Any new results to share?

[gary]

Here we are, from Camelia Panjabi's 50 Great Curries book:

"The sequence in which the spices are put into the pot is important...

...they may be fried or added to the boiling mixture. This is like the high or low tone of the note. Frying releases the flavour of the spice more strongly than plain cooking"

So we can see the spices in the typical BIR gravy are the low tone, while the spices that are fried much later on in the overall process  (i.e. in the last ten minutes or so of cooking a typical BIR dish) provide the high tone to the dish.

Gary

[ELW]

"The sequence in which the spices are put into the pot is important...

...they may be fried or added to the boiling mixture. This is like the high or low tone of the note. Frying releases the flavour of the spice more strongly than plain cooking"

Thanks Gary, thats a good litle snippet. I'm trying to whittle this whole thing down  to find only what's crucial. I've no idea why longer frying on a lower heat isn't getting me the results of the full blast method, I thought they would eventually get to the same stage, but I've not managed that yet. It would be great for forum members  if it was possible, it would certainly take the mess & panic out of it.
I'd like to hear if an Asian chef, or just an Asian homecook, would turn the pan up full when cooking at home. I can hardly think of anything I've ever cooked up full blast in a frying pan apart from this

ELW

[CardiffCurrylad]

"The sequence in which the spices are put into the pot is important...

...they may be fried or added to the boiling mixture. This is like the high or low tone of the note. Frying releases the flavour of the spice more strongly than plain cooking"

Thanks Gary, that's a good Little snippet. I'm trying to whittle this whole thing down  to find only what's crucial. I've no idea why longer frying on a lower heat isn't getting me the results of the full blast method, I thought they would eventually get to the same stage, but I've not managed that yet. It would be great for forum members on if it was possible, it would certainly take the mess & panic out of it.
I'd like to hear if an Asian chef, or just an Asian homecook, would turn the pan up full when cooking at home. I can hardly think of anything I've ever cooked up full blast in a frying pan apart from this

ELW

Hi ELW, I have cooked along side a Indian cookery tutor (although be it traditional home cooking) and the g&g paste and onions were cooked on a medium heat to avoid it from burning with the spices added once the garlic lost it's raw smell. I know this is not bir but maybe it could answer a few questions that may be in the back of some members minds, who knows 

[ELW]

"The sequence in which the spices are put into the pot is important...

...they may be fried or added to the boiling mixture. This is like the high or low tone of the note. Frying releases the flavour of the spice more strongly than plain cooking"

Thanks Gary, that's a good Little snippet. I'm trying to whittle this whole thing down  to find only what's crucial. I've no idea why longer frying on a lower heat isn't getting me the results of the full blast method, I thought they would eventually get to the same stage, but I've not managed that yet. It would be great for forum members on if it was possible, it would certainly take the mess & panic out of it.
I'd like to hear if an Asian chef, or just an Asian homecook, would turn the pan up full when cooking at home. I can hardly think of anything I've ever cooked up full blast in a frying pan apart from this

ELW

Hi ELW, I have cooked along side a Indian cookery tutor (although be it traditional home cooking) and the g&g paste and onions were cooked on a medium heat to avoid it from burning with the spices added once the garlic lost it's raw smell. I know this is not bir but maybe it could answer a few questions that may be in the back of some members minds, who knows 

Thanks for the reply CCL, I would ask the tutor why the spices are  not taken further to bir level as we know it. Is it not the done thing for home cooking or is the bir level of cooking just a consequence of having a large commercial burner? A taste For Western palates? I don't know, but I'd like to get it down to only the required elements, just for consistency.

@Gary - After watching one of the Zaal videos(can't remember which), I've been adding  spice/methi/salt to the cooked GG & oil, off the heat & letting it all become an thin oily mixture(not a paste), which can be tipped from side to side in the pan, then back on - quenching with gravy only (no tom paste at all)at the moment, to produce a decent bir tasting basic curry.

@ George - I've never added garlic at the end, but have upped the quantity a bit at the beginning, it does add to the bir taste, so does upping the salt I've found, which i was actually trying to reduce

[PaulP]

I was reading about a basic curry sauce here:

http://www.mamtaskitchen.com/recipe_display.php?id=10139

I thought it was interesting what she says for step 5. After frying the spices then adding the tomatoes she says fry until the oil separates. But then she says for a more professional taste add some water and fry again until the oil appears. Then repeat again.

Well I thought it was interesting!

