It's Turmeric and Mixed Powder Phil. I asked him a few years back.
Foureyes, this year would have been my 3rd time doing bulk catering for my wife's work (4 year cycle) but the new faculty administration has decided to do it without me this year. On the previous 2 occasions I catered for 40 - 50 people with 4 different mains dishes, rice, Tikka, naan and sides, so I'm not too disappointed to be relieved of my duty this time around. Most were kids so it was all very mild dishes which makes it somewhat easier than hot curries.
I have been involved in this discussion here before, not without controversy, but I'd done it while others who argued the negative had not.
Tip number 1. Do not increase spices to a linear scale. Each spice is somewhat different, and some like ground cumin and coriander, can be almost just directly scaled up, while others like chilli, pepper and strong aromatics cannot. Then there are those which fall in between like turmeric. There are food science resources which state that spices should be increased at a ratio of 1.4 to 1.5 times for each doubling of quantity, but I found that this only begins to make a noticeable difference when you get up to 8 - 10 servings. In other words, doubling from 1 to 2 serves is fine and even 2 to 4 serves will be OK. However, once you go up to around 8 serves you really need to be dropping back on the strong spices. This was my experience anyway. I never used much chilli, but I'd be going even further in knocking it back to around 1.2 X. It depends on the tolerance levels of your target diners.
Tip number 2. If I had been asked to do it again this year, I would approach it quite differently. I would have committed the cardinal sin of using commercial sized "paste" packs. Pataks makes at least 3 that I have used, and they are perfectly fine, easy to use and designed to be utilised in commercial settings where bulk cooking is essential. The 3 I've used previously are the Korma, the Butter Chicken and the Mild Curry. The Korma is not like a BIR dull korma but a really nice flavour. The Butter Chicken is also very good as is the Mild Curry.
Combine these pastes in a ratio proportionate to the instructions on the jar, with a bulk cooked Base Onion Gravy and loads of pre-cooked meats and vegetables and you'll be pleasantly surprised. I have just recently cooked both Chicken and Lamb Korma over the last weekend along with 7 other main BIR style dishes for a lunch on Sunday and the Lamb Korma was the most liked dish. I used Misty Ricardo's pre-cook recipes for both chicken and lamb as well as doing beef the same as the lamb. You do not need to scale linearly for bulk pre-cooks either. Just use a bit of common sense.
Tip number 3. Base gravy is able to be scaled linearly regardless of any instruction or argument to the contrary. However, use less gravy the more you make. You simply will not get the same amount of reduction for large quantity cooking and it will end up too loose and wet. You could deliberately keep your gravy thick to start with.
I know a chap who used to frequent this forum. I can ask him about scaling up spices. I'll do so and report back to you.
If you have a few weeks, get ready and do a practice. You can always freeze and bring it out later to be included in the actual preparations for the day.
Good luck. From experience I know it's a lot of work but very rewarding when everybody enjoys your efforts.
Foureyes, this year would have been my 3rd time doing bulk catering for my wife's work (4 year cycle) but the new faculty administration has decided to do it without me this year. On the previous 2 occasions I catered for 40 - 50 people with 4 different mains dishes, rice, Tikka, naan and sides, so I'm not too disappointed to be relieved of my duty this time around. Most were kids so it was all very mild dishes which makes it somewhat easier than hot curries.
I have been involved in this discussion here before, not without controversy, but I'd done it while others who argued the negative had not.
Tip number 1. Do not increase spices to a linear scale. Each spice is somewhat different, and some like ground cumin and coriander, can be almost just directly scaled up, while others like chilli, pepper and strong aromatics cannot. Then there are those which fall in between like turmeric. There are food science resources which state that spices should be increased at a ratio of 1.4 to 1.5 times for each doubling of quantity, but I found that this only begins to make a noticeable difference when you get up to 8 - 10 servings. In other words, doubling from 1 to 2 serves is fine and even 2 to 4 serves will be OK. However, once you go up to around 8 serves you really need to be dropping back on the strong spices. This was my experience anyway. I never used much chilli, but I'd be going even further in knocking it back to around 1.2 X. It depends on the tolerance levels of your target diners.
Tip number 2. If I had been asked to do it again this year, I would approach it quite differently. I would have committed the cardinal sin of using commercial sized "paste" packs. Pataks makes at least 3 that I have used, and they are perfectly fine, easy to use and designed to be utilised in commercial settings where bulk cooking is essential. The 3 I've used previously are the Korma, the Butter Chicken and the Mild Curry. The Korma is not like a BIR dull korma but a really nice flavour. The Butter Chicken is also very good as is the Mild Curry.
Combine these pastes in a ratio proportionate to the instructions on the jar, with a bulk cooked Base Onion Gravy and loads of pre-cooked meats and vegetables and you'll be pleasantly surprised. I have just recently cooked both Chicken and Lamb Korma over the last weekend along with 7 other main BIR style dishes for a lunch on Sunday and the Lamb Korma was the most liked dish. I used Misty Ricardo's pre-cook recipes for both chicken and lamb as well as doing beef the same as the lamb. You do not need to scale linearly for bulk pre-cooks either. Just use a bit of common sense.
Tip number 3. Base gravy is able to be scaled linearly regardless of any instruction or argument to the contrary. However, use less gravy the more you make. You simply will not get the same amount of reduction for large quantity cooking and it will end up too loose and wet. You could deliberately keep your gravy thick to start with.
I know a chap who used to frequent this forum. I can ask him about scaling up spices. I'll do so and report back to you.
If you have a few weeks, get ready and do a practice. You can always freeze and bring it out later to be included in the actual preparations for the day.
Good luck. From experience I know it's a lot of work but very rewarding when everybody enjoys your efforts.
