Quote from: daddyL on May 15, 2012, 06:14 PM
Very interesting and I think an ideal excuse to buy my next piece of kitchen gadgetry for the great lamb tikka experiment!
So it got me thinking... if we marinated the lamb in a vac pack bag (e-bay ?40) for x time then slowly simmered the said package for x time hey presto slow cooked lamb with all the marinade remaining, we could then finish off on BBQ or under grill to impair some smokey notes or  maybe try adding some liquid smoke to the marinade 

Any thoughts on this method or am i just taking it too far  ;D

Hi daddyL,

I've got one of these sealers:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Andrew-James-Quality-Vacuum-Machine/dp/B001HBE5Y8/ref=sr_1_1?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1337112279&sr=1-1

And I've just bought one of these precise temperature controllers:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sous-Vide-Magic-Controller-FREE-WORLDWIDE-SHIPPING-/150613228801?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&hash=item23113f7d01

And finally a cheap rice cooker to use as my sous vide water bath.

I'm going to try what you suggested i.e. vacuum bag the lamb with a tikka marinade, then cook it at about 57 degrees for a few hours, then take out of the bag, onto skewers and under a hot grill to finish off.

So far I've tried chicken breasts without a marinade but cooked at 60 degrees for 2 hours before finishing off in a hot pan to brown the meat. The result was some of the best chicken breast I've ever cooked. Very juicy, tender and meaty.

Next time I'll try the marinade for chicken tikka but don't know what to expect as all the sous vide experts claim that raw garlic can taste really strong after a slow low temp cooking.

Cheers,

Paul

Hi Bigwings,

It's always good to hear a success story. My first ever curry from this site (SnS Base and recipe) was an eye opener for me too. Now you can only get better.

Cheers,

Paul

Quote from: Stephen Lindsay on May 12, 2012, 08:25 PM
gr8 post

LOL 

Good warning post Phil, glad to hear you didn't get hurt. I noticed you haven't been posting here for a while.

Cheers,

Paul

Quote from: weroflu on May 09, 2012, 05:30 PM
rapeseed oil is  toxic to at least animals and probably humans. they changed the name to canola for exactly this reason. but then again, who knows, since indian cooking has its roots in ayurveda which is steeped in alchemical tradition, so it wouldn't surprise me if some seemingly innocent cooking process transformed it to be non toxic.

refined peanut oil and soy or sunflower tastes the best as they are fairly neutral.

as far as health goes, it is probably healthiest to use saturated fats like real ghee, palm or coconut oil as they aren't damaged too badly by cooking. if you want to go the extra mile (or 10) with your korma you can press your own coconut cream with certain types of juicers and fresh coconut meat.

i started using unrefined red palm oil recently and it works well, but you have to have sufficient amount of spice to mask the palm flavor. raw, it tastes terrible, but after cooking with spices it is good -- maybe not as good as peanut but still good. also keep in mind that the unsaturated oils are more fluid than the saturated ones, so when cooled the unsaturated will still be fluid but the saturated fats will solidify.

i have  a feeling that all of the spices transform some of these supposedly unhealthy vegetable fats into less unhealthy or possibly healthy fats.

most people agree that any form of trans fats are not good -- some vegetable ghee brands use trans fats, others not.

I've used virgin organic coconut oil myself sometimes and it can taste great for curries but I don't think I would cook bacon in it for a bacon butty. It is very expensive though at about 8 pounds for 450 ml.

I've read that palm oil is being used more often lately for deep fat frying applications as it can withstand the repeated heating due to the low polyunsaturated content and high saturated contents. You could use refined palm oil to cook your curries to avoid the smell.

I think the 3 most healthy oils for frying that nobody would disagree with are:

Avocado oil
Light refined olive oil
Macadamia nut oil

All these oils have low amounts of polyunsaturated oil which is the stuff that heat turns nasty, and they are high in monounsaturated and low in saturated fats.

Some oils that are debatable healthwise but have a growing number of converts and I would eat them myself:

Lard
Butter or Butter Ghee
Coconut oil
Palm oil

These oils/fats are low in poly fats but high in saturated fats.

I definitely wouldn't eat canola or sunflower oil that had been used for repeated deep fat frying!

Cheers,

Paul

EDIT: I should have said I don't really use any of those exotic (and pricey) oils except I use the virgin coconut oil sometimes.

I normally cook a curry using fresh rice bran oil (about 2 quid a pint) and I'm going to try some light refined olive oil next which is about 3 quid a pint.

Quote from: Unclefrank on May 08, 2012, 10:05 PM
Still don't get it.

abitchilli.co.uk 

Could be "a bit chilli" or "a bitch illi"  ;D

Paul

xbox 360 and kinect for me and my boy. We do need for speed most wanted, kinect sports - a great laugh and you get some exercise and a few of the lego games.

I'd like to get some 18 certificate games but my lad is too young.

In case this should happen to you:

Last week I bought my son about 8 pounds worth of points from this computer using my wife's paypal account.
Unbeknown to me this sets up the paypal account as the default and my son bought 6000 points for 52 quid this morning from the xbox. I've now manually removed the paypal account but I thought this stinks.

Cheers,
Paul

Quote from: joshallen2k on May 02, 2012, 08:48 PM

QuoteMy problems arose with the garlic and ginger. I've never ever cooked this mixture until browned without it tasting burnt!

PaulP - have you tried creating a blended puree of garlic/ginger and oil yet?

I found it really helped me solve the same problem.

Hi Josh, next on my list is to do the g/g puree. Usually I hand chop the g/g into small pieces but I want to try another method. I notice Julian from curry2go adds some water as well as oil to his g/g paste to help prevent burning.

When you cook your g/g paste do you cook until it browns?

Cheers,

Paul

Disregarding the Fleet 5 or 6 episode wasn't it Bruce Edwards who detailed the careful (and risky to burn) technique of frying the spices until they foam and then stop foaming before quenching them.

My problems arose with the garlic and ginger. I've never ever cooked this mixture until browned without it tasting burnt!

Cheers,

Paul

Hi Jerry, I could see the potential of this base but I made some mistakes and assumptions that took the edge off mine. I didn't make mine upto the correct volume (should be at least 6.5 litres +) and I think due to chef spoon measurements I overdid the g/g and spices. I did use some evaporated milk in mine.

The spice mix is good as is the curry powder. I'm sure most BIRs don't use Chinese curry powder but I guess the chefs at ifindforu's place made a lucky discovery.

I'll give this a go again soon, and think I'll adopt your way of adding extra oil to the base and reclaiming it before blending. Then I'll start my curries with the reclaimed oil. I don't see me ever using old bhaji oil.

Cheers,

Paul