Topic: OH that AROMA!! After so long

[Petrolhead360]

Hi all,

I've been on a diet since Jan 2012 and not had a take away's since Dec 2011.
The wife caught me off guard a couple of nights ago and text me after a stressful day and suggested we got an Indian take away on a Wednesday. The local take away was celebrating their 13th anniversary and were offering 2 for 1.

OK I finally gave in and chose a meat madras.
I ate half of the main dish and frozen the rest.

The reason i'm writing this is because i just defrosted the other half (on  Friday) and it smells wonderful compared to the BIR curries I've been making, but why?

The aromas are so full. I can detect a full rich gravy smell with tomato and a hint of green pepper and something else I can't put my finger on. There is a smokey aroma with a slight sweetness element which i do not achieve with my recipes.

I guess everyone says the same thing but I wanted to register this after soooo long in not having a take away and only making my own.

It just reminds me to to compare, even occasionally, with the real thing.
I was thoroughly enjoying mine creations until now

It's only a picture but this is what I'm trying to describe.

[Secret Santa]

The reason i'm writing this is because i just defrosted the other half (on  Friday) and it smells wonderful compared to the BIR curries I've been making, but why?

I've been seriously trying to find that out for about 15 years now (I think) much longer in a less formal way. And I still don't have the answer. Nor, if the curries on this forum are anything to go by, does anyone else. The difference between the real thing and the home brew version is like chalk and cheese.

If you ever get your answer do let us know. Then I can die a happy man.

[chrisbr]

I have been really pleased with my efforts recently until I had a take away tonight.  My speciality is chicken tikka rogan josh which my wife really likes.  However tonight she ordered the same and I lamb tikka jalfrazi.  The smell in the car and whilst eating was nowhere near when I cook a curry and the taste different.

However, the TA was way more oily than mine and tasting the oil it was really spicy and to me had "the taste".

I am still really impressed with the knowledge on this site and in one way the currys I've cooked from this site are different from my TA but that doesn't mean they are worse.  In some ways I think they are better cuz they are not so oily and I feel I taste the individual ingredients whereas with a TA I can't always.

We keep trying and learning and as long as I enjoy both my own curries and TA ones then I'm happy.


Chris

[natterjak]

Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but lately I feel that the curries I cook at home are equal to or in many cases better than the offerings from local takeaways and the aroma is absolutely the same.

This perception that there's a "missing 5%" which can't be achieved at home seems very widespread on the forum though, which makes me question whether it's simply my judgement which is off. Logically though, I don't see why the same ingredients, cooked in the same way should produce a different result at home than in a commercial environment. And we surely have enough first hand reports, videos, etc of cooking being carried out in BIR kitchens to be able to replicate the process at home?

[beachbum]

Petrolhead's experience is very interesting. Possibly off topic, but as a home brewer I've been following a parallel journey in trying to replicate the wonderful beer styles out there. As with many home brewers I was experiencing the familiar "oh that lost taste, if only Pilsner Urquell - for example - could taste as wonderful as it did in the 1970s. "

I've come to the conclusion that when many of us home brewers go berserk with malts and hops, different yeasts etc we often try to over egg the pudding and make very hoppy beers, or very strong beers at 8% ABV which flood the palate. After a while the commercial brands that we grew up on taste like cat's pee.

Good example: my brewhouse has been mothballed for around 2 months now as we are moving house and the home made supply finally ran out a few weeks ago, so I had to buy commercial. My beer of choice at the moment is Henninger German Pils which a major liquor chain imports and you can buy a "slab" of 24 bottles for AUD 30 as opposed to AUD 40-50 for many domestic brands such as XXXX or Tooheys and it's a proper German beer brewed to the Reinheitsgebot purity law.

Now when I was brewing - along with many others - I tended put Henninger etc into the "megaswill" class, oh how sad that they have denatured a once fine brew, I remember drinking Henninger in Greece many years ago and it was a fine drop.

