Topic: Death of the Taste

[haldi]

I can honestly say that I don't know where to buy an indian takeaway that still has "the taste"
There has been a sudden change of old places being taken over, or new places coming along
The whole flavour of curries has changed
They are generally bland and some are only equal to the flavour of a supermarket curry sauce

The final nail in the coffin, was the closing of the takeaway Bombay Style, on Alfreton Road
All the old school chefs are gone

I used to drive myself crazy at why my curries were sub standard taste
Well, now the're not
But for all the wrong reasons

I'm still trying "new" places, perhaps luck will favour me in re finding my curry nirvana
But the classic takeaway scene is clearlyly vanishing
Ironically, I would guess it's from improving hygene standards

Well perhaps life will be longer due to these changes
Longer but not richer
I remember eating cold classic curry for breakfast
I have even thrown "new" curry away

I live in Nottingham
Does anyone know of anywhere that still does the old business?

[solarsplace]

Haldi...

Step away from the edge! - Its going to be OK. No need to do something you might later regret....

Have to generally agree with you though. In my neck of the woods (Farnham, Aldershot, Fleet) there are now only around 3 or 4 restaurants that I know of that still produce exceptional curry either for a sit down or a take away. The smaller dedicated TA establishments are just a world of disappointment in my area too - I just don't buy from them any more because the curry is always so disappointing.

In fact, this reminds me that I must revoke a recommendation that I made on this site a couple of years ago. It seems the 'more senior' chef no longer works in my local TA and now all their curry tastes the same and very bland.

I guess it is like everything else - you get what you pay for and I would rather spend a few extra pounds getting a TA from a decent restaurant these days.

Cheers

[Peripatetic Phil]

Have to generally agree with you though. In my neck of the woods (Farnham, Aldershot, Fleet) there are now only around 3 or 4 restaurants that I know of that still produce exceptional curry either for a sit down or a take away. The smaller dedicated TA establishments are just a world of disappointment in my area too - I just don't buy from them any more because the curry is always so disappointing.

It's threads such as this that make me really wish for backwards time travel.  If only we /could/ go back to the 60s/70s and re-eat the curries (and other dishes) that we ate in those days.  Would they really taste as good as nostalgia tells us they were, or would they prove a terrible disappointment, and would we find that actually the quality of BIR cuisine has improved since then.  Sadly we will never know.

** Phil.

[Yousef]

Or could it be that your taste has matured wth age and the taste you crave has merely vanished due to this.

As a side note I feel the general quality of Takeaway Curry has lowered over the last few years with TA's using poorer ingredients to try and maintain current pricing whilst protecting their profit.

This means that 9 time out of 10 you are getting a bad curry, i.e chicken knuckle or some old frozen chicken cut up from Asda.
Also i feel that the weekend is the worst time to get a curry as the standard lowers again as they bosh out loads of orders.  Go on a Monday or Tuesday....much better.

 I cook curry now without a base sauce in a more traditional style but I am turning out my own Madras and other dishes that would put my local TA's to shame.

Stew   

[Les]

I cook curry now without a base sauce in a more traditional style but I am turning out my own Madras and other dishes that would put my local TA's to shame.

Stew

Hi Stew,
I still use your recipe form the Madras without a base sauce, So another recipe  traditional style or otherwise would be nice to have a go at, If you don't mind that is,

And yes I agree that the standard of Indian T/A's has fallen over the past few years, like Phil said if we could only go back and relive the curry's of yesteryear, Had a Biranni the other night from my local T/A and it was rank not to put to finer point on it but I've thrown better away, And as for the veg curry that came with it, It was Bombay Aloo, Still fridge cold in the middle, so obviously not nuked (microwaved) for long enough. And there was I thinking it would be freshly made

Les

[beachbum]

This is a common trend in my other hobby, home brewing. The fine ales and lagers that we worshipped and strove to recreate nowadays seem bland and disappointing compared to the flavour we remember from years ago.

Nowadays with all-grain amateur brewing almost universal in the craft and a supply of varieties of hops and yeasts we could only have dreamed about 10 years ago we can produce full flavoured beers to our liking.

Then when we taste an old "holy grail" such as Pilsner Urquell or Leffe, they are strangely unsatisfying. The malt and hops are the same, surely not every beer in the World has gone downhill - but our tastebuds have become re-tuned I think and it's possibly the same with curries.

[Yousef]

Hi Les,

I will put the recipe together for you to try.

Stew

[Les]

Hi Les,

I will put the recipe together for you to try.

Stew

Cheer's Stew, Looking forward too it

Les

[Yousef]

Stew's Special Curry - That probably doesn't fit in any recipe section - Enjoy

Ingredients
1 Red Onion (Diced)
3 tablespoons veg oil
1/2 TS Whole Cumin
1 inch cinnamon stick
2 Cloves
4 Green Cardamoms
1 Chicken breast (Cut into large chunks 4 or 5 chunks per breast)
250 ml chicken stock
50ml water to top up
1 or 2 garlic cloves + 2 green chilli chopped into 5 sections and crushed to a paste in pestle and mortar
Tablespoon Tomato Paste
100ml Tomato Passata
half handful coriander leaves / stalks

Spice
1 teaspoon deggi murch
1 headped teaspoon Madras Curry Powder (Mild)
1/2 TS Garam Masala
1 teaspoon whole coriander seeds (Crushed in pestle then added as ground spice)

Tools
non stick saucepan with lid.

Method
I know this sound a lot but I make this probably every other day and know off by heart, once you get the rhythm this is the only curry you will need and you can vary with different spice mix, veg, lentils, prawns etc.

1.  Heat non-stick saucepan over medum/high heat and add whole spice (Cumin, Cloves, Cardamom, 1 inch cinnamon stick)

2.  Dry fry spice until you smell the nutty smell then add the oil to the pan

3.  Add the red onion, stir, put lid on and turn heat to just above low ? leave for 15 mins stirring occasionally.

4.  Once onion Is going brown add the garlic/green chilli paste and stir for a minute or so

5.  Next add the spices (deggi murch / madras curry powder, crushed coriander seeds) and stir for a few mins over medium heat.

6.  Add the Tablespoon Tomato Paste stir

7.  Add the cubed raw chicken seal for 2 mins (look a  bit of a mess but trust me this gets spices and falvour into chicken)

8.  Add 100ml Tomato Passata and stir for 1 minute

9.  Add 250 ml chicken stock to cover chicken - Top up with water to barely cover chicken as required.

10.  Bring to a rapid boil and put lid on and turn to lowest heat for 35 mins exactly

11.  Stir now and again during process, it will reduce to the right consistency and with 10 mins to go add the Garam Masala

12.  Throw in coriander at the end of process and stir

Serve with rice and toasted wholemeal pita bread and some raw red onion.

Try it and let me know, you will have an amazing very spicy tangy curry in less than an hour.
I use this method all the time and vary different spice mixes, sometime I dry fry whole spices then crush them.  I sometime cook lentils then add the above curry sauce to them to get a dansak.

Many, many possibilities with this curry recipe and I would urge you to try.
Striclty not BIR but you can make a base sauce with this recipe and add anything you want to it.

Stew

[Les]

Thanks Stew
Looks good to me mate, Going to give this one a try

Les