Topic: Vegetable ghee warning

[natterjak]

I can't see that there will be a lot of variation in flavour of the final dish whatever oil or ghee was used.

Can't agree with you there, Natterjak.  Butter ghee definitely imparts a distinctive flavour to the finished dish, just as do (say) olive oil or mustard oil.  I would agree if you said "you probably can't tell the difference in the final dish between (say) rapeseed oil and rice-bran oil", but they are already fairly close on the taste spectrum -- once you get to the outliers such as butter ghee or olive oil, I believe that they will definitely make their presence known.

** Phil.

Hi Phil, I'm sorry to be slow replying to you. I think perhaps we are slightly at cross purposes - I do agree that a different oil or ghee will lead to a slightly different taste but it's the scale of the difference which is what led me to make my initial statement. In other words although substituting veg oil or sunflower oil for veg ghee will make a change in the flavour I expect it to be a small change and that the flavour of the final dish doesn't rely on using veg ghee for it to be 'correct'. Butter ghee or one of the strongly flavoured oils you mentioned might well be a different matter.

Opinions on this might vary, but that is mine    I choose not to use veg ghee and will accept that it might mean my home cooked curries differ slightly from one cooked with veg ghee, but i anticipate it will be a subtle difference and not a "show stopper".

[George]

I choose not to use veg ghee and will accept that it might mean my home cooked curries differ slightly from one cooked with veg ghee, but i anticipate it will be a subtle difference and not a "show stopper".

Why don't you use vegetable ghee? I suggest the only way to check out Az's recipes, to see if they can be recreated at home with as good a flavour as at the restaurant (if indeed you were bowled over with the flavour, when you sat down to eat last Sunday), is to use ALL the same ingredients that Az used. Vegetable ghee may be rather unhealthy but does it stop any of us eating out at BIRs or ordering take-aways? If you can recreate Az type results three or four times, using vegetable ghee, then it would be logical to alter the oil/fat type, only then, to see what a difference it makes.

[emin-j]

I choose not to use veg ghee and will accept that it might mean my home cooked curries differ slightly from one cooked with veg ghee, but i anticipate it will be a subtle difference and not a "show stopper".

Why don't you use vegetable ghee? I suggest the only way to check out Az's recipes, to see if they can be recreated at home with as good a flavour as at the restaurant (if indeed you were bowled over with the flavour, when you sat down to eat last Sunday), is to use ALL the same ingredients that Az used. Vegetable ghee may be rather unhealthy but does it stop any of us eating out at BIRs or ordering take-aways? If you can recreate Az type results three or four times, using vegetable ghee, then it would be logical to alter the oil/fat type, only then, to see what a difference it makes.

For once I agree with George 

[Whandsy]

I choose not to use veg ghee and will accept that it might mean my home cooked curries differ slightly from one cooked with veg ghee, but i anticipate it will be a subtle difference and not a "show stopper".

Why don't you use vegetable ghee? I suggest the only way to check out Az's recipes, to see if they can be recreated at home with as good a flavour as at the restaurant (if indeed you were bowled over with the flavour, when you sat down to eat last Sunday), is to use ALL the same ingredients that Az used. Vegetable ghee may be rather unhealthy but does it stop any of us eating out at BIRs or ordering take-aways? If you can recreate Az type results three or four times, using vegetable ghee, then it would be logical to alter the oil/fat type, only then, to see what a difference it makes.

For once I agree with George 

Good point George, me too

[George]

For once I agree with George 

Thanks. Just so I understand where there might be some misunderstanding, what is it, that you disagree with me on?

[chef888]

everything i have read about veg ghee seems to warn of health risks i use a super markets own brand  veg oil with a nob of pure butter ghee dont think i,ll risk veg ghee

[emin-j]

It seems that the BIR's I use,where I have asked,use plenty of veg ghee,one even deep fries his bhaji's in it 
but these happen to be the tastiest bhaji's Ive had  My favourite T/A use it in their base gravy and final curries and I reckon most of the BIR's in the UK use copious amounts of the stuff,and I bought a 1/2 gallon tub of it from Asda yesterday (taj mahal brand).Used it for the first time last night and it made no difference to the taste of our curry's  glad really cuz I'll probably bin the rest.Why do BIR's use it I wonder ?

[beachbum]

I expect they use it because it's cheap.

The danger with trans fats is that they are not found in nature but when the body digests them, they get put into cell walls etc in the place that a "natural" fat would go. The body mistakes them for fats that they already know about, sort of analagous to kids who used to drink yellow dishwashing liquid that was in virtually identical containers to lemon squash, then rushed to hospital (I think that packaging has been banned or at least discouraged).

It's thought that trans fats, as well as artery and heart problems, are a major contributor to macular degeneration of the retina, major cause of blindness in the first world, due to the wrong fats becoming incorporated into the retina.