Quote from: IanR on July 01, 2007, 10:21 PM
Pat uses camping stoves

Until you said that, I was intrigued
Camping Stoves?!!
I thought we had decided that the intense heat from restaurant cookers, was a key factor in achieving the "Taste"

I know that some people do not rate Pat Chapman, but this seems a pretty good deal.
He is doing the cookery lesson in an actual indian restaurant
Here's a quote from his site

SATURDAY MORNING CURRY
3 hour Saturday Course Itinerary ~ Curry Cooking in a small group.
?70 per person.
Two people ?135.
plus ?60 per person for the third or more.
Min 10 persons, max 18


This course is held at an award-winning operational Indian restaurant in north Hampshire. After a welcoming soft drink, Dominique and Pat Chapman show the spices and flavourings needed, then they demonstrate a full Indian curry main course which will serve at least 6 people.
This consists of Chicken Tikka Masala, Chicken Jalfrezi, Bombay Potato and Pullao Rice.
They also make Indian Breads, Chana Chat Salad and Tandoori Mint Raita.
Everyone will get a taste of these dishes which you can eat there and then.
Pat will call for volunteers to help cook.
The Tikka Masala and Jalfrezi can be made vegetarian if prior notice given.
Venue has on-street parking and full facilities.

For anyone starting to cook, this would be a real shortcut
(I'm sure that his demos used to be at his home)

Yes, I think pureeing for a main batch of curry gravy is wrong, although this recipe does it
https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=1819.0
and it turns out really well
But I do wonder whether variations in chopping onion,will produce variations in flavour.

Now this might sound unusual, but there really does seem to be a marked difference in result, depending on how the raw onion is initially prepared for curry gravy.
I made a recipe from this site which called for pureeing the uncooked onion
This affected the end flavour
It needed a really long cook to lose the bitter flavour it developed, but the finished meal was bursting with flavour
I have made several Pat Chapman recipes which purees raw onion
They all had this bitter taste
But that was because they weren't cooked long enough

I was given another recipe, for curry gravy, and the chef emphasised the need
for finely chopping the onions
Perhaps the missing taste, lies between pureeing, and a fine chop of the onions?

Curry Kits are a total waste of time
You will be dissapointed and have paid for it
Recipes on this site are free
The only way you get good is by practice
There are no instant recipes
I wish there were

Quote from: Secret Santa on June 15, 2007, 10:12 PM
By all means leave your curry to marinate overnight but it ain't BIR ok?

The base is normally made the day before, but the curries are fresh.
Mind you, the leftover curry (from last night) tastes really good!
Curry breakfast again

But George,when you make one bread roll, you make a large quantity of dough and divide it.
That is how all the rolls are the same

The point I was trying to make is that despite numerous demos and recipes, a restaurant curry/gravy is better than anything I produce
I thought the intensity of flavour/aroma, even diluted down in the large volume of base, was proportionately stronger than on a smaller version
It certainly seemed that way when you were in the kitchen
Everything about me smelt like a takeaway meal
Perhaps it is all down to cooking temperature
Do you feel you have a 100% match with your cooking?

Cooking is a chemical reaction
Certain things need a set quantity to work
For instance how small could you scale down making bread?
Surely at a certain point the yeast/sugar would not create a rise.

I think there is something like this with the spices
I know one takeaway that uses a very hot "restaurant" spice mixture
Their curry base, however, is very mild
Therefore they cannot put much spice in
Scaling their recipe down to perhaps a six onion base simply doesn't generate the same intensity of aroma or underlying flavour

One time I was at a takeaway when they were preparing the curry gravy
Part of the procedure was scooping off litres of oil from a boiling onion/oil/water/tomato mix and frying ginger/garlic puree in it
After five minutes they added loads of tomato puree and a large quantity of spice mixture (maybe 250g)
It was at this point that the wonderful indian restaurant aroma happened
It was absolutely amazing
And this aroma/flavour gets right into the curry gravy
Of course I tried this scaled down at home
Guess what?
It just doesn't happen
Very disappointing
I could see no point in posting another recipe that doesn't work
Also I don't have the chefs permision to do so
However, I can say it was extremely similar to ifindforu's recipe

That cooker looks amazing
Sorry to repeat, but do you feel you are getting 100%BIR copy?
I am seriously thinking of getting  something like this
Have you found a British equivalent of your cooker?
(sorry if this has been already mentioned, bit short of time,going to work)