Topic: Undercover Curry - Anyone heard of it?

[gazman1976]

@ Dave you are seriously deluded if you think Aberdeen has an excellent selection of BIR standard curry houses, Dont make me laugh !!!

[Secret Santa]

The author of the book sent me the following email yesterday....

"...Unfortunately there are some that wish they had written a book first and their sadness is all to apparent..."

The only sadness Mr Loyden is that you've made such a poor attempt at it yourself. Nice little earner for a book that tells you nothing eh?

There are so many holes in it that I'm surprised the bloody thing doesn't fall apart!

What will your next book be, an undercover account of surgery perhaps where you  nicely detail the start and end of the procedure but leave out the inbetween bits as we can make those up ourselves?    :   

[solarsplace]

looks good solar , where did you get your gas cooking ring from ?

Hi

I got this one, thinking it would be good for wok's too: http://www.campingandcaravandirect.co.uk/Camping-Stoves/Foker-Boiling-Rings/3120-Foker-Cast-Iron-Stove/p-101-118-547/

However the pan supports are very far apart, so I have to use a grill rack over them to hold the pan.

Probably should have got this one: http://www.campingandcaravandirect.co.uk/Camping-Stoves/Foker-Boiling-Rings/3140-Foker-QLS-Enamelled-Stove/p-101-118-549/

The volume of heat these things chuck out it incredible! but somehow quite easy to cook on.

Cheers

[Secret Santa]

I just made the madras for lunch.

Good points:

Nice consistency
Oil separated well

Bad points:

Incredibly sour.
Lacked normal BIR taste and aroma.

Ok, when I tasted the curry and thought it was too sour, I should have stopped and not added the suggested slice of lemon.

It's difficult to know what exactly is wrong with this curry but, as it stands, it ranks as one of the worst Madrases I've made, and I've made a few.

Strangely as I ate it it did grow on me slightly but it isn't like any Madras I've had. The biggest problem is not knowing what quantities of spices should be used and it's going to make comparisons with other people's efforts almost impossible.

It could be just that, as gazman said, Aberdeen has poor BIRs and this is an accurate copy of a poor example of a madras.

Without quantities I guess I'll never know. (EDIT: he does give quantities in a very unnecessarily round about way, fortunately my guess was close enough!)

Oh and by the way Dave Loyden, tandoori masala AND tandoori marinade AND tandoori masala in the tom puree...no mate, it's a madras not CTM!   :

[Ramirez]

What did you think of the base, Secret Santa? Similar to others on this site? I must admit, your damning report is making me question whether I should bother or not.

[chriswg]

I couldn't see the point in only making 2 litres.]

Surely, the point is that it costs less, it's more manageable and there's less to waste, if you don't like it. I'll be following the SS approach of making 1/9, 10% or something like that. I don't need industrial quantities and I don't want to find storage space for a catering sized stock pot.

>I didn't add in the optional tandoori sauce but I doubt
>that would have made any significant difference.

How can you know if you didn't try it?

>I'm sure once we crack the method (as we have with onion bhajis)
>the actual recipes will become less significant.

All good recipes include the method, of course. Ingredients and method are both important, so I disagree with your logic.


>In the book, he doesn't really reveal anything
>exciting or new about how to cook the curries.

I think that's unfair.

If Satan ever asks me to recommend some good legal council I'll send him your way!

[Secret Santa]

What did you think of the base, Secret Santa? Similar to others on this site? I must admit, your damning report is making me question whether I should bother or not.

The base is, as expected, no worse and no better than many others on this forum. The copious bhaji frying that I did to get the spiced oil was wasted time as the potency of the oil does not survive the transition to the base.

I would say give this one a go though as it is marginally different. The cabbage comes through and the method of reducing the veg is interesting, if ultimately unnecessary (although it took 2 hrs and not 45 mins as suggested!).

The use of asafoetida in the base which some people have mentioned is, again as expected, a damp squib. It doesn't really have much of an effect for two reasons:

1. although the amount is large by most standards it is, in fact, an unremarkable amount because it is mostly additives rather than pure hing.
2. It is used incorrectly. Hing (resin or powdered) must be fried to achieve the best from it. Here it is just thrown in with all the other stuff

As for the madras, I am biased against a lemony/sour flavour so I really shouldn't have added the extra lemon slice, that said though it was sour before the addition!

The quantity of tandoori masala is, in my opinion, too much for a madras. It pops up in three places, in the mix powder, in the tomato puree and, if you choose to add it, in the tandoori marinade.

I don't know what the curry is but it's like no madras I've ever had.

[gazman1976]

Maybe we should take a trip up to that famour BIR in Aberdeen he worked in lol

[haldi]

My "Undercover Curry" turned up yesterday and I spent some time reading it
I think the book is a welcome addition to my Curry Books
I believe they are genuine recipes, although differing from my experience

I like the "dipping" instructions
That is really accurate
That's how the chefs cook
For the recipes, I posted on this site, I tried to convert these measurements to something more conventional
But no BIR chef uses a tea spoon or desert spoon for cooking.

Dave repeatedly mentions tandoori masala, used in the spicing
I did find one place that used that, although generally it is uncommon round here
It?s used for a few tikka starter meals though.

His balance of ginger garlic puree is interesting

I know that the bhajee oil for curry gravy, is done
I reported that one a while ago
Actually, I found it was more often, chip oil

I find the idea of asafoetida in the base, interesting
Some of the best curries I had, had an underlying taste of poppadoms
Asafoetida is the main spice of poppadoms
So if these curries had a curry gravy with oil from cooking poppadoms, they would have had asafoetida in.
I won?t know till I try

His special tomato puree plus extras is new to me
Round here, it?s just straight White Tower Tomato puree from the Can
But, I?ll give it a go

He?s right about the use of frozen vegetables in vegetable curries
This is very common, although potatoes are normally pre cooked separately, for Bombay Potato and Vindaloo use
But maybe this is not a universal practice

Vindaloo with vinegar?
I know three chefs quite well
None of them cook the same recipe Vindaloo
So why not vinegar?

I like his idea of too much spice ruining the flavour and salt softening the onions for bhajees.

All in all, I?m very pleased, and have already had ?10 worth of entertainment from the book.
I don?t see how the recipes can fail to produce enjoyable curries
Perhaps some will be exactly what we are after!!!

[Secret Santa]

I don?t see how the recipes can fail to produce enjoyable curries

Perhaps you should actually make one first haldi before making comments like that.