Quote from: Cory Ander on December 08, 2008, 10:57 PM
But I think we need to be careful not to jump to conclusions that, for instance, margarine (and specifically East End margarine), is likely to be used widely in curry bases, based on one recipe (PP's Ashoka curry base recipe) and the appearance of a margarine tub in a Malik video (with no other recipes or reports ever before suggesting it's use).

It really does bother me that with all these first hand accounts, we're still not getting it quite right. There's absolutely no way that most good BIRs are all using the same secret ingredient. I'm at my wits end. I think I'm going to try and progress by attempting to buy more base sauces from takeaways, this time of a higher standard than the notabley average Eastern Pavilion. If anyone else gets the chance, give it a shot and report back.

Quote from: Cory Ander on December 08, 2008, 10:57 PM
And Bobby, is a "Madras Maestro" a sooped up Austin Rover?   

Hahaha, you should smell the fumes!!! ;D

Does anyone else think the base looks quite thick, dark and lentily?

Quote from: Cory Ander on December 08, 2008, 10:12 PM
It's really these sweeping statements that I'm taking exception to Bobby.  How can you tell (from 7500 members)?

You're right enough. That said, many of our more vocal members do go with the threshold thing, and as far as I'm concerned, it seems to hold for the recipes available to us right now. However, if a base sauce recipe were to come up that blew the rest out of the water, then it's a plateau we're struggling to break through, rather than a naturally existing threshold.

Quote from: Cory Ander on December 08, 2008, 10:12 PM
But cost and availability are totally legitimate and practical considerations Bobby. I don't think that necessarily means that suggestions are "disqualified" or written "written off" though.  But we should, nevertheless, be pragmatic in our evaluation IMHO.

I quite agree that these are valid considerations, however sometimes I feel ingredients and methods are discarded off hand as impractical. However we can't get it right, and if it takes couple random ingredients and ridiculous prep times to get there, then that could well be what's happening. I agree that most BIR practices must adhere to the cheap and cheerful methods, but perhaps to get it perfect, there may be trade offs here and there. This is only a suggestion, and as with so much in blind BIR reproduction, is mere speculation.

However, as you say, until we can get it right, we must continue to explore these avenues.

The degghi is a real surprise for me. It never did me any good. I obviously just don't know how to use it properly.

Wow! Where did all this come from? Were you in there UB? Oh, I see it's panpots visit, as I thought it might be. Awesome. So many of the fabled and seemingly impractical ingredients are present. It just goes to show.

Quote from: Cory Ander on December 08, 2008, 01:05 PM
Care to quantify that BB? 

Most members on the site, from what I've heard, would say that although they can produce fairly similar curries to a BIR, still feel that they are their efforts are lacking, compared to those of a good BIR. However, using any one of the set of our more successful base recipes, most will produce curries of similarly good results.

We still have some way to go to getting it just right. Our best efforts at the base seem to plateau at a certain level, with several recipes producing very very similar end results. The result is very good, although still lacking that missing element.

We have not made much progress with this since I have become a member, with factors like economy and availability of ingredients weighing into member's judgment into the likelihood of a new ingredient's feasibility and as such many suggestions are disqualified and or written off. In the past year, I don't think that the general consensus has changed.

Quote from: Cory Ander on December 08, 2008, 01:05 PM
Having said that, I'm sure a newbie would be pretty happy with SnS's, Darthphal's, Ifindforu's or Bruce Chapman's curry base.

Assuming a new member knows one pan from the other, has the correct ingredients and a set of scales, and eats BIR fairly often, I really don't think it takes Gordon Ramsay to follow the instructions. A few attempts should iron out any obvious flaws.

I think our man has done a sterling first attempt of the Bhuna from looking at the pictures and I'm glad that he's happy with his results.

Quote from: SKAZE on December 08, 2008, 06:26 PM
Hey, ive just made this curry, best curry i have ever made, closest i have got to bir in my oppinion, i still got some practise but was very impressed.

That looks delicious Skaze. Well done mate!

Quote from: SKAZE on December 07, 2008, 11:26 PM
Do you use this base when making the bhuna ( https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=1914.0 ) aswell.......how much difference will it make using different base's?

Hey Skaze, I just use whatever base I happen to have in the freezer at the time for whatever curry I'm making. As you may have noticed, the ingredients are always fairly similar for most base sauces, give or take.

The majority people on here think there is a threshold that a base has to meet, and thereafter they all produce fairly similar curries. I would go with this, but say that some do certainly work better than others. The SnS base should work really well with this Bhuna recipe. I'm sure I've tried it before.

Cheers,

BB.

It's ok, but there are better. Try SnS's June base.