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Author Topic: New to this forum, worked in Indian Restaurant Kitchen  (read 14,088 times)

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A new member, sharps58, introduced themselves by sharing their experience working in an Indian restaurant kitchen in the 1980s, where they learned valuable cooking techniques, particularly the importance of using jaggery instead of pineapple in Dhansak and the critical timing for bhuna-ing spices. The community responded warmly, expressing eagerness to learn from sharps58's insights and asking for more details about their experiences and recipes. Overall, the thread reflects a welcoming atmosphere and a strong interest in the culinary knowledge sharps58 has to offer.

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Offline sharps

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New to this forum, worked in Indian Restaurant Kitchen
« on: July 12, 2011, 10:14 AM »
Hi there all
When at college back in the 80's and in order to earn a few bob, I worked in an Indian Restaurant kitchen in the evenings for 6 months as a veg prep. I learnt a lot of their "secrets" just by watching and would mutter my observations into a little cassette dictaphone. I then used to make up my notes when I got home after my shift. As you can well imagine I became very popular among friends when it came to dinner parties because my curries tasted like the restaurant's and not like those out of a cookbook!
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Offline Razor

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Re: New to this forum, worked in Indian Restaurant Kitchen
« Reply #1 on: July 12, 2011, 10:41 AM »
Hey Sharps,

Welcome to cr0 fella ;D

Looking forward to you sharing with us your knowledge and a few of the secrets.  We have at least 3 members now that have worked in the BIR (British Indian Restaurant) kitchen, so it should be really interesting to see how your styles match or differ.

All the best,

Ray :)
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Offline Ramirez

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Re: New to this forum, worked in Indian Restaurant Kitchen
« Reply #2 on: July 12, 2011, 10:43 AM »
Oh wow. This sounds very promising!  :D

Any recipes that you can share?
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Offline chewytikka

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Re: New to this forum, worked in Indian Restaurant Kitchen
« Reply #3 on: July 12, 2011, 10:44 AM »
Hi sharps58
Welcome to the forum, a great place to publish your curry memoirs.
Do you still have your original notes, as I'm sure the members would be more than interested.

Was the restaurant Bangladeshi or Pakistani and in what area

How would you say your curry skills have evolved over the years

Cheers Chewy
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Offline Les

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Re: New to this forum, worked in Indian Restaurant Kitchen
« Reply #4 on: July 12, 2011, 10:45 AM »
Welcome to cr0 sharps,
enjoy the site.
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Offline solarsplace

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Re: New to this forum, worked in Indian Restaurant Kitchen
« Reply #5 on: July 12, 2011, 10:54 AM »
Hi Sharps

Warm welcome, what a tantalising first post, I really look forward to hearing anything you would be kind enough to share.

Cheers
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Offline sharps

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Re: New to this forum, worked in Indian Restaurant Kitchen
« Reply #6 on: July 12, 2011, 11:07 AM »
Hi all!
Well, what a lovely warm welcome from you all, thanks! The restaurant I worked in is sadly long gone. I'm pretty sure that the owner was from east Bengal. One of the many things that have stuck with me over the years is that his cooks would NEVER use pineapple in a Dhansak, they would only ever use jaggery as the sweetener. It really does make all the difference. Also, I learnt that the length of time bhuna-ing spices in any dish is critical because of the variation in the rate of release of the different essential oils. The old boys doing the cooking (and they were all 60+) just knew by instinct "how much, when and for how long". It was like alchemy!
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Offline jb

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Re: New to this forum, worked in Indian Restaurant Kitchen
« Reply #7 on: July 12, 2011, 11:25 AM »
Welcome Sharps this does sound promising any info on the base gravy you might have would be most welcome!!!!
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Offline solarsplace

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Re: New to this forum, worked in Indian Restaurant Kitchen
« Reply #8 on: July 12, 2011, 11:40 AM »
Quote from: sharps on July 12, 2011, 11:07 AM
snip...  I learnt that the length of time bhuna-ing spices in any dish is critical because of the variation in the rate of release of the different essential oils. The old boys doing the cooking (and they were all 60+) just knew by instinct "how much, when and for how long". It was like alchemy!

Hi

Don't suppose you could elaborate on that any further could you please?

Any recollection of timings, heat used, ghee / oil - how much etc? anything at all really?

Thanks in advance!
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Offline coogan

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Re: New to this forum, worked in Indian Restaurant Kitchen
« Reply #9 on: July 12, 2011, 12:23 PM »
Welcome aboard Sharpy it's a great ship hope you can offer up some more tips - plenty of good stuff on here that could help you as well. By the way I must ask a question that has been niggling me for ages did you ever see tins of tomato soup being used by any of the chefs?

Bon post
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