Topic: zaal base youtube

[stevejet66]

Again ive watched this video about the 4/5 times, what is the liquid poured from the dark pan through the sieve into the base sauce and whats all the stuff that drops in the sieve, doesnt look like a few cinnamon/bay leaves or cardomons to me.
ive also watche julians clip again on youtube, again i listen and watch very carefully, again he showing you how to create a bir curry base at home, then in the next breath after hes added the spices tells you the spices are the most common added but they are basic! then says every chef adds his own secret. so why go on youtube showing you how to cook them then derails everyone!

[curryhell]

I'm not in the habit of repeating myself but:

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=8991.msg80570#msg80570

Maybe Natterjack, jb, Solarsplace or Chriswg would like to confirm my comments as they too were witnesses to it all.

[jb]

Again ive watched this video about the 4/5 times, what is the liquid poured from the dark pan through the sieve into the base sauce and whats all the stuff that drops in the sieve, doesnt look like a few cinnamon/bay leaves or cardomons to me.
ive also watche julians clip again on youtube, again i listen and watch very carefully, again he showing you how to create a bir curry base at home, then in the next breath after hes added the spices tells you the spices are the most common added but they are basic! then says every chef adds his own secret. so why go on youtube showing you how to cook them then derails everyone!

Stevejet66 I do share your suspicions of BIR chefs,they do have a knack of throwing you of the scent somewhat or explaining a technique and then proceding to add or to do something different.

However in the case of the Zaal video I can confirm what Curryhell has said,there were only spices in that pan.Here in my original quote....

"Next get a medium saucepan on the boil and add a few Cinnamon sticks,a small handful of green cardamon pods and about six bay leaves.Leave to boil for about ten minutes then strain the mixture and put the strained water into the original onion and carrot base.Az explained you could just add the whole spices to the original mixture but you would have trouble trying to fish them out."

I was the one actually taking the notes,believe me if anything else was put in there I would have seen it.The base was one of the things that we questioned the most.Az told us no reused/bhaji oil and indeed no meat stock.Like I said everything that went into that gravy was recorded.

[Salvador Dhali]

ive also watche julians clip again on youtube, again i listen and watch very carefully, again he showing you how to create a bir curry base at home, then in the next breath after hes added the spices tells you the spices are the most common added but they are basic! then says every chef adds his own secret. so why go on youtube showing you how to cook them then derails everyone!

I'm pretty sure this has been covered elsewhere on this forum, Steve.I emailed Julian about this when the video came out, as I noted an unidentified off-white powder amongst the spices he adds to the base, which I suspected it to be fenugreek powder (it was). This is the only 'secret' missing from that base video, and to be honest it's no major deal.

He said he didn't mention it as he regularly makes three different styles of base for C2G (Bangladeshi style/ Indian style and Pakistani style), and only one of them uses fenugreek powder. In the ten minute slot allocated by YouTube, his objective was to simply present the method to enable you to produce a good, all-round base, and then to cover everything (and the three different styles of base) more fully in his eBook.

Which I thought was fair enough.

The good thing is that, with Julian and all the curry warriors here, the answer to a query is only an email or post away...

[stevejet66]

All noted, i know its no big deal, however over the past 20 years ive got most of the books of how to cook bir's curries at home. kris dillion, pat chapman, the curry secret, the balti selection to name a few, non of them really come close to the taste, if you trawl the internet like i do i found no end of new websites all offering more or less the same recipes over and over again, tried them non of them again replicate the bir taste, its called jumping on the band wagon for publicity, promoting there product/business and so called knowledge, i'll stick by my guns! if the books/videos held the true secrets then forums like this wouldnt exist. i shall still bash my pan and share my bases with all, We will take victory ;D

[Salvador Dhali]

All noted, i know its no big deal, however over the past 20 years ive got most of the books of how to cook bir's curries at home. kris dillion, pat chapman, the curry secret, the balti selection to name a few, non of them really come close to the taste, if you trawl the internet like i do i found no end of new websites all offering more or less the same recipes over and over again, tried them non of them again replicate the bir taste, its called jumping on the band wagon for publicity, promoting there product/business and so called knowledge, i'll stick by my guns! if the books/videos held the true secrets then forums like this wouldnt exist. i shall still bash my pan and share my bases with all, We will take victory ;D

Good on you!

It sounds very much like my own quest for the BIR taste, which began in earnest back in 1980-ish. (I too have all those books you mention, and more, as I reckon do many other forumites here.)

Quests for the BIR taste are highly individual, and are based on many disparate factors, and it's really difficult to appreciate or understand exactly what you or anyone else is searching for and trying to achieve (without meeting up and going for a BIR in your area that produces the taste you're after, of course). For what it's worth, for me, the taste I've been chasing I discovered in Glasgow in the early 80s (1981). Trying to explain it is impossible, but I know exactly what it is I'm after, in the same way that you know exactly what it is you're seeking.

The thing is, I don't come on this forum in search of the BIR taste any more, or in search of any 'secret'. In my humble opinion, I've been able to recreate BIR quality (or even, at times if I dare say it, better) at home for a good while (even, on occasion, to the standards of my holy grail of Glasgow circa 1981), and all my research has led me to the inescapable fact that there is almost certainly no 'secret'. Instead, I think that the difference between a great, good and indifferent curry is down to the skills of the chef - not some elusive, mythical missing secret ingredient or magic base.

While I'm more than happy with my BIR cookery results at home, I will say that there is NO WAY I'll ever be able to match the finest exponents of the art. I've been blown away by some BIR chefs and the amazingly intense, deep and flavoursome curries they can produce, but this is down to their skill and knowledge, not a 'secret' ingredient.
But that's just my take on it, and there's no saying that it's the right one. 

Unfortunately, these super skilled and knowledgeable chefs are few and far between these days...

Anyway, whatever the taste you're striving for, I wish all the very best and hope you find it - and of course share it with all of us here!

[Stephen Lindsay]

In my humble opinion, I've been able to recreate BIR quality (or even, at times if I dare say it, better) at home for a good while (even, on occasion, to the standards of my holy grail of Glasgow circa 1981), and all my research has led me to the inescapable fact that there is almost certainly no 'secret'. Instead, I think that the difference between a great, good and indifferent curry is down to the skills of the chef - not some elusive, mythical missing secret ingredient or magic base.

While I'm more than happy with my BIR cookery results at home, I will say that there is NO WAY I'll ever be able to match the finest exponents of the art. I've been blown away by some BIR chefs and the amazingly intense, deep and flavoursome curries they can produce, but this is down to their skill and knowledge, not a 'secret' ingredient.
But that's just my take on it, and there's no saying that it's the right one. 

Unfortunately, these super skilled and knowledgeable chefs are few and far between these days...

You echo my thoughts exactly SD. Should we expect to be able to produce curries that are as good as or better than the average takeaway? Yes I think we should and I think I manage this regularly.

Should we expect to be able to compete with the chefs that are top of their profession? I don't think so. It's a bit like taking up cycling and expecting to give Chris Hoy or Bradley Wiggins a run for their money (pun intended). It ain't gonna happen.

But can we produce kick ass curries that do the business? - yes we can!!!