste is concerned the better ones have a more rounded taste not overpowering but definitely lacking that rawness (the cooking aroma) whereas some of the poorer ones seem to retain it to the end somewhat IMO

The difference for me is a thin fairly tasteless consomme type soup compared to a more cream of onion style soup but never having tasted the real deal i'm just going of my finished dishes.

The other thing that struck me was people saying a base should be bland, which begs the question is bland no heat or no onion taste or indeed both?

With this in mind i tend to not add any chilli at the base cooking stage preferring instead to add it to the final dish as appropriate, this seems to make the base more versatile (for me at least)

Rob.

[Malc.]

The other thing that struck me was people saying a base should be bland, which begs the question is bland no heat or no onion taste or indeed both?

You see this brings me back to my original topic about base  http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=4407.0 Is it a base sauce or simply a stock?

Like yourself, I have not yet sampled a true base, but this is something I am hoping to rectify shortly. You also say something that I think is common for many members in that the base they know, is what they have tried and tested from here or other sites of course.

The question I ask here I hope, will measure where we are all at, eventually.

[Razor]

Axe/Canicant,

It's really how you define bland I suppose.  It's difficult to describe a soup as being bland, as it is a stand alone dish, something that can be enjoyed from start to finish.  Whereas a base sauce, is bland in the sense that yeah, a couple of spoonfulls will be pleasent to the taste but, would you eat a bowl full?

As for spicing, no, I don't think you should add anything that's likely to give the base heat.  The base needs to be versatile enough to make your soft spice dishes as well as you hard spiced dishes.

As for trying a 'real BIR base' in theory, the home cooks base couldn't compare.  The volumes alone make this impossible.  Plus, it's also reputed that BIR's put oil back into their base from their cooked dish, again, something that would never be done at home.  And finally, the BIR's and TA's keep theirs on a slow simmer all night, meaning that the base is developing all the time.  So, there are many reasons why it would be hard to truly replicate or compare the 'home' base, to a BIR one.

As far as ingredients are concerned, carrots, onions, peppers, coriander stalks, and maybe tomato, all seem to be ever present in most bases, aswell as the usual spices. Anything after that, for me, wouldn't alter the taste that significantly unless the volume was substantial.

And as for your previous question Axe, about a base being a stock? I still believe that, that is exactly what it is.  It is a vegetable stock, blended, and sometimes watered down, to give a finish dish some bulk and depth of flavour.

Only my opinion, you understand :

Ray

[peterandjen]

Well if i was describe my base as being bland i would mean, i would describe it as say, if i bought a standard chicken curry from the takeaway, then when i got home i took out all the lumps of chicken and so forth, till you just have the sauce, then add about 1-1.5 ltrs of water to that, then that would be my bland base
In other words, when i heated it up and reduced it down it would be a nice curry again.
something like that lol.

[JerryM]

Axe,

it's probably the most difficult thing to do. it's a sort of cross between a soup (thick with specific taste) and a stock (water with background taste and dense onion particles).

for me it's tasty and moorish and difficult to pick out any one ingredient or spice.

it's probably easier to say what it's not. for example it's not the end point that most bases are left at on the site - this leaves it more towards the soup. water needs adding after blending and the base cooking for a further 1 hr.

also it's not just the taste that's important - it's the texture or thinness.