I've been reading loads about "the smell" and "the taste" here and though I've not tried the BIR approach to cooking I have cooked quite a lot of different food in my time and there are a few things that popped into my head.  I might be stating the obvious to the more experienced people but sometimes a bit of thought from someone who isn't too involved can help a little!

I don't think the main hit of a BIR curry comes from the base sauce, this is more of a background thing, more of the aftertaste.  In general if you put something in near the end it'll hit you hard with flavour and aroma, the longer you leave it in, the flavour has less impact as it has spread through the food.  I think the strong aroma and taste has to be something that's added during the final stages.

The kind of food that gets better when you cook it for ages and store in the fridge or freezer (soup, stew, spag bol etc) is nice but doesn't have that "in your face" flavour that BIR curry has.  For this reason I don't think a base sauce could ever give this.  It'll contribute a lot to the overall flavour but won't give that big hit.  This is the same reason a BIR curry will lose a bit of it's potency when it's stored overnight, but a home style meat curry will get better.

I think cooking at speed and certain spices blasted at a high temperature during the final stages must be the key to that strong smoky flavour.  The kind of stoves you get at a curry house kick out a lot more flame than my one at home ever could.

Maybe I'll be completely wrong and look stupid once I give these base sauces a try though!

Quote from: Cory Ander on February 26, 2007, 07:15 PM

Quote from: Serum on February 26, 2007, 07:12 PM
I can definitely smell asafoetida in the curries I buy from my local so I'm sure it's in there.

Um.....you sure that's actually asafoetida Serum...or maybe it's something else that simply smells like it..........?    ;D

....smells like "IT" I said!

Kindest regards!

I think so, it has an smoky onion / garlic kinda smell to it, but you rarely get bits of onion in your curries.  I reckon it has to be something that's added near the end as well to get that fresh hit and you'd not have time to blend the onion if that's the case.  It's very pungent whatever it is and this is a word that sums asafoetida up! It's stinkin!

There's a good one I've tried that has a lot of ground coriander leaves in it and it comes out green.  I've had it in a few restaurants as well and it tastes really nice.  Colourful but natural.

I'll try to get the recipe, had it in a book and the guy upstairs flooded his kitchen, dribbling water down and ruining pretty much every cook book I have but hopefully the one with this in won't be in too bad nick.

Sorry if I've been thick and not read it properly but at what point do you add the asafoetida and methi to the base sauce if you're using the Kris Shillon base.  I'm going to give it a go as the first base I make but it would be nice to get it good first time.

I can definitely smell asafoetida in the curries I buy from my local so I'm sure it's in there.

I've always wanted to make one of these but somehow developed a bad reaction to milk or cream in the last month.  I'm gutted!

Quote from: Admin on February 26, 2007, 09:07 AM
Welcome Serum,

Enjoy the forum, i think you will be happy with the recipes on here, but please please make sure you post some feedback and photos if you can as this is what makes the forum fun and a great place to learn from eachother...curry on!

S

Will do!

Going to have my first go at a base sauce as soon as I've got a good pot to cook it with.  I think I'm going to try the Kris Dhillon one first just because it's basic.  I'll have to get asking some of the people in my local places as well.

I'll check the member map as well, thanks Cory!

Spot on.

I've had the same thing, got really into BIR curries, started making my own but pretty much gave up on trying to get them like restaurant ones because you just couldn't get the recipes.

Learned quite a lot about home style cooking from a mate's mum and I'm pretty sure I've been going to the same restaurants as you in London!

Only found this site a few days ago so I'm sure I'll be going full circle and getting back into my BIR style food.  Going to make my first attempt at a base sauce this week or next.

There are loads of little curry styles you can find these days, the tandoori pubs you get in West Bromwich are a quality example, you get a completely different style of food at those.

This place is always busy and if you eat there you'll see why.  It does look like a greasy spoon gone wrong and isn't the cleanest looking place you'll ever see but the food is superb.  It's definitely one to go to if you want something a bit different.  It's also dirt cheap.

The menu is quite basic, with lamb and chicken curry on and off the bone spicy or mild.  They do a good mince curry with boiled egg, and also they're the only place I've been to that do a curry breakfast (sheek kebab in puri, halwa, dal, spinach omelette and masala tea).  Sheek kebabs are also really good, and they do the most amazing pilau rice I've ever had, I'd recommend going there just for that.  Boal fish curry is also very good.

The breads aren't great but the rice is so nice that they don't really get a look in, also the menu is a bit offputting if you're not used to it, but go in with an open mind and you'll probably love it.  As mentioned it does look like a bit of a s**thole.

It's a good place to go on a sunday afternoon as it's not really somewhere to sit down at in the evening but highly recommended.

This one's easily my favourite restaurant.

Never had a better mixed grill.
I haven't tried the tikka massala but I don't really like those anyway, every other dish I've had there has been excellent.  If you go again have the Dry Meat.  I think they put CTM on there just for the sake of it, as they've got hardly anything mild and creamy on the menu.

Layne: I'd go on recommendations on Brick Lane, I used to work there and tried a lot of the restaurants and most were really crap.  You'd think that the competition would make them try hard but they can't be arsed at all, the ones I liked were Clifton, Sweet & Spicy, Khushbu and Tayyabs.  With the exception of Clifton, the worse they look the better the food is.  If you go to sweet & spicy you'll get what I mean.

Hi chaps, it's my first curry related post here so here goes!

A lot of the restaurants that I go to in London seem to go for having a smaller amount of dishes, but pretty much preparing a massive amount of each curry that either sits in a tray or in a heated pot under the counter rather than making each one to order but based on the same pre made gravy.

I got to say that even though they do have quite a different taste (probably not "the taste" that most people on here are looking for) a lot of the time I prefer them.  I'm a big fan of red meat and there's nothing better than when the lamb or mutton has cooked in the sauce giving it that thicker, stocky taste, particularly if you're cooking it on the bone.

I've got reasonably close to some of these curries but they don't seem to be covered in the cook books that I have, but don't seem to fit in with the usual restaurant style of cooking either.

Hopefully that'll make some sense, if anyone can help out with recipes then that'd be much appreciated.  I'll post a recipe for the lamb curry that I normally make as soon as I can and hopefully you guys will enjoy it.