Topic: Just watched my curry being cooked!!!

[jb]

Just scoffed my takeaway(chicken madras,bombay aloo,veg rice,onion bhaji and keema naan).Recommended to go to a little takeaway in the middle of nowhere by a friend at work.The place wasn't much to look(sometimes I think they serve tastier food) but the bonus was the kitchen was completely open and you could see everything going on(unusually the kitchen staff didn't seem to mind at all)
  One guy cooked the curries while another dealt with the naan and onion bhajis.The madras was most interesting to watch.First he took a cold pan and put a spoonful of oil from a medium sized tin on the stove(I've seen these sort of tins before in kitchens).I looked closely and I'm pretty sure it was just pure plain oil,not spiced in any way.He then swirled it with a spoon and added what looked like ginger/garlic paste.He then added a pinch of dried green leaves(methi??),a dollop of what looked like curry paste,tomato puree and then some precooked chicken from a tub he had.Last was two spoonfuls of base sauce(this was simmering by the side in a large pot).He then put it to one side and let it boil away for about five minutes and added some fresh coriander.No flames,no special technique and from what I could see no secret ingredients.The resulting madras was very nice indeed,it looked so simple to make,surely the recipes on this site cannot be that far off from being identical to a real takeaway??
   Another thing that caught my eye was the jars of pataks pastes on the shelf(tikka,tandoori and kashmiri massala).Hate to say it but I've noticed them in most takeaway kitchens I've glimpsed in this area.I guess it's down to costs but I'm pretty sure most chefs these days simply don't bother making their own spice blends etc.(despite what they tell you!!)

 

 
   

[Fi5H]

i ve wondered if its anything to do with the heat.. you cant get the same high flame temp on a home cooker than you can on an industrial cooker. 

[solarsplace]

Hi

Very interesting your observations of the kitchen.

With regard to the heat, I personally have never used a professional gas stove, however, are they actually hotter?

What gas do they use? do they have propane tanks or are they hooked up to the domestic supply?

One of my favorite local BIR's has a huge gas pipe going up through the takeaway waiting room, so I assume their cookers use the domestic supply.

Therefore with the same gas supply, they are unlikely to be using a higher temperature.

They may achieve optimum temperature faster and have a far more even spread of heat across the heating surface of the pan as they appear to have several rings, and be able to deliver more power in a shorter time, but surely the temperature cannot be higher?

Is there something in the speed and power level used? What do we think?

[Curry King]

Is there something in the speed and power level used? What do we think?

Heat has been discussed quite a bit before, there is a good post here by Jerry in which he did some experiments, point 5:

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3208.0

[jb]

Looked like a regular domestic supply to me,what struck me though was that he used a cold pan,cold oil and then put into onto the stove.No flames at all from the pan, I guess you could compare the size of the gas flame to having the biggest ring on your domestic stove on full blast.

[Fi5H]

hi solar.. I just read http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=1851.0 and think heat does come into it quite alot.

[solarsplace]

Absolutely fascinating reading, thanks for the links.

The boiling rings are not as expensive as I thought, there is a nice looking 8.8Kw one on this UK site for example: http://www.jacksons-camping.co.uk/heaters/boiling-rings.htm

Thinking about investing in one of these! and cooking outside....

[chriswg]

Hi jb

When he put it to one side for 5 minutes did he stir it at all?

Ta

[Razor]

Hi Guys,

With regards to the heat, I'm defo NOT convinced that this is the missing ingredient.  If you put you biggest ring on high heat, heat up your oil then add your garlic and ginger paste, it should spit and splutter but, if you watch these guys in the restaurants, they add their g/g paste give it a quick stir, and then sometimes, leave it a while.  Try this at home and you will end up with little black nuggets of garlic in your oil!

Another thing, most of these flames that you see in the restaurants are wrapping over the sides of the pan, so, actually how much heat is REALLY going into their pans.  I'm guessing that they are not being very economical with their gas, more out of ignorance than need!

Only my humble opinion of course :

Ray

[Ader1]

Did he taste the curry from time to time?