Topic: Shouldn't a beef curry taste of beef ?

[Peripatetic Phil]

So today I made a beef vindaloo, for the first time ever (first time beef, that is, not first time vindaloo), and it was OK.  Just OK.  Not "wonderful".  And casting my mind back to the time when beef curries were still regularly featured on BIR menus, I remembered that in those days, beef curries came in two varieties.  1) The beef curry that you knew had been cooked in a beef stock, and 2) the beef curries that were just pre-cooked beef added to a generic base.  And of course, I had made (2).  So now, more than ever, I am convinced that in "the good old days", the better restaurants had more than one base to call on : generic/chicken, beef, and perhaps even lamb/mutton/goat.  So the next time I can find a large quantity of remaindered beef (ideally on the bone, but that stuff is like gold dust and almost never gets remaindered), I am going to make myself a pot of beef-stock base, and then make another beef curry, just to see if I can really re-create the tastes of yore.

** Phil.

[Masala Mark]

Hi Phil,

Can't say what happened in the past or in another country, but here in Australia in the restaurant that I work in, the beef is precooked in a very simple way. The beef, some ginger, couple of spices, salt and water and that's really it.

When the beef is ready, ie butter knife soft, it is removed from heat and placed into the storage containers in the cooking liquid/stock.

When the end dish is made, approx 6-8 pieces of beef are taken, along with a couple of chefs spoons of the stock. This imparts the flavour and is a noticable difference if it is not there. The same thing happens with the precooked chicken, lamb, goat and roo.

Cheers,
Mark

[mickdabass]

Hi Phil
must admit Ive never seen beef on a bir menu. Seen plenty of "meat" but I have always took this as being lamb/mutton etc

[Peripatetic Phil]

[...] When the end dish is made, approx 6-8 pieces of beef are taken, along with a couple of chefs spoons of the stock. This imparts the flavour and is a noticable difference if it is not there. The same thing happens with the precooked chicken, lamb, goat and roo.

Ah, that is an interesting variant, and not one I had considered.  It will be a lot easier and cheaper to test : thank you !
** Phil.

[Peripatetic Phil]

must admit Ive never seen beef on a bir menu. Seen plenty of "meat" but I have always took this as being lamb/mutton etc

TTBOMR, beef definitely featured on some (but probably not all) BIR menus during the late sixties/early seventies; do others have the same recollection ?

** Phil.

[mickdabass]

Phil

I think you'll find that the cow is regarded as sacred amongst most cultures in India particularly the Hindus. I would be surprised if the chefs would relish handling the flesh of one of their most sacred animals but I could be (and probably am) wrong.

I didn't eat curries in the 60s but have done since the mid 70s and I have never seen it on the menu around here (Birmingham)

I made a superb curry the other night tho using some medium rare steak cut into cubes and simply stirred in at the end with a handful of fresh coriander...gorgeous but not imo bir

[Peripatetic Phil]

I think you'll find that the cow is regarded as sacred amongst most cultures in India particularly the Hindus. I would be surprised if the chefs would relish handling the flesh of one of their most sacred animals but I could be (and probably am) wrong.

Yes, I am aware of the Hindu proscription, but to the best of my knowledge Hindus make up only a very small percentage of the staff in BIRs, the majority being Muslim I think (who treat pork in the same way but for exactly the opposite reason).  Indeed, when last in Kuala Lumpur, I saw for the first time in my life "beef bacon", simply because Malaysia is so endemically Muslim that it would be almost impossible to find anyone who would be willing to prepare or eat pork.

** Phil.