Topic: Curryheads "Madras 2011"

[Cory Ander]

What's all this about spiced oil?

I think the main point that PaulP was making is that the oil in a decent BIR takeaway meal has a "moorish oniony spicy but sweet flavour"...and is something that is hard to replicate at home.

Given that the flavour of the spices primarily ends up in the oil, it seems, to me (and presumably to PaulP), to be an obvious avenue to explore further.

[Cory Ander]

So after 188 posts, What exactly have we achieved here, if anything.
(hope I'm not offending anyone)
Seems to me the only thing that's come out of this experiment is everybody's tastes are different, which we already know.

Not so bad Hotstuff - 2 people have found madras heaven. Quite a few others have been pleasantly surprised by the Taz recipe/method. One member didn't like it at all.

With such diverse opinions, it's difficult to know how to proceed, isn't it?

I presume that those that are cockahoop with this base and madras recipe are sorted (and want to move on to trying other dishes)?

I presume those that are "pleasantly surprised" may be open to "tweaks" to the recipes in order to improve them?

I presume that those that don't like it at all will either give up or want to try something entirely different?

What's missing, to my mind, is any sort of assessment of where any deficiencies (if any) lie (and hence where improvements may be made)?

Ultimately, such diverse opinions were/are always going to make progress a challenge.

[peterandjen]

Hi again, CA i know the oil was supposed to be left in the base, i could have messed the results up by removing some, but i don't think i did, i still got oil seperation at the end of the stir-fry stage so i reckon it went well. Also i wanted to collect the oil, spicificaly to try using spiced oil. Ive never yet tried to use it and this oily base seemed the best way to have a bash.
I believe that there are others myself included who will now use this base as is, thus changing the stir-fry stage slightly to allow for improvements, and some will change the base to suit.
I will stick to the stir-fry stage for now as i believe the base to be sound, the spice mix is good too, im mainly looking forward to making a Balti, thinking that the extra onions and balti spice will be all this process needs to be bloody good. Honestly i don't think its far off this recipe. Ill post the results. If others do the same then we are progressing one way or the other.

[Ramirez]

What's missing, to my mind, is any sort of assessment of where any deficiencies (if any) lie (and hence where improvements may be made)?

Don't know about anyone else but I sometimes find it extremely difficult to actually find the words to adequately articulate what is missing, usually just settling for 'it just isn't right'.

I totally agree.  I'm happy to give another base a go, if the group decided that, that is the way forward but I would much rather try this base to make other curries.  Taz himself has a Dupiaza recipe, courtesy of Mick, maybe that one next?

 

I agree, I think to abandon this base now would be a shame. It almost feels somewhat premature to move on from the Madras, but I am not sure what else can be done. Some people are happy, some aren't. I think if everyone is happy to move on from the Madras,  Mick's Dopiaza should be the next stop.

[George]

I agree, I think to abandon this base now would be a shame. It almost feels somewhat premature to move on from the Madras

I agree. Even though I wasn't amazed by the taste of the Taz base and Madras, I thought it was a good step forward. The ingredients look fairly similar to other Madras recipes. Can this Madras be refined to make it taste better, without altering it beyond all recognition, like I did on my second and third attempts?

[Stephen Lindsay]

[ I think if everyone is happy to move on from the Madras,  Mick's Dopiaza should be the next stop.

I'd be happy to go with this suggestion.

[Peripatetic Phil]

OK, planning to prepare the base this afternoon.  I assume/hope it is this one; if not, someone please shout before I waste my afternoon !

** Phil.

[solarsplace]

OK, planning to prepare the base this afternoon.  I assume/hope it is this one; if not, someone please shout before I waste my afternoon !

** Phil.

Hi Phil

Well, that is the one I made too, so I hope its correct!

Cheers

[Peripatetic Phil]

Great   

Axe/Stew -- Do either of you have an SMF hack to allow a single message to be printed ?  I would like to print Mick/Taz's recipe without risking also printing the following 50 or so messages, and it's not worth cloning it to my web site just for the purposes of printing.  I know about "?action=printpage;topic=4163.0" but that still formats the whole d@mned thread for printing 

[PaulP]

Hi Phil,

That's the one. Try to make sure you end up with about 2.7 to 3.0 litres finished volume.

Will you be using whole cumin/corriander seeds or ground spices?

Paul