There's sort of good and bad news on this.

Good news is im pretty much sorted for now. I used the various suggestions and feel I won't get it much better. I liked malcs 130c and cooked for 6 hrs covered.

Recipe:
Pan on full 3kw heat with a little veg oil till smoking
Mailliard for 5 mins skin down
Put bed sliced onion in tin
Put lamb in tin and pour oil from pan over
Add 1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp black pepper
Sea salt (me 3 turns)
1 tbsp crushed/blended euro bay
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp garlic pur?e
Cover water 1/4 height (500 ml)
Cover with foil
Slow bake 130C 6 hrs

Will add photo when next on desktop.

Going fwd will put lamb in plastic bag with rest ingredients over night - might add more taste not sure.

Real bad news is that am now convinced the real stuff was done over fire. Going to try my gas BBQ next. The boss is currently resisting a pit which is no brainer for me.

Love the idea of a better than category. Won't contain much at mo but a good yard stick for future progress

The rest is sort of twaddle. I think the question to ask is does you kitchen smell BIR and for how long. This is the only true test of the last 5%.

I cook in my garage and have to go in it each day. The smell lasts for almost 3 days.

Link appreciated. 

For info was use of whole spice that caught my eye. H4ppy-chris video is the only other time I've seen it used at dish fry. Aiming at some point to give it a try and chewy's might just be that push I needed to give it a go.

George

Stay calm sir. 

Radical idea using a slow cooker for a single portion.

The smallest I've cooked is 4 portion but via STD method.

Most I've cooked stage 1 is 6 hrs. I've also I think done stage 2 for something like 7 hrs. The stage 2 time has no effect. I now cook for 20 min tops just enough to skim off.

The stage 1 is very different and relies more on the end point of the onion ie melted.

Axe alerted me to heat destroys flavour. I've consequently reduced stage 1 from 2 hrs to 1.5. The stage 2 reduced from 1 hr to 20 mins. In total 70 mins reduction in 180 mins total originally.

Switching to a slow cooker I can only imagine that it's like leaving cooked food in a warm condition for too long and destroyed the flavour.

I must admit I'm surprised at that outcome as slow cookers work for other non curry dishes.

Hope you  intend repeating. I'd be very interested in what has caused the problem.

If I was to bet on the caused I'd Say it's not the time. 

On my next go at the basic base ie 5/6 hr low flame cook I'm going to taste each hr in attempt to get to bottom of the horrible sweetness I got last time.

Maybe this would help yourself. It's worth persevering with the slow cooker idea - would take lot of hassle out.

wow. a real post up there with the best.

the no1 (and probably only rule for the site) - for me is to stay cordial with each other. the endless bickering serves nothing. different views are good - just post them and let others decide if useful or not.

i deal with repetition by only reading topics that interest me (i think i can learn from). i do end up missing things but they generally turn back up again. (just on the stated examples: oil and mashing do have their part, i did not believe mashing either for a long time, is it necessary certainly not and same goes for oil)

my hope is that the minds of members can be changed (on what the complete jigsaw is). myself included it's easy to discount offerings and not try them. this fear comes from trying stuff only to find rubbish.

the bottom line is my curries are better than most BIR land. that's a personal triumph that i felt would never be achieved. its CRO members who made that possible.

please post link to the video. i dont think i see it either.

the reason it historically can't be a bhuna (don't wont to start further pointless discussion) is that it cant contain (visible anyhow) tomato or pepper. these days even BIR's push the envelope of dishes.

the more terrible scenario is what i just came across at BIR - the dopiaza and bhuna tasted pretty much the same (both base on bhuna). wont be going back.

also shows just how lucky we are - photo looks brill and a pay for dish.

noble ox,

my english is not that brill and all should always ask me to clarify what i mean if its not clear.

my issue with the post was that it could send members on the wrong track.

the details on tarka etc at the start of the post originate from Traditional cooking.

they are all used in BIR. the importance though is in applying those basic statements in the BIR. this application is not well visible but crucial in mastering the BIR.

in short the most important "half" of the information is left out.

i would have liked to explore the application and was the aim of my post.

in short the topic is great as Traditional Cooking Method.

in the end the post has got all mixed up. just one of those things

its an interesting generic question that applies to all base - difference or why - slow simmer v hard boil.

i adopted slow simmer as i favor the all in approach albeit since i adopted a few suggestions from Axe ive staggered the additions a little. in short protecting the spice was my reasoning.

i cant recall using the hard boil for a long time too - probably KD1 days.

the other more important factor for me is getting taste into the oil. the longer cook definitely enhances the oil produced.

must have missed this myself 1st time round.

love the method.

i've tried all those ingredients but never in those qty. going to have to give it a try.

Chewytikka - star man no messing.

littlechili,zap,vinders,

have noted those thoughts to put into my no3 vindaloo search. appreciated.

i have used more oil (9 tsp) in past but not when grainy has been a problem (used in search for smokey).

will look out for Birds eye chilli powder (only just bought 100g finger chili's to let them go moldy).

would it be proper lemon juice added or lemon dressing. i've never tried the proper stuff only lemon dressing.