Topic: Hello! There's more to this than I imagined!

[ootini]

I was actually gonna totally cop out and hit Tescos for four fillets in a pack. Does this make an evil dirty person?

 

[Peripatetic Phil]

I was actually gonna totally cop out and hit Tescos for four fillets in a pack. Does this make an evil dirty person?

 

You'll wake up in the middle of the night, screaming "I shouldn't have done that !"  ;D

[solarsplace]

...snip

I will be honest, I have never understood why so many recipes use spice mix and/or curry powder.

snip...

Phil, I hear what you are saying, and perhaps at home when one may have extra time, this fine tuning could produce results perfectly tuned to your personal tastes...

However surely a busy BIR would not have time to mess around with individual spices and therefore through speed necessity have to come up with a generic general mix that they can quickly use? - plus slight variations in the mix add their own signature etc.

To replicate BIR at home, I imagine that is why so many recipies call for a mix, as that is what most BIR's use?

Cheers

[Peripatetic Phil]

Surely a busy BIR would not have time to mess around with individual spices and therefore through speed necessity have to come up with a generic general mix that they can quickly use? - plus slight variations in the mix add their own signature etc.

To replicate BIR at home, I imagine that is why so many recipes call for a mix, as that is what most BIR's use?

I  agree    And perhaps this lies at the heart of the fact that is a never-ending quest, because the spice mix that Ray's favourite T/A uses is unlikely to be the same as that used in the Taj of Kent, or in your favourite restaurant, or whatever.  So we end up chasing our tails, and are doomed to continue doing so for all eternity 

[ootini]

So I should just end it all, before I even start...............*BANG* *THUD*.

[Les]

Thanks for the reply Phil
I agree with you on the mix issue,
 I do think by using a fixed spice mix all the Curry's tend to have the same underlying flavour be it bhuna or Madras, it may be mild or hot but all the same underneath.
If you want restaurant quality then fresh is the way to go in my humble opinion, (now I'm about to get shot down)
You only have to look at Dip's videos to see that there ain't much difference in the whole range of curry's that he does.

HS

[Peripatetic Phil]

If you want restaurant quality then fresh is the way to go in my humble opinion, (now I'm about to get shot down)

Not by me, buddy !  But to put things in perspective, I can see no problem with a recipe specifying (say) "1 teaspoon Hotstuff's Spice Mix No. 3", because that is a specific blend of spices in specific proportions, perhaps suited to several different dishes but by no means all; but "1 teaspoon mix powder" tells us nothing at all, and almost certainly leads to different results being reported by different testers.  Of course, "Hotstuff's Spice Mix No. 3" cannot include any generic elements such as "Mild curry powder" because that would once again introduce an unwanted degree of freedom, and ideally should specify (as should all the recipes) as precise a description of each spice as possible (e.g., "1 teaspoon MDH Degghi Mirch" rather than "1 teaspoon ground chillies").

What do others think ?

** Phil.

[Malc.]

This is something that I have considered every since the day I stepped foot in the IG. Returning to here and reading up on base, spice mix, tomato puree, etc. and based on the information I had gleaned from my first visit, I concluded that it would be fool hardy for me to think I would succeed in creating an IG dish, using a different spice mix, base and so on.

Each an every component used must match the same components used in the restaurant. Like garam masala or curry powder, saying "any good one will do" can work to a degree, but it will never match exactly.

[Razor]

Phil,

I hear what you say with regards to a generic spice mix but like the base, this is just a 'foundation' ingredient.  Yes, it will leave it's 'signature' on a range of dishes from one particular establishment but it is all the other additions that change the actual flavour!

However, the variables/permutations are endless for example;

200ml base
garlic and ginger paste, 50/50
2 tsp spice mix
1 tsp methi
1 tbs tomato puree

Will taste quite different to:

300ml base
garlic and ginger paste, 70/30
1 tsp spice mix
1.5 tsp methi
2 tbs tomato puree.

Same ingredients, just combined quite differently!  I know some may disagree but for the most part BIR curries are 'formula' dishes.  A bit more of this, a little less of that, add this, leave that out and so on, all produce a different dish.

Even varying the length of time you take to cook your dish will alter the taste somewhat, even if using the same ingredients.  Hopefully, our BIR chefs are skilled enough to play around with the combinations and produce very good dishes, albeit with their special stamp on the dish which could be attributed to their 'secret' spice mix?

Just my thoughts

Ray

[Peripatetic Phil]

I don't disagree, but ...

If five of we CR0 members were to make a dish according to your first recipe :

200ml base
1 tablespoon garlic and ginger paste, 50/50
2 tsp spice mix
1 tsp methi
1 tbs tomato puree

is the probability not very high that we would produce five significantly different dishes, even leaving aside issues such as technique ?  There are two very significant degrees of freedom (which base ?  which spice mix ?) and a number of lesser ones (does the spice mix include "curry powder", as so many do, and if so, which one ? Is the methi leaves or powder ?  Is the tomato pur