Paul

[emin-j]

ELW, my favourite T/A is a 25 mile round trip  : and some time ago I asked the guy at the counter taking the orders if there was any chance I could watch my and the wife's curry being made and surprisingly he said yes 
If it helps there was no high heat or flames just a no rush slowboat way of making a curry,Oil with a small amount of butter ghee melted into it,tiny amount of fenugreek leaves,g/g followed by thinned tomato puree followed by the spices/chili,the end result was as per usual deeeeelicious,100% BIR  ;D

[solarsplace]

Hi emin-j

Would you mind entertaining a quick query regarding what you saw in your favourite TA kitchen please?

Would you consider it possible that even though there were no apparent flames during the cooking of your curry(s) and that although the chef appeared to be quite relaxed / slow boating during the cooking process - that actually the stove he was using could have still been producing quite high heat? rather than just ticking over gently? and that he is so experienced about what he is doing he knows on instinct that he can just complete the required steps that the optimum moment....

Or phrased slightly shorter and from a different angle - do you in your opinion think he produced a perfect BIR curry on a really low heat setting like any home cooker could produce and he cooked it slowly?

Thanks!

[emin-j]

Hi emin-j

Would you mind entertaining a quick query regarding what you saw in your favourite TA kitchen please?

Would you consider it possible that even though there were no apparent flames during the cooking of your curry(s) and that although the chef appeared to be quite relaxed / slow boating during the cooking process - that actually the stove he was using could have still been producing quite high heat? rather than just ticking over gently? and that he is so experienced about what he is doing he knows on instinct that he can just complete the required steps that the optimum moment....

Or phrased slightly shorter and from a different angle - do you in your opinion think he produced a perfect BIR curry on a really low heat setting like any home cooker could produce and he cooked it slowly?

Thanks!

Hi Solarsplace, The T/A is in a small village on the outskirts of Bristol and although a steady trade they have never been rushed when I have been there and I think the casual style is plenty quick enough for their  trade ,The gas rings were the commercial type but set on a medium setting , sat at the back of the hob was a butter ghee tin that contained vegetable oil with 'some' butter ghee melted into it,this was placed quite close to the gas ring used for cooking the curry's I suppose to warm and keep the ghee melted.
Around a chef spoon of oil/ghee was added followed by about 1/4 tsp of methi leaves then g/g,tom pur, and '' chef's own spice mix '' which I now believe to be a in house garam masala with the other usuals to make up the spice mix.The heat was steady as was the chef casually stirring in the ingredients with no frantic scraping like I do 
and when the base was added was able to simmer steadily without any major eruptions that usually occurs on my hob that creates a right mess for the wife to clear up  :-X there is no doubt my gas hob could cook as hot as the chef was cooking my curry and yes I'm sure he knows exactly when each ingredient should be added and when it is cooked through.

[ELW]

I've tried to avoid all ghee in my home efforts, I'll maybe pick some up at the weekend. The trouble with medium heat(full blast on my gas cooker) is that I'm finding the spice needs to be spread out better over the pan & although I'm unsure yet whether the spices are 'singed' on the heat/hot pan or in the hot oil, Any clumps or spice rolling up & sticking together or high spots are not getting the treatment resulting in my inconsistencies. The commercial burner seems to take care of this, I can see that from the videos

I've did Zaal base, 50/50GG, 1/4 Salkim Tomato paste, methi leaves & NATCO GARAM MASALA,recipe as per Ashoka,(no spice mix, I think Ashoka use the Banjarra paste in mainly in place of a mp), with surprisingly good results, just to throw a spanner in

There is a post somewhere, whether it's on here or elsewhere, where the site admin arranged for his local bir chef to come & cook at his home, on his equipment(electric 2 hob plug in if I remember correctly). anyone recall this?Chef said no problem, but after a couple of attempts, said he couldn't get the pan hot enough 

Regards
ELW

[Salvador Dhali]

Maybe the chef at emin-j's TA was using the reduction method a la Taz? I know this works as I've managed to produce some great results, even when using bases that don't contain as much oil as the Taz base (i.e. which require the addition of oil to the pan in the beginning).

That said, I've found the slow boat method doesn't produce the same consistency of results as the SFQ (singe-fuse-quench) technique. Sometimes I get a stunning curry, while other times it's merely okay.

This is, of course, 100% down to the skill of the chef, and while I'm a long time practitioner of this dark art, I am in no way a skilled chef...