Quote from: Phil (Chaa006) on February 22, 2011, 09:41 AM
I think the warming over is important, don't you Chris ?  It really makes them dry & crispy, and helps lose any residual oil.  But not too warm, mind : 80C ?
** Phil.

Yep, absolutely essential for me. Eating them fresh from the oil is okay but they will always be greasy. 20 mins at about 80 degrees C will dry them our nicely. I find them better than the takeaway too, sometimes BIR ones can be a bit stale.

I always try and make my own at home. We usually like 4 or 5 with a takeaway (between wife and I) and at 50p - 60p a pop (pun intended) they are terrible value. I go for the two at a time method but I use a big pair of tongs, slide them into the oil for a couple of seconds so they curl up, then flip them over for another couple of seconds so they uncurl. Then I stand them up on their side on kitchen paper for a bit, then they go in the warming oven for 20 mins to dry out. Beautiful.

Undercover Curry

Mick, thats fabulous work. Thanks so much for sharing with us all. It looks like a delicious way to start off the spuds.

In relation to the test, we want to discover the best tasting recipe. I think it would be best if they were all made with a generic base and spice mix and normal boiled potatoes. Assuming there is an outright winner I'd be up for doing as Razor suggested and making that one to spec including Micks potato method. If we make them all with Micks method it will be more difficult to judge the recipes as the potatoes will presumably taste lovely.

As it's Friday and lots of people are raring to go on the test this weekend (I cant but I'll be doing them next weekend along with SP if he is free) lets draw a line under this and get cracking.

The Charlotte potatoes (the ones in Micks pics didn't look like Charlotte's by the way) will be par-boiled in water unless specified. A generic base will be used for all 5 recipes along with a standard spice mix.

All the recipes are on the first post on the first page (the OP). No one needs to ask if they can take part as this is open to everyone. Just IM me an email address and I'll send you the spreadsheet to fill in, or look at previous sets of results and copy the format.

Hi Phil,

Most of the recipes say just add pre-cooked potatoes. The Balti Cookbook suggests:

Boil the potatoes for about 5 minutes (so they're slightly cooked, but not liable to fall apart) then rinse in cold water, drain in a colander, and put to one side.

The only recipe that is a bit different is Solars who boils them in a bit of turmeric.

I hope this helps.

Chris

Right, the recipes are on the OP. We'll use Charlotte potatoes and a Taz base. I'll also make a couple using the UC recipe to see if there are and differences.

Now let get this show on the road.

I've been a member of Mensa since I was 12 having passed the test on 3 separate occasions. I scored 137 on the Stanford-Binet scale putting me in the 99th centile I believe. I guess that means my views carry more weight than anyone else's George?

Seriously though, we'll carry on with the tests as they are and record the results accurately. If Dip's recipe using Taz's base comes out top, what is the problem? That's a great result for the forum and a building block to build on.

There seems to be a massive divide here at the moment and if we aren't careful we will either lose some of the most active members, or there will be another breakaway curry board. Neither option is good for CR0 so come on everyone, if you like curry look for the positives and lets stop the nitpicking can we? If you don't have anything positive to say, maybe try not saying anything at all.

Wow this topic really kicked off eh?

From my point of view we are trying to find the tastiest recipe but we also want one that is versatile. No one can honestly tell me that they would ever make a batch of base sauce just for Bombay Aloo. It's a nice side dish and will always be made with whichever base is available that week.

With this in mind we should use a variety of bases and spice mixes, as long as each person uses the same for each test. I have lots of UC base in the freezer so I'll be using that. If you guys like, Solar and I can make a couple of the recipes twice using a different base in each to see if there is any difference in taste. My thoughts are probably not. If there is a difference I would assume the one that tasted better with one base will still taste better with the other.

I appreciate in a free speaking forum environment there will always be nay-sayers and negativity toward ideas. I suggest if CA aint happy with what we are all doing then he sets up Cory's Group Tests where everyone has to make 5 different base sauces and spice mixes to compare 5 different recipes. Good luck finding people to help with that! This gets especially annoying when the people taking the jabs are the ones who have no interest in taking part or really doing anything to move the forum forwards. If you were bothered about the future of this site you would be encouraging more of this not sticking the knife in whenever you can. You should be ashamed of yourselves!

OP updated again. Please everyone who wants to do the test feel free to crack on and email or IM me their results. Don't discuss your findings on here until everyone has completed them in the interest of fairness.

Good luck all. We should have lots of sets of results to combine!

OP has been updated with the recipes. I have Pat Chapmans book and I'm sure it has a recipe in it. Probably way overcomplicated and not very tasty if his other recipes are anything to go by! I'll have a look at all the books when I get home. The only one I don't have is TABC but I'm happy to give it a go if it looks good.

Most of the recipes are pretty similar but the cooking methods vary. It will be nice to try them all and see which produce the best taste.

Solar - you could always pop to my house one Saturday and we can cook 3 each. Less work and less mess (for you anyway).