To my amazement, when I supped the first bottle, I was back in Greece again - my hair was black once more and my beard luxurious - and no belly  - the bitterness and malt aroma and hop fragrance seemed just fine, after a while away from my own beers my tastebuds and palate seems to have "recalibrated" .

I wonder if there's a bit of this in the curry world as well, maybe give up curry for a couple of months then try a Takeaway - not that such a thing is realistically going to happen  ;D

[pauly58]

Given that TA's don't use some secret ingredient, then logically there must only be a few reasons why home cooked curries differ so much.

First must be practice, we just don't come anywhere near to the hours a pro puts in.

Second heat, our stoves & hobs have much less power than commercial equipment. Pat Chapman in an early book recounts being guest chef in a restaurant & the chef saying, as a big sheet of flame came up, it caramelises the spices.

Also, I am starting to believe that if you cook a curry & then immediately sit down & eat it, your taste buds & sense of smell are so overloaded you don't get the full flavour.

My family say my curries are far better than our local but then I don't rate theirs very highly.I still feel I am struggling to replicate the vindaloo's of the early eighties I used to eat in Southampton, places like Ajunta in Bitterne Park & the Mohti Mahal in town.

[Ramirez]

My thoughts are very similar to you, PetrolHead.

My curries are good enough to satisfy my curry urges and have drastically reduced the number of TAs I buy. However, when I do have a TA I am reminded of how far short my curries fall. My family say mine are superior to what you get from a TA, but I am not convinced. Mine lack that indescribable elusive taste you get from a genuine BIR, which is what people are referring to when they say they're missing the last 5%.

I don't think I'll ever achieve 100%.

[George]

I've been on a diet since Jan 2012 and not had a take away's since Dec 2011....(the takeaway) smells wonderful compared to the BIR curries I've been making, but why?

Are you saying that you haven't had a takeaway since 2011 for health reasons? But that you've continued to eat many curries which you've prepared at home?

If you've been setting out to make your curries more healthy - like with less salt and less fat - then that could be a large part of the difference.  Takeaways tend to taste good because they're far from healthy!

[Petrolhead360]

I've been on a diet since Jan 2012 and not had a take away's since Dec 2011....(the takeaway) smells wonderful compared to the BIR curries I've been making, but why?

Are you saying that you haven't had a takeaway since 2011 for health reasons? But that you've continued to eat many curries which you've prepared at home?

If you've been setting out to make your curries more healthy - like with less salt and less fat - then that could be a large part of the difference.  Takeaways tend to taste good because they're far from healthy!

Yes I get you on that point.
I was just trying to control the urge to have a TA and focus on improving my skills in BIR curry making inspired by this site.

I have a couple of currys (home made per week) and still have lost weight ie. 2 stone since Jan 2012.
So every time I wanted a curry I make a full recipe and reduce the portion size for dinner and freeze the rest.
The result is in losing weight and having a freezer full of curry's.

I just love the process of making my own so there seemed little point in getting a TA.
My point was that I have realised that I need the reference of a real BIR TA occasionally.

Thanks for the comments

[Dajoca]

I found this site a few months ago and have stuck mainly with Madras so far, trying to get it right, while using various bases and spice mixes and a combination of the Pilau rice recipes on here.

My first attempts gave me the wow factor, as they were obviously closer than I had ever got before, but since then I've also felt there was something significant missing

Last month I treated myself and bought two madras's and Pilau rices (which I don't usually buy) from each of my two favourite take away restaurants and used them as a baseline to judge my attempts.

I was pretty disappointed. Both the pilau rices were bland and flavourless, while one of the Madras's was sort of okay, the other was completely different and had an interesting sourness to it...

My attempts in comparison were certainly no worse, though slightly less strong tasting and were similar in smell and texture, but I still feel there is that one missing piece which is possibly based on technique rather than ingredients.

I do occasionally get a fleeting whiff of that aroma, but I can't identify whether I need more heat, more spice mix, more singeing of the spices or