Topic: Undercover Curry - Anyone heard of it?

[Curry Barking Mad]

Has anyone emailed the author for clarification of what type of hing is required in the recipes? if indeed he can be contacted.

Ray

Dave has emailed back today saying it is the powdered variety with the additives, ie turmeric that is used,

Mick

[PaulP]

Thanks for that Mick.

Can anybody who has made the base sauce tell me whether they made the smaller volume as per the book or did they scale down the big one themselves?

Cheers,

Paul.

[Secret Santa]

The book is not intended to be a ' Curry Cookery Book ' as the author says , it is his experience of working in a BIR kitchen

Ah is that so?

Well, if it's not a cookbook why are there so many recipes in it?

And if it is a cookbook, why is he so reticent to give accurate measurements that would be a requirement of any normal cookbook - and please don't insult my or anyone else's intelligence by claiming, as he does, that he wants you to get the real BIR experience?

Let me answer for you. Of course it's a cookbook. It's a cookbook that has been put together by a Scot with a limited first hand knowledge of BIRs and some information gleaned, in all probability, from this forum.

It's something that any long term member of this forum could have cobbled together - and done a better job of.

Congratulations on him being the first. Commiserations on making such such a poor effort.

[Secret Santa]

Thanks for that Mick.

Can anybody who has made the base sauce tell me whether they made the smaller volume as per the book or did they scale down the big one themselves?

It's a dilemma isn't it PaulP. I'm about to make the base myself and have come across the glaringly different quantities in the scaled version compared to the full version.

The spices scale quite accurately but the other ingredients scale like this:

                                                                      Ratio

Large 18 litres          Small 2 litres                        1/9

onion                                                               1/9
cabbage                                                           1/9
carrot                                                              1/4
red pepper                                                       1/2
green pepper                                                    1/2
GG paste                                                          1/16
tin toms                                                           1/4
oil                                                                    1/5
water                                                               1/2

Evertything should, of course, scale by 1/9

And how much coriander stalk should you use in either version? Your guess is as good as mine!

I reckon i'll be scaling the large version for myself and ignore his extremely dubious small version.

[gazman1976]

@ Secret Santa ( Let me answer for you. Of course it's a cookbook. It's a cookbook that has been put together by a Scot with a limited first hand knowledge of BIRs and some information gleaned, in all probability, from this forum.

It's something that any long term member of this forum could have cobbled together - and done a better job of )

Commiserations on making such such a poor effort

(  I'm about to make the base myself  )

my question is this ! if you think its so bad and members on here could have done better then

A : why did you buy the book

B : why on earth are you going to make the base lmfao

[gazman1976]

had a quick read of the intro and it doesnt look too promising and i shall tell you why

the author was working in a ( BIR ) laugh laugh in Aberdeen , Aberdeen is shite for curries , its like going into iceland and buying one of their frozen meals lol

still it was only ?8 quid lol

[George]

George , The book is not intended to be a ' Curry Cookery Book ' as the author says , it is his experience of working in a BIR kitchen and a teaspoon doesn't come into it - I have spent a few hours in T/A and Indian Restaurant kitchens and the way he describes the cooking  methods are bang on and for ?8 if the Base Sauce turns out to cook as good as it smells it is for me  worth the money just for that  :

I agree with you that it will definitely be worth 8 quid if just one or two recipes prove to be real winners. I think it's just a shame he needed to go in for sharp practices like needless duplication and other padding techniques. As for it not being a cookery book, that's another crazy statement for him to make. It's not like it's written in 100% text with anecdotes of working in various kitchens - it's as much a recipe book as any other.

[emin-j]

The book is not intended to be a ' Curry Cookery Book ' as the author says , it is his experience of working in a BIR kitchen

Ah is that so?

Well, if it's not a cookbook why are there so many recipes in it?

Because they are representations of meals he has seen cooked the BIR way probably many times .

And if it is a cookbook, why is he so reticent to give accurate measurements that would be a requirement of any normal cookbook -

  Because it's not a ' normal cookbook '  :

 

limited first hand knowledge of BIRs

  More than anyone on this Forum then !

It's something that any long term member of this forum could have cobbled together - and done a better job of.

Well , no one has in the 6 years this Forum has been going ! And it has taken the ' Undercover Curry ' Book to put the spark back into this Forum !

[Secret Santa]

my question is this ! if you think its so bad and members on here could have done better then

A : why did you buy the book

B : why on earth are you going to make the base lmfao

A. I didn't. 

B. Good question. I know...I emphasise, KNOW... that this base will be no better or worse than many other bases I've tried.
That said, how can I reasonably make comments if I haven't actually made it - which is what you're saying and others will be thinking, so i'll make it and I can then comment without you being able to say my comments aren't valid because I ain't made it myself!  ;D

[Secret Santa]

Well, if it's not a cookbook why are there so many recipes in it?

Because they are representations of meals he has seen cooked the BIR way probably many times .

Yes, so many times apparently that the sheer number of viewings knocked the information about quantities smack out of his paw aul heed!   :