Topic: New videos from Curry2Go in Chorley

[ELW]

This is the guy that told me on my wedding day (to my 1st wife) that she wasn't what you'd call a stunner is she?   and she wasn't (neither was I though )

 ;D thats Ricky Gervais stuff  ;D

[Cory Ander]

CA,

many thanks for pointing this out. i would have missed an important piece here. watching it back (and the dupiaza) i now realise i was wrong and it's nothing like bunjarra. it is as Julian says "onion gravy sauce".

i will need to make this as i've not made anything like.

Hi Jerry,

It does produce a very nice, sweet, spicy, "sauce/gravy".  In fact, it's not too dissimilar to a basic (albeit unblended) curry base to me.

With this "onion sauce", Julian "sweats" onions (plus other veggies), and whole spices, in water only (apart from the relatively small amount of oil present in the ladle of curry base which is also added).  But the end result is still nice and sweet and the flavours of the whole spices seem to be successfully extracted into the sauce.

However, Julian "sweats" the veggies, primarily in oil, when making his curry base.

Which poses, to me, a very fundamental and intriguing question:

Why do BIRs (and we) add oil to their (and our) curry bases?

I've always supposed that oil is added primarily as a medium to extract the flavours (i.e. the organic essential oils) from the spices and to maybe "fry" the onions (and other veggies) to make them sweet.

Perhaps this isn't the case and oil needn't be added to a curry base at all?

Any thoughts anyone?

PS:  It appears that Julian also adds either onion powder or garlic powder to his curry base (something that he doesn't otherwise disclose - one of his "secrets", perhaps?).  I suspect it's garlic powder (from it's appearance and wetting properties).

[bamble1976]

Hi

The oil for me carries the flavour of the individual components of the curry more successfully and sustains the flavours in your mouth for longer due to its 'coating' effect.  I am not sure whether the cooking in oil or water brings out the sweetness one more than the other.  It will need to be a side by side comparison one day. 

The more traditional currys seem to be less oil, more water based and seem to be 'wetter' on the plate if that makes sense?  This is the reason I prefer B.I.R curries.

Regards

Barry

[JerryM]

CA,

the addition of the ladle of base did not sit well with me - as a general rule i don't like adding what is in effect already an ingredient to another ingredient to be used in the same final dish. when i give it a go i will do side by side - 1 off as per spec the other with 10% by onion original volume (chopped) of oil. i suspect knowing what we know of the cleverness of BIR that it plays an important part.

i think you're right on the essential oils. from the saffron base i've always added my frying oil to the base and now decant off before blending. despite my best efforts i always loose ~10% of the oil to the base. i see this as the natural minimum amount. i am convinced this oil is needed to initially help soften the onion and suspect that it carries the depth of flavour in the finished base. emulsion comes to mind but only a guess.

[curryhell]

The pale coloured powder could also possibly be ground fenugreek, another likely spice contender for the base

[Razor]

Hi CA,

Why do BIRs (and we) add oil to their (and our) curry bases?

I've always supposed that oil is added primarily as a medium to extract the flavours (i.e. the organic essential oils) from the spices and to maybe "fry" the onions (and other veggies) to make them sweet.

Perhaps this isn't the case and oil needn't be added to a curry base at all?

Any thoughts anyone?

PS:  It appears that Julian also adds either onion powder or garlic powder to his curry base (something that he doesn't otherwise disclose - one of his "secrets", perhaps?).  I suspect it's garlic powder (from it's appearance and wetting properties).

My thoughts would be the same as yours CA but Julians base is quite different, as his "1st cook stage", is done with oil as the main wet ingredient, water being added as little more more than a gesture..!  Yes, further water is going to be released from the onions and to a point, the other veg.  The other thing to note is, I should imagine that the water content will evaporate somewhat, especially as it appears that he doesn't cook his base with a lid.  Using oil instead of water should reduce the amount of evaporation and, retain pretty much all of the flavour of the veg?  Of course, this is speculative on my part as I don't know for sure if that would be the case but it seems feasible?

It's no coincidence that the two "professional" base gravy's that have been videoed on cr0 (c2g and Dipuraja) show a very large amount of veg to liquid ratio, both pots being massively overloaded.  Do any of you guys do this? I mean, do any of us over fill the pot so that as the last ingredients go in, you're having to balance them on the top?  I know I don't.  I have also seen this in my local TA, there must be some reason for this.

As for the the white powder, he does mention salt in the narration but it doesn't look like salt to me, it does look like garlic powder.  Garlic powder does take some time to disperse in water, and in the video, it is the only powder that still stays quite lumpy, so garlic powder would be my guess?

Ray

[Whandsy]

My thoughts would be the same as yours CA but Julians base is quite different, as his "1st cook stage", is done with oil as the main wet ingredient, water being added as little more more than a gesture..!  Yes, further water is going to be released from the onions and to a point, the other veg.  The other thing to note is, I should imagine that the water content will evaporate somewhat, especially as it appears that he doesn't cook his base with a lid.  Using oil instead of water should reduce the amount of evaporation and, retain pretty much all of the flavour of the veg?  Of course, this is speculative on my part as I don't know for sure if that would be the case but it seems feasible?

