Topic: who believes future breakthroughs lie with recipe refinement ?? or new bases ?

[Derek Dansak]

i agree that we need to have a flexible attitude . and like others on this thread, i will go with the flow.  i get the impression many will be happy to use CAs base. perhaps its time for members like me , who have never made it, to try it out and report back. If we are going to use an existing base (which seems sensible) then we should all be agreed from the start, that its good for madras. dont evaluate it as an all round base, as i can see from the spec that it would be a good all rounder, but until i make it, I  dont know if its good for madras. From experience with safron base, i found that was a good all rounder, but it was not to good for madras. the kd1 base improved my madras immediately. I will reserve judgment on CAs base until i make it. hopefully next weekend. Maybe a few of us should compare razors and cas base in the coming weeks

[solarsplace]

Hi

Good point DD

BTW Phil - If you ever make JB's spice mix, I recommend that you make a quarter portion - otherwise you will have a MASSIVE portion of spice mix!

Must try the stock pots too. Did intent to, but the local supermarket did not have them

Cheers

[PaulP]

No offence meant to CA but I have made his base before and for me these are the problems with it:

I don't like much fresh coriander in a base if at all; I find it makes it taste a bit sickly.
I prefer to add fresh coriander at final cooking time to taste.

Secondly I don't like putting dried fenugreek in a base. Once again I prefer to add to the final dish as and when required. This was in CA's spice mix and comes through in the base flavour.

Thirdly I'm not sure of the value of carrots, potatoes, cabbage or what have you in a base. I'm all for onions, some pepper, garlic, ginger, tomatoes and some spices.

Lately I think I've achieved my best ever savoury curries using a combination of:

Taz base with small amount of coconut block and spiced oil
Cooking with the same spiced oil
Using the onion/pepper paste in these dishes
Cutting back a little on spice mix and tom puree

The madras is still hard to crack. I bought one recently and analysed it as much as I could and would say there is a difference in spicing. I could taste a spice in the madras I bought that I don't recognise but it was moorish.

I think that by taking a simple base as a starter we could all work on final recipes.

This isn't going to be easy, is it?

Cheers,

Paul

[JerryM]

well pleased with the positive approach. and nothing worth doing is ever easy.

we never finished CRO2 base work which was a real shame. an option would be top start where it finished (i've no problem using any base though as a starting point).

2 things are critical to whatever base:

1) use of whole spice "sock" or muslin bag
2) the method of cooking - 2 stage

it might be of use to get a list of what members existing to do lists are for base as this might help guide the direction over the coming months.

mine for info are:
1) try lemon
2) try knorr stock cube
3) try caramelising onion (i think i already know the answer but need to be sure)

ps i really struggle with the idea that some bases suit certain dishes. if the base is "BIR" quality then it will make any dish.

[Peripatetic Phil]

ps i really struggle with the idea that some bases suit certain dishes. if the base is "BIR" quality then it will make any dish.

I think I can see how this can come about.  Basically a finished dish is a synthesis of a base and a final recipe/technique.  Any change to the base will have an effect on the final recipe, and perhaps even on the final technique, if the end results are to be indistinguishable to the human palate.  So if some members prefer complex curries with multiple spices (mine have three, although one of those is Bassar curry masala and therefore complex in its own right), they have the choice of adding those spices at either stage.  If they elect to add the spices to the base, then clearly (?) that base will be less suitable for simpler dishes that use fewer spices.  But it doesn't necessarily mean that the base is "not of BIR quality" : rather, it could well be a BIR-quality base that is suited to fewer dishes, and I think it is not impossible that in larger restaurants there may actually be more than one base available, in order to simplify (and thereby speed up) the preparation of the final dishes.

Which is why (to summarise) I think that if this idea is to succeed, the chosen base needs to be as simple as possible.  If there is a simpler base than KD1, then let's go for it; but let's not go for one that is more complex.

** Phil.

[PaulP]

Hi Phil,

This is the Taz base link:

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=4163.0

You can't get much simpler than that. I think some cr0 members were put off because the Taz cooking method is too simple. I've returned to it after a few months and it does for me for now. You don't need to cook the curries as Taz suggested. I always fry garlic first when making curries with it.

Paul

[Peripatetic Phil]

This is the Taz base link:  http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=4163.0You can't get much simpler than that.

Agreed.  My only possible objection would be to the coriander, which I have given up using in my own curries simply because they taste better without !  But I would be very happy to go along with the Taz base exactly as posted for the purposes of a group effort to create the ultimate Madras, whilst perhaps trying it without the coriander solely for my own personal research.

** Phil.

[solarsplace]

Hi Phil,

This is the Taz base link:

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=4163.0

You can't get much simpler than that. I think some cr0 members were put off because the Taz cooking method is too simple. I've returned to it after a few months and it does for me for now. You don't need to cook the curries as Taz suggested. I always fry garlic first when making curries with it.

Paul

Hi Paul

Never tried that base. Looks like (well not a blank canvas) but at least a fairly neutral one with which to start the project!

Cheers

[Vindaloo-crazy]

Neutral base works perfectly. I'm sold, do we now discuss spice mix for the project or is that part of the experimentation?

[Derek Dansak]

Hi Paul p, you have totally summed up my current stance/approach to bases and curry. Thats why i quite like the kd 1 base, its got a nice tomato , garlic and onion ratio  , which is suited to the madras sort of texture flavour. i.e quite garlicky with tomato noticable. I will try that taz base, and report back. Perhaps we could work as a group and develop a new base for this project, which is like a taz and kd1 combination. I like a base to be lots green pepper, onion garlic, some ginger, and a nice tomato puree element added late. the spcing is kept simple with tumeric for color, and paprika and cumin as must haves. I think getting a base to the right thin-ness is an under estimated factor. in fact i am sure my best curries are when the base is just the right thin-ness. anyone else find this?