Topic: A lesson in my local take-away

[JerryM]

Another good point and I genuinely don't know the answer to this one - I can't make my mind up. Is base a simple ingredient which can only be assessed in conjunction with the final curry or, if the base tastes good, like nice soup, will that always bode well for the final curry?

George,

a threshold "characteristics" exist and after that the base itself has little impact on the final dish. i don't think we've ever debated what the threshold characteristics are (and why they matter so much).

i am sure i'm in agreement with Secret Santa although i find it hard to describe base in terms of "tasty". a base has to taste good but it's a long way off being a finished curry.

these were my thoughts on the real BIR base i tasted.

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3607.msg32420#msg32420

[fishy]

made this base tonight (JB'S), smells and taste very good but for me the coconut over powers it a bit ,very creamy as JB's pics look like,  i find it strange that i use the same amount of coconut block in my melt base gravy and the coconut has no dominant flavour in my base (simalar quantiities of oil, water and ingreidiants used).
I'm yet to cook a dish with this and think the base will be exellent for a korma (not my fav dish) but i will experiment.

i did add additonal salt, tsp termeric, 3 cardomon pods + 1 naga chilli ( i get a bit carried away sometimes), i also scooped of some reddish oil from the base for my tikka marinade, i will let you know how i get on.

fishy

[joshallen2k]

I also tried this base as well as the Madras to spec.

The base was moorish and creamy. A little pale in colour to the usual bases I have made. While it was definitely tasty, I found the base more bland than my usuals. I put this down to the very minimal spicing.

The Madras was good (some measurements were missing from the recipe JB gave, so I used typical measurements from previous Madras recipes). However it was noticeably less hot than usual (used 1.5tsp of extra hot chilli powder) and spicing was not as robust as usual. Tasty meal nonetheless.

My conclusion is that this base and Madras recipe is authentic BIR. I do wonder about the ingredient ratios in the base (esp the spices) and if the chef scaled down slightly off. The finished Madras also could have suffered from lack of specific measurements.

Good stuff JB, please keep it coming.

Cheers,
Josh

[George]

So now we have direct evidence that what they teach you is not exactly what they do themselves!
This has always been suspected when others have had similar demonstrations but has never been proved.
This alone has made your report worth its weight in gold jb. Well done.

I fear you might be right. Here's my guess to the approach which is likely to be used by some of the BIRs: They realise there might be a bit of goodwill and extra revenue to be gained by giving lessons in the kitchen. It's still good of them. If a restaurant serves food which is way above average in terms of its fine taste, are they really going to give away those secrets (to us and other restaurants)? I don't think so but it's not necessary in order to give a lesson. Unless you watch them prepare the day's main base (gallons) for the actual restaurant, they can dumb-down the demo base to remove any special touches. They don't even need to be too careful getting the base down to just 5 onions, rather than a sack load. Spicing may be guessed, also. They know that no measure is too critical is you just want to produce an average base.

[fishy]

i made a naga chicken recently with this base and have to say it was superb, close to my fav bir's and as good as some others, the recipe is simular to madras but using naga's instead, finely chopped onion, pepper and one naga (naga added later stage).

This is the first base i have tried from cr0 so i can't compare it with other's on the site, previously i have used kris dillon and the melt base(from another site) all good but JB's is the best ive tried so far, concidering saffron base next, anybody using JB's base at present? and what are your results.
atb
fishy

[haldi]

i made a naga chicken recently with this base and have to say it was superb, close to my fav bir's
fishy

Hi Fishy
What spice mix are you using?

[fishy]

i use:
8 tsp turmeric
6 curry pwdr
5 coriander pwdr
4 cumin
2 garlic
2 garam masala
1 ginger

Fishy

[JerryM]

i rate parker21's mouchak mix powder - it's put an end to my journey on spice - i can't see a need to use anything else. really well taken to it.

[curryhell]

Solarspice no problems having you(or anyone) along.It would be great to have another pair of eyes with me!!!As I said the place is your bog standard takeaway you can find up an down the country,no frills but certainly big on taste with that elusive flavour.For some reason the guys are quite keen to share their secrets it's such as shame that other places are not so willing.The wife said I was grinning like a cheshire cat when I walked in last night.

JB if you are planning on visting the Preema anytime soon and would like some company, let me know. I'm only about 15 mins drive from East Tilbury and would love to come along.