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Author Topic: Shoot me down in flames  (read 12,242 times)

AI Summary
The discussion revolves around the challenges of replicating the taste and smell of restaurant-style curries at home, particularly focusing on a prawn madras recipe. Participants share their experiences with different curry bases, oil reuse methods, and the subtle differences in flavors that affect the final dish. While some members express satisfaction with their results, others feel they are not achieving the desired authenticity, leading to a consensus that a gathering to compare homemade and restaurant curries could help clarify the differences in taste and technique.

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Offline pete

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Shoot me down in flames
« on: October 23, 2005, 09:21 AM »
OK, I posted my demo prawn madras
I made it at home and got a very close result
CK & Yellow Fingers tried it and it clearly wasn't what they were aiming for
I think Curry Queen and Mark were trying too
Tell me what happened, I can take it
All I can say is that what I described is exactly what they did.
I still have a small sample of the restaurant curry base
KD's really does look identical but there still is a little something that is not exact.
The same difference is noticable in the finished curry.
This "something" is in the home made curry base but not it's quite as strong
I think CK said something along those lines
So any changes I make, will not be to the methods of cooking the curry, but to the base.
I know that everything else we are doing is exactly right.
I am sure this can be done at home
See picture
KD's sauce is the red arrow
http://img465.imageshack.us/my.php?image=kdandcurryhousegravy7dz.jpg
Actually, looking really close
The genuine curry gravy looks more jellied.
Chicken Jelly?

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Offline Curry King

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Re: Shoot me down in flames
« Reply #1 on: October 23, 2005, 10:10 AM »
Hi Pete,

Yes I didn't have much luck with the KD base at all, I made another batch of my usual yesterday but decided to cut right back on the spice.? I added a desert spoon of turmeric and spice mix and a teaspoon each of coriander and cummin.? A few other things I did differently was to add about qtr of a lemon to the base, this was a noticeable change, not so much a lemon taste but it added a zing to it.? As a test I also ground some fenugreek seeds and added some to my regular BE spice mix which also added what I can best describe as a smokey\burnt taste\smell, this might be down to the fact that they were roasted and ground just before using.?

I made a chicken bhuna with the modified spice mix and vindaloo with regular and both were fantastic, i'm satisfied that my curry is up to a restaurant standard but different if you know what I mean.? When you go to a new takeaway and try the vindaloo there is something different in there than your usual.? I think that might be some of the problem trying to exactly replicate a particular takeaway rather than just trying to make a nice restaurant style curry.
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Offline Yellow Fingers

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Re: Shoot me down in flames
« Reply #2 on: October 23, 2005, 11:36 AM »
I've made a couple of curries now with this batch of KD sauce and I'm finding that the raw taste of the garlic and ginger is too noticeable. It won't be any time soon, but when I make my next batch I'm going to fry the garlic and ginger first. I'm also going to leave out the bit of carrot and green pepper that I added as Pete reckons this didn't help.
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Offline Mark J

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Re: Shoot me down in flames
« Reply #3 on: October 23, 2005, 11:51 AM »
Hi Pete,

Ill give a full report when I get a mo, but in summary a good curry with some of the taste (not sure) but not quite there.

I think the skimmed oil is the way to go, but probably from a base with just a little more spice than KD's

cheers
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Offline curryqueen

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Re: Shoot me down in flames
« Reply #4 on: October 24, 2005, 03:43 PM »
Didn't get chance Pete to try the curry although I made KDs base.  Will try it out in the next couple of days.  I am glad to hear at last that some people are recognising that by using more oil in base and then taking it off and reusing it to start a curry is the way to go.  I have used this method for years.  Use a little more than needed and then skim off at the end and reuse again.  Definately makes a big, big difference.
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Offline Yellow Fingers

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Re: Shoot me down in flames
« Reply #5 on: October 25, 2005, 03:07 PM »
Hi curryqueen

I know we've had this diuscussion before, the group that is, and I totally agree with you that reusing the oil from the base is beneficial to the 'taste'. I also use the oil skimmed from each curry and put that into a pot to cook the next curry in and that is even better. I think Pete does this too. ( Hey admin, I only know this because I had to read the 'other' forum's posts while cr0 was down again this morning! Come on Stew we need a mirror, talking across forums is impossible.) Yes I know, many people here do that too, but a restaurant can't be doing this because the oil would eventually be so concentrated with chilli it would be unusable for mild curries. So re-using oil from curries is great, but it isn't what the restaurants do!
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Offline pete

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Re: Shoot me down in flames
« Reply #6 on: October 27, 2005, 01:48 PM »
Quote from: Yellow Fingers on October 25, 2005, 03:07 PM
re-using oil from curries is great, but it isn't what the restaurants do!
I promise you, this is what they do
Maybe not all restauarnts do it, but certainly three out of the four I have seen recently.
The oil is not "chilli hot" either, it is just spicy savoury.
I have seen one restaurant scoop out the excess oil, from a cooked curry,and put it back into the gravy too.
I'm sure these methods were originally done to keep costs down.
It's by chance that they enhance the flavour.
I cooked two curries last Saturday and salvaged the extra oil, from the first, and put it back in my oil pot.
The second curry was far better than the first
I think that this oil recycling improves the oil each time.
There must come a point when it's unusable though
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Offline Yellow Fingers

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Re: Shoot me down in flames
« Reply #7 on: October 27, 2005, 02:26 PM »
Quote from: pete on October 27, 2005, 01:48 PM
The oil is not "chilli hot" either, it is just spicy savoury.

I don't have any argument with that, as long as you are referring to the oil scooped from the base sauce.

Quote
I have seen one restaurant scoop out the excess oil, from a cooked curry,and put it back into the gravy too.

This is where I have a problem. There is just no way a restaurant can be doing this on a regular basis. If you don't believe me, try this. Next time you make a vindaloo save some of the oil from it. Next day, when it's cooled, just taste a bit. You'll find that it is really chilli hot.
Now if they are scooping oil from curries all night, back into the base sauce pot or oil pot, eventually it isn't going to be palatable to those customers who just can't bear chilli heat.

Another strange thing about reusing the oil is that quite a few people here have seen curries cooked with fresh oil and yet they have still had the 'taste'. So either the reuse of oil is not related to the taste, or one person's idea of the 'taste' must be different to another.
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bryan@232

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Re: Shoot me down in flames
« Reply #8 on: October 27, 2005, 03:03 PM »
    The logic of a lot of this sounds a bit doubtful. Agreed that spice flavours are soluble in oil - you only have to taste or smell skimmed oil to confirm this. But it seems rather pointless to add extra oil at one stage of cooking to { so removing some flavour} only to return it at a later stage. A curry needs to be saturated with oil, so use enough, no more.If the finished dish is running with oil, it follows that some flavour is wasted. Ideally, the oil should be just floating to the surface at the end of cooking. Some chefs call this cooking til the colour change, ie when coloured oil starts to appear.
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Offline curryqueen

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Re: Shoot me down in flames
« Reply #9 on: October 27, 2005, 03:36 PM »
Hi Yellowfingers,  I have been taking the oil from the top of curries and putting them all into a bottle and mixing them.  The aroma and smell when you use it again when making a curry is absolutely fantastic - you would think you were actually sitting in a BIR.  This I have pointed out quite a few months ago, I think it was when ghanna was about.
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