There HAS to be more than one way to "skin the cat" so to speak, to get the same result. We've all been in takeaways and seen that big pot of onions etc filled to the brim with water bubbling away. I know I've seen it on lots of occasions whilst waiting for the curry to finish. They also weren't at the cooked stage ready for blending they were raw.

Another comment regards heat source etc, when I was last in the takeaway and was chatting to the chef, it seemed to take a while to cook and when I commented on this he said he'd left it on low heat cos we were chatting, so there goes the flame height theory (well maybe  ) and I looked for the 1st ladle reduction but no, just one big one from the start. DOH!

[curryhell]

There HAS to be more than one way to "skin the cat" so to speak, to get the same result. We've all been in takeaways and seen that big pot of onions etc filled to the brim with water bubbling away. I know I've seen it on lots of occasions whilst waiting for the curry to finish. They also weren't at the cooked stage ready for blending they were raw.

Another comment regards heat source etc, when I was last in the takeaway and was chatting to the chef, it seemed to take a while to cook and when I commented on this he said he'd left it on low heat cos we were chatting, so there goes the flame height theory (well maybe  ) and I looked for the 1st ladle reduction but no, just one big one from the start. DOH!

Not sure who said it but there does indeed seem to be many conflicting reports all based on actual kitchen observations.  I think this just goes to prove that although there are similarities in cooking methods no two chefs do it exactly the same way.  Whilst it would be nice to make the whole process as scientific as possible, science doesn't allow for the creativity of the chef and him putting his own personal stamp on dishes .  That said i'm sure we won't be discouraged from continuing the journey

[curry2gochorley]

Hi CA,

Why do BIRs (and we) add oil to their (and our) curry bases?

I've always supposed that oil is added primarily as a medium to extract the flavours (i.e. the organic essential oils) from the spices and to maybe "fry" the onions (and other veggies) to make them sweet.

Perhaps this isn't the case and oil needn't be added to a curry base at all?

Any thoughts anyone?

PS:  It appears that Julian also adds either onion powder or garlic powder to his curry base (something that he doesn't otherwise disclose - one of his "secrets", perhaps?).  I suspect it's garlic powder (from it's appearance and wetting properties).

My thoughts would be the same as yours CA but Julians base is quite different, as his "1st cook stage", is done with oil as the main wet ingredient, water being added as little more more than a gesture..!  Yes, further water is going to be released from the onions and to a point, the other veg.  The other thing to note is, I should imagine that the water content will evaporate somewhat, especially as it appears that he doesn't cook his base with a lid.  Using oil instead of water should reduce the amount of evaporation and, retain pretty much all of the flavour of the veg?  Of course, this is speculative on my part as I don't know for sure if that would be the case but it seems feasible?

It's no coincidence that the two "professional" base gravy's that have been videoed on cr0 (c2g and Dipuraja) show a very large amount of veg to liquid ratio, both pots being massively overloaded.  Do any of you guys do this? I mean, do any of us over fill the pot so that as the last ingredients go in, you're having to balance them on the top?  I know I don't.  I have also seen this in my local TA, there must be some reason for this.

As for the the white powder, he does mention salt in the narration but it doesn't look like salt to me, it does look like garlic powder.  Garlic powder does take some time to disperse in water, and in the video, it is the only powder that still stays quite lumpy, so garlic powder would be my guess?


Hi Ray

The powder you see in the video is Fenugreek powder. I don't mention it as it's a little trade secret which I will go into in my ebook.  Will also cover a lot more about the gravies in that book and the videos that will accompany the book see http://www.curry2go-online.com/recipes.html  the youtube 10 minute policy does not allow too much explanation and I have received so many emails about the base hence I have embarked on this ebook and videos which should be complete before the end of January. The ebook will have a lot of content and will definitely answer all the questions on here re; use of oil, overfilling the pot etc..  believe it or not there is quite a science to it.   

Julian

[ELW]

The powder you see in the video is Fenugreek powder. I don't mention it as it's a little trade secret which I will go into in my ebook.  Will also cover a lot more about the gravies in that book and the videos that will accompany the book see http://www.curry2go-online.com/recipes.html  the youtube 10 minute policy does not allow too much explanation and I have received so many emails about the base hence I have embarked on this ebook and videos which should be complete before the end of January. The ebook will have a lot of content and will definitely answer all the questions on here re; use of oil, overfilling the pot etc..  believe it or not there is quite a science to it.   

Julian

Advanced or multi stage gravy (cr0)-  I'm mad keen to hear more, but Julianc2g never mentioned this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
On topic- CurrytoGo, Cannot wait to hear a members taste test on c2g, it's long overdue, & Im too far away....Its very seldom that trade secrets of any kind are revealed on tv/web by people in the business, but I think it all adds to Julians credibility.those videos are brilliant & Im sure between both gravies & c2g I'm sure I will have taken a huge step forward to creating what I'm after

Regards
ELW

Hi Julian, thanks for that post, I'v been  taking stick from some curry anoraks for probing further on this matter   ...best of luck with your venture, hope you can steal a march there

Regards
ELW