Got fresh, cheap crab available. What would you do with it?

Thinking a gentle Thai Green or a very subtle Indian Korma. Ideas?

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense 976bar. As it happens, the thigh I get is already deboned and is great on a domestic scale, but obviously mass catering changes that massively and I can see that breast is easier both in terms of cost and (more importantly) customer perception.

The Uni food sounds good

I agree that chicken breast "can" be tender and moist (as I said, Indian and Chinese cuisine isn't so badly affected by it) and certainly when I use it myself, it's always fine, but sadly that's not always the case elsewhere.

I think a lot of it is the 'elf and safety brigade convincing both restauranteurs and customer alike that chicken needs to be more cooked than it needs to be just to be "on the safe side".

Oh well ... that's why I cook for myself and rarely eat out!!!!

It's not just in Asian cooking, but I'm a firm believer in the fact that the cheaper the cut of meat (eg: shoulder vs leg) the better the flavour and and the more "melt in the mouth" it is. Don't run any kind of restaurant unfortunately, but if I did, I could see that being a problem with customers perceiving chicken thigh, lamb shoulder, beef shin etc to be "inferior", "fatty" ingredients when in reality they are superior and the reduced cost is just a bonus.

If I eat out, I avoid anything with chicken breast like the plague (Indian and Chinese tend to not be so bad)- almost always cooked to within an inch of it's life!

Thanks Adey, I must say I think that almost all curries benefit from being "on the bone" regardless of the type of meat, but I can see that your average UK diner wouldn't appreciate it. The cheapest quality chicken I can get is deboned thigh, but all the mutton they sell still has bones and despite being a bit more fiddly to eat, it really does make a difference to the flavour.

Ah yes, I suppose the boning thing makes sense. I'm lucky in that my local halal butchers sells fresh boneless, skinless thigh at around a fiver a pack for roughly 1.5kg, so no waste either.

I've noticed that nearly all recipes use chicken breast. Just wondering if there's a reason for that, that I've been too thick to realise?

If possible, I tend to use thigh as it's cheaper, got better flavour and doesn't dry out as easily if you over cook it by a minute or two.

Thoughts?

Much as mutton might look fatty (and is!), I find it really doesn't end up that way when slowly cooked for a curry. Most fat will cook off, leaving you with deliciously moist, tender meat that is waaaay better than more expensive lamb which can dry out of you're not careful.

Prefer to toast and grind if possible, but more often than not, can't be bothered even though it does make a massive difference. I bought a load of plastic takeaway containers from eBay for next to nothing that all hold a full bag each and seal well - definitely need to be kept out of direct light though and preferably somewhere cool (not a problem in my freezing flat!!)

Had to laugh in Wetherspoons the other night. Their "Curry Thursday" deal is pretty good value - a curry, naan, poppadoms, chutney, "pilau rice" and a pint for less than 7 quid.

Curry, better than you might expect - naan, supermarket standard - popaddoms & chutney, even they can't mess that up, a pint - fine, but "pilau rice" is completely unseasoned, unflavoured boiled yellow rice!