Topic: Anyone consistently making restaurant-quality dishes w. "the taste"? If so, how?

[peshwarinaan]

Like the title says - if you're able to consistently produce restaurant or takeaway-quality dishes with "the BIR taste", how are you doing it? Which recipes are you using? Any special preparations you make? And what's your cooking method like?

(Personally I'm only able to produce "clone" curries occasionally, and I haven't narrowed down specific techniques yet. I can consistently make great curries but not all of them taste recognisably BIR.)

[Peripatetic Phil]

I'm afraid not, PWN, at least in my case.  But I am delighted to see such a question being asked here, because questions such as yours hark back to the "good old days" of CR0, when this was a truly thriving forum.  Perhaps your question will inspire others — I most certainly hope so.  And perhaps even the long-departed such as CBM, Razor, Domi et al might poke their heads above the parapets once again — they are truly missed.

P.S.  I am planning to attempt a "cull yaw" (= "culled ewe") dhansak in the very near future — call yaw pre-cook complete, only the final dish remains.
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** Phil.

[peshwarinaan]

I am planning to attempt a "cull yaw" (= "culled ewe") dhansak in the very near future — call yaw pre-cook complete, only the final dish remains.

That sounds incredible, Phil. I bet the flavour is going to be fantastic.

Mutton is my absolute favourite meat and it's a crying shame that it's so difficult to get a hold of. I have to get it from Asian butchers in Glasgow and even then it's not so common.

Where did you get your ewe from?

[Peripatetic Phil]

I get it from Great Cornish Foods (an independent annexe to Waitrose in Truro, Cornwall).  But it can be ordered online and delivered, from/by Pipers Farm.  Hope that helps !
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** Phil.

[Robbo141]

That’s a big NO from me. Making consistently decent curries, and the occasional beaut, but alas, not quite the BIR I miss from my UK life. I was inspired recently by that Latif’s video showing old school base gravy that included a chicken just to make the base.
Maybe that’s the grail?  Rik’s vindaloo base was a winner for me but the quest will seemingly never end for my ‘proper’ old vindaloo from the 80’s and 90’s.

We had temps of -10 this weekend, so no outdoor cooking for me.
And yes, that’s Fahrenheit. Colder than the temp of my freezer.
Bring on the spring…

Robbo

[peshwarinaan]

I get it from Great Cornish Foods (an independent annexe to Waitrose in Truro, Cornwall).  But it can be ordered online and delivered, from/by Pipers Farm.

Thanks Phil. I might have to order some as a special treat.

How did yours turn out?

That’s a big NO from me. Making consistently decent curries, and the occasional beaut, but alas, not quite the BIR I miss from my UK life.

I've seen loads of people talking about how curries tasted different in the olden days. I can't say I remember them being hugely different myself; if anything, perhaps just a general reduction in the overall quality (due to increasing costs) rather than a change in cooking methods.

Chicken stock in the base gravy would certainly contribute a deeper more savoury flavour, but personally I wouldn't want that in every dish.

What is the missing flavour you're looking for? Is it a savoury richness, an aromatic spiciness, a sweetness, or something else?

[Robbo141]

I honestly can’t put my finger on a taste / texture / whatever but I know that a curry made by me at home never comes close to the BIR I grew up with.  Even now, British restaurant curry is better than home cooked of course but it’s a bit expensive to fly across the Atlantic for that vindaloo hit I crave….

Tonight it’s chicken tikka done in the air fryer then in a nice hot curry of some sort. No base gravy to hand, so winging it from scratch.

Robbo

[Stephen Lindsay]

Like the title says - if you're able to consistently produce restaurant or takeaway-quality dishes with "the BIR taste", how are you doing it? Which recipes are you using? Any special preparations you make? And what's your cooking method like?

(Personally I'm only able to produce "clone" curries occasionally, and I haven't narrowed down specific techniques yet. I can consistently make great curries but not all of them taste recognisably BIR.)

I would say yes I am. Bruce Edwards came on here some years ago and dispelled a lot of the myths that were becoming the orthodoxy on this forum.  This was not helped by some members who seemed to enjoy making provocative or inflammatory posts. However I think at that time, the forum reached a critical mass of posts and with it a very good learning curve to boot.

So I use Bruce Edwards spice mix for most of my curries. I make all my curries with Chicken Tikka these days and I adapted the Tandoori Masala recipe from one by Pat Chapman (it's his fault for getting me into all of this).

I use Taz base and method. This is a somewhat unique base because it contains a huge amount of oil. This means that you don't need to start with oil when you are making your curry, there is so much oil in the base that your spices fry in the base rather than boil. I managed to get good quality curries quite quickly using this approach so I just stuck with it and adapted lots of recipes to suit this base. Many (possibly most) of them are posted on this forum.

The method is simple.

hot pan
add base stage 1 (200 ml or thereabouts)
add tomato paste
add garlic/ginger paste
add ground fenugreek (unless recipe doesn't include it)
add spices
reduce this base right down till it's almost a dry paste and no water is leaking
add base stage 2 (200 ml or thereabouts)
add pre-cooked chicken
add other ingredients, as per the recipe, e.g. pre-fried peppers, onions, lemon juice, sugar etc.)
reduce the base to complete your curry sauce to your desired consistency
garnish with coriander if you like it (I do)

That's it.

So how do I know that my curries are up to BIR standard? People tell me. I've cooked hundreds of curries which have been eaten by family, friends, work colleagues etc. and their feedback has been consistent. They are surprised, impressed, delighted, amazed, gobsmacked.

There's no secret. Like any other skill it's just practice and I feel that I my curries have gradually improved over the years.

I've achieved my goal and, this is why I am no longer a regular contributor to the forum.

There's one major problem though. I have never produced a wonderful restaurant quality naan bread using my domestic electric cooker. I've come close, and I have found that pre-heating a non-stick frying pan on full, till it's fiercely hot, then going over the top with a blow-torch at the same time has produced my best naans. Not BIR but edible and tasty.

I hope that helps. If anyone has any reasonable questions or constructive I'm happy to respond. If anyone comes here to pour scorn or disbelief, I'm not interested.

[Peripatetic Phil]

One question, if I may Stephen ?  Why have you decided to "make all [your] curries with Chicken Tikka" ?  I ask because as someone who started eating BIR curries in Chislehurst, Kent, in the mid 60's, chicken tikka in a curry is complete anathema for me.  It seems to me that the idea of using chicken tikka in a curry (other than in a CTM, of course) is a relatively recent conception, and one that does absolutely nothing to improve the quality (especially the mouth-feel) of the dish.  Tandoori chicken jhoul, on the other hand, I do rather like — see https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=9003.msg80799#msg80799.
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** Phil.

[livo]

When I read a post like this Stephen, I am inspired to cook a curry using the described method and core ingredients.  Of particular interest here is the apparent deviation from what may be considered the recognised BIR method to achieve BIR standard dishes.  The order of using the ingredients appears "arse about" but you have explained why it works, being the volume of oil in the base. 

I'm interested to know how frequently you do include the ground fenugreek, as I think this is a highly influential contributor to the restaurant style curry aroma and flavour.  I learnt 30 years ago that it adds a character to a dish that I thoroughly enjoy.

In reply to the original question, I have no idea.  I've not limited myself to a single base or mixed powder, but experimented with nearly everything I've found.  Some dishes are superb.  Others are enjoyable but nothing special and I've had more than a few duds, but rarely inedible and I can usually tart them up.