Topic: WHATS THE MOST TRIED AND TESTED BASE CURRY?

[emin-j]

After watching my curry being cooked at my favourite T/A I was asking about their base gravy and the ingredients was no different to many of the gravy's on the forum but what he said has stuck in my mind '' If your gravy is not right your curry will not be '' make of this what you will but to me this seems quite an important statement.

Hi emin-j, have you ever tasted your local's base on it's own, in the kitchen? I've settled on that very statement  a while ago...in fact i posted it about 1/2 an hour ago somewhere

ELW

Hi ELW, Yes I had it in mind to ask if I could go into their kitchen so took a teaspoon with me to taste the base ( should have seen their faces when I took it out my pocket  ;D) I just dipped my spoon into their base gravy and it was just a lightly spiced onion soup and very thin in consistency.

[spiceyokooko]

To say that if I take Chewy's gravy, use CA's spice mix and Abdul's recipe my result is going to unreliable and unpredictable is absolute twaddle.

I understand and appreciate what you're saying here, but I did make it clear in my comments that the opinion I was offering was to new and inexperienced cooks. In that sense, they would be far better off sticking to one persons 'suite' of base gravy, spice mix and recipes, because they'll get consistent and repeatable results.

If other more experienced cooks want to experiment with different base gravy/spice mix/recipe combinations and know from past experience their technique is sound and they know exactly what they're doing then experiment away and enjoy yourselves. I just don't feel that's a good place for new or beginner cooks to this type of cuisine to start from.

Given that this type of thread is likely to be read by new or inexperienced cooks, I stand by that advice as I feel it's sound.

[Bobby Bhuna]

Hi All

I am about to do a new batch of base curry, who recommends what sauce!!!!!!, i think this may be an interesting POST?

Regards
Andy

Hi Andy

Welcome to the forum! I hope you're enjoying your curry cooking attempts so far. In my mind,  Bruce Edwards base sauce recipe is the best starting point. It's very well described, gives you some history on the subject, and yields an excellent result.

After trying this, it's just a case of reading around and seeing what others like. A lot of people, myself included have felt the need to post their own base recipes, whilst still on a learning curve. This can lose the truly great bases due to sheer volume of recipes. Try to use popular recipes by long standing members and steer clear of any recipes that are ambiguous in any way. Other than that, stick to the recipes and enjoy!

I've made hundreds of base batches using tens of recipes from the site and I always revisit Bruce Edwards base, CA's base and SnS' June 2008 base . They're all very easy to follow and provide great results!

I hope this helps! ;D

[ELW]

After watching my curry being cooked at my favourite T/A I was asking about their base gravy and the ingredients was no different to many of the gravy's on the forum but what he said has stuck in my mind '' If your gravy is not right your curry will not be '' make of this what you will but to me this seems quite an important statement.

Hi emin-j, have you ever tasted your local's base on it's own, in the kitchen? I've settled on that very statement  a while ago...in fact i posted it about 1/2 an hour ago somewhere

ELW

Hi ELW, Yes I had it in mind to ask if I could go into their kitchen so took a teaspoon with me to taste the base ( should have seen their faces when I took it out my pocket  ;D) I just dipped my spoon into their base gravy and it was just a lightly spiced onion soup and very thin in consistency.

The chef may have employed anti surveillance techniques, when the kitchen was infiltrated  ;D..the reason I ask is, I would describe most bases I've made like a lightly spiced soup, but a soup without the stock added, ie a little bit bland & a little bit raw. I have slowcooked the Ashoka base for an entire day after blending, which only intensified the flavour which was already there in the raw base(Which i don't like  ) The background flavour from a  basic curry  from one of my locals, tasted very similar to to the background in many vegetable based Heinz soups, & some of my own soups. Their madras, when you block out the Kashmiri chill & sour lemon, was exactly the same, but to  the normal person , would have tasted 'good' & comment would have been made on maybe the heat of the chilli..I have often wondered what the chef does with the pre cooking broth, or about the use of stock in bir, as there is hardly a professional kitchen who doesn't use it. I'm on this path at the moment, until I can rule it out.
The homecooked equivalent dishes in the mentioned bir, have a waiting time of nearly an hour. I am going to ask how they differ(if a base is used), & semi test this theory

Regards
ELW
"own spoon in the bir kitchen" its classic stuff  ;D

[curryhell]

"own spoon in the bir kitchen" its classic stuff  ;D

I've got to admit, i would have loved to see the chef's face.  I bet it was a picture of total and utter disbelief.  He probably thought you'd lost the plot completely ;D.  Be interesting to see where your path leads you.  I agree, i can't see there being much waste, just as any other commercial kitchen :

[ifindforu]

After watching my curry being cooked at my favourite T/A I was asking about their base gravy and the ingredients was no different to many of the gravy's on the forum but what he said has stuck in my mind '' If your gravy is not right your curry will not be '' make of this what you will but to me this seems quite an important statement.

Hi emin-j, have you ever tasted your local's base on it's own, in the kitchen? I've settled on that very statement  a while ago...in fact i posted it about 1/2 an hour ago somewhere

ELW

Hi ELW, Yes I had it in mind to ask if I could go into their kitchen so took a teaspoon with me to taste the base ( should have seen their faces when I took it out my pocket  ;D) I just dipped my spoon into their base gravy and it was just a lightly spiced onion soup and very thin in consistency.

just like the guravy in the T/A where i work