Topic: Secret ingredient for that authentic 70's/80's curry

[stevepaul]

Hi Guys. Have been looking for the secret ingredient for that authentic 70's/80's curry taste for years. Tried many different bases, spices and other ingredients without any real success. I've racked my brain trying to think what it could possibly be but finally I think I've nailed it. It was pretty obvious really, and that missing ingredient is, wait for it...beer, lots of beer. About 10 pints actually, and a few glasses of wine from Yates Wine Lodge for good measure.


Well those are the only ingredients that are missing from my time spent eating 70's/80's curries. But aged 68 I'm just not brave enough or stupid  enough to include them any more to confirm my suspicions, but do let me know if you are. Have fun.   

[livo]

Well stevepaul, I'm a little younger than you, by a couple of years.  The legal age for drinking here is 18, so I didn't drink a whole lot of beer, wine or spirits in the 1970's.  I did pick up my game in the eighties but I'm afraid I can't really help you much with the correlation of these ingredients to the quality, or not, of BIR.  I don't remember having an Indian restaurant curry before about 1988. An Indian restaurant back then was a pretty rare / non-existent thing where I lived.

There's no doubt in my mind now that the big aroma is Kasuri Methi and in this instance the fresher, the better.  I just recently finished the last of my old pack which must have been 2 years old and opened a new fresh one.  Boy, what a difference!!!  Of course it's also a flavour that I love.

Secret ingredient?  Dunno, but I rarely leave beer out.

[stevepaul]

Personally I don't think there's a secret ingredient that we're missing. Most of us on here will make excellent curries and no doubt if we could try each others then some of us would say " That's it, that's the exact taste I've been looking for". But I must admit I loved those drunken nights out of the 70's/80's that always finished off in a curry house. Actually those nights out went on until the late 90's. But a two day hangover was more than I could cope with. Now I rarely drink at all.

[moonster]

The missing ingredient is a chicken carcass, they don't do it now for vegetarian and vegan recipes

[tempest63]

The missing ingredient is a chicken carcass, they don't do it now for vegetarian and vegan recipes

There is probably a lot of truth in that.
We freeze all our bones and carcasses and when we have enough they go into the slow cooker for 48 hours with a tablespoon of cider vinegar to make a bone broth. We use that as a base for all our curries, casseroles, stews and gravies.
A full slow cooker usually gives us about 2.5 litres of broth and that replaces any water or stock called for in the recipes.