Topic: aluminium pans and stove burners

[Stephen Lindsay]

hey fishy

I agree with all that's been said so far. I'm with Razor regarding gas - I have a wok burner in the middle of my cooker and it does the job for me though I do look upon Jerry's customised approach with fascination. If you want high heat go for it. My main point is to avoid believing that it's vital. I would say cooking technique is more important and with high heat the margin for error time wise is tighter - burning spices becomes much easier.

[fishy]

thanks Stephen, so would you recommend a smaller  burner say 5kw, as Jerry pionted out my kitchen may not cope with the 7kw and i can see his point, i suppose i can get the 7kw and just experiment until i burn my house down, but as you said its down to technique aswell.

we live and learn
atb
fishy

[Razor]

Hi Fishy,

I've been reflecting on my comments with regards to high heat and in fairness, I've never cooked on anything anywhere near 7kw, so for me to totally dismiss it was wrong.

However, just cooking on my humble domestic gas hob gives me fantastic result so I've never really felt the need to go higher.

I cooked a madras tonight for my supper, and with this thread in mind, I carefully observed the activity going on in the pan.  There was a furious amount of bubbling happening, easily as much as I'd seen previously on you tube links or the East web cam.  So, I'm quite satisfied with the output from my hob but I know Jerry feels that his 7kw burner gives him better results.  Jerry without doubt, puts a hell of a lot of effort into his cooking and his experiments are of so much value to the forum.  I would think it very prudent to take his advise, it's just that I've never be fortunate enough to make the comparison between domestic output levels to professional output levels.

Ray

[JerryM]

Fishy,

very good advice from Stephen and Razor. "not vital" sums it up. the high heat is not vital to produce a decent curry. to use the high heat ~7kw u really won't be able to cook in your kitchen - u will need to be outside or in a garage (there is too much smoke).

it really depends on u're passion. this post will hopefully sort of decide if for u.

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=1851.0

for my wife curry is not a passion and what i produced in the kitchen was v.good. the 1st time i succeeded in the garage she immediately understood without the need for words. 

[commis]

Hi

I know I've raised this before on other posts. Very early BIR's were no more than a front room of a house and the food cooked on a domestic stove. So catering equipment really came into it when formal business were established, a domestic cooker would struggle to take the knocks of a buys kitchen. Yet was fine when only a few needed to be done.

Regards

[PaulP]

Hi Ray,

Can you tell me what size of aluminium pan you've got for cooking curries?

I ordered the 36 cm from the amazon link I posted but this is deffo too big.
Now I've ordered the 30 cm version (only 12 quid, no postage) and hope this is the right size. They do a 26 cm version as well.

I've been using a carbon steel wok but after watching loads of BIR video footage I reckon aluminium is the way to go. A thin steel wok just has too many hot spots.

Cheers,

Paul

[George]

I've got a 24mm aluminium pan which cost only GBP3.99 from Lidl a few weeks ago. It seems good quality, with a 3mm base, so heat spread and everything should be perfect - much better than steel.

Like most modern pans, it came with a non-stick coating. Rather than have it come off in use - especially if I want to use a metal spoon for theatrics - I decided to remove the non stick coating. It took me about 30 mins of scraping and sanding - I would have spent longer than that looking for a shop which sold catering versions (at a higher price).

Here are images, before and after:

[Curry Barking Mad]

Hi Paul,
If this helps,
The standard size that I have seen in kitchens is 24 cm or 26 cm,

Mick

[PaulP]

Thanks Mick and George, lol, there I go ordering the wrong size twice!

Oh well the 26 cm one is only a tenner. They are really solid pans with nice thick aluminium.

Cheers,

Paul

[Secret Santa]

I reckon aluminium is the way to go. A thin steel wok just has too many hot spots.

Paul I bought that same pan. Damn, it's built like a tank...well, an aluminium tank.   ;D

It is far too good for BIR use though. What you need is thin and light, not heavy gauge aluminium.