Topic: Boiling Whole Onion v Chopped Onions

[curryhell]

Are you refering to Mr Singh's; the one with the veg outside?  If you think his is good go to the one next to spice - proper aladins cave.  And if you want halal chicken at

[jb]

Are you refering to Mr Singh's; the one with the veg outside?  If you think his is good go to the one next to spice - proper aladins cave.  And if you want halal chicken at

[curryhell]

That's the one Mr Singh's couldn't remember the name,it's been there for years from what I remember.I will definetely have a look in the other ones.

It certainly has been there for years, 30+ in fact and it used to contain much more than it does nowadays.  His samosas and bahjis are to die for  .  I hear he does a damn good curry as well and he is such gentleman. Let me know how you find the others.  The one next to the phoenix is very obliging too.  For fresh stuff, if it isn't on show, ask as they may have it out the back.

[Alchemist]

A few weeks ago I tried the method of using whole onions to make my base, where I would normally chop them into segments. Cooked in my Instant Pot for 45 mins on high pressure, to ensure the onions were as soft as can be. The base did come out lovely and sweet, and from memory sweeter than I would normally expect (so not a highly scientific test!).

Given it is less work in terms of chopping onions and the curries I made were lovely I will definitely stick to this method in future.

[mickyp]

I suppose the only advantages to chopping them is making the size more flexible to getting them in and secondly if not more importantly to check you haven't got any bad ones with rot in the middle, for that reason me thinks i will chop

[jalfreziT]

Nice to see Alchy

I also try to limit chopping of onions. Like Mickyp, a cut or two, just to make sure they are not rotten in the middle, and then in to the pot 

[mickyp]

Nice to see Alchy

Good point JT, tis nice to see a name from the past,  waves to Alchy

[chewytikka]

Alchemist, Good to see your still learning authentic BIR methods
Are you another refugee from the Les Jones copy site?

Whole Onions, bit of a no brainer really.
My fine example here:
https://youtu.be/_Xz-x3OGXoE

[Alchemist]

Thanks for the welcome back guys :-)

I am indeed a refugee of the Les Jone forum, won't go into details and rake up bad blood, but in the end I had had enough and was glad to be expelled :-)

Good to see your video Chewy using the whole onion technique. I have tried to look into the science behind it and there is something around a chemical reaction happening once you slice into an onion, so assume this technique relates to not starting that chemical reaction off prior to cooking the onions?

Anyway, although not a game changer in terms of base gravies, it is something I will continue to use, even with the risk of the odd bad onion!

[chewytikka]

Nice one Alchemist.
There are no scientists in BIR kitchens 
Just lots of 50ltr stock pots full of whole onions.

N.B. They still have to top, tail and peel the onions.
So any centre rot is glaringly obvious.
My friends call them Tossers, which I still find funny.

cheers, look forward to you input.