I hope you and yours are safe.

I mentioned this a long while back but people did not want to listen then and I am sure many are still saying they 'can not afford to do anything about it' now... personally I don't think they need to worry, there is nothing they CAN do now, I believe we are passed the tipping point.  It might sound doom monger-ish but how do you stop and Remove the last 200 years worth of climate changes? All you can do is limit any additional effects but that won't happen soon enough to, imho, stop the runaway effect already happening.

As in all things, Prepare for the Worst, Hope for the Best.

Those in power all over the world now, will not see and feel the effects their decisions are making. The generations to come will need to adapt.

On the upside, we are still in the 5th Ice Age.. just the Interglacial part, where Ice melts, Sea levels rise and Rainfall increases.. it has happened before and will happen again before the end of the life of our Sun and this planet.  We may have hastenend it and we may have over populated the best 'at the time' land areas near the seas.. but as a race, humans I am sure can survive this, even if there are fewer of us than now.. we must remember what comes next though and plan for that.

"So long and thanks for all the fish"

Quote from: Peripatetic Phil on June 16, 2022, 08:06 AM
The price of cooking oil has doubled in the UK...

I wasn't intending this to be a 'soapbox' for all the gripes in the world, that is what I believe Friday's with a mate in the pub were made for  but since I opened the conversation without stating that, then I guess the post needs moving to 'Let's talk about anything OTHER than curry'?

I was interested in the cost of cooking oil because whilst I don't use a great deal, takeaways by their very nature do and so the costs to them might become prohibitive.  Now that again is not necessarily a bad thing, in my humble opinion, as the best should survive and those that are just cheap hopefully won't.  With all the discussions about Obesity in all age groups and to be honest, as we get older, we tend to become less active and can more easily pile on a few lbs(kg), reducing the number (I believe Bradford has the 2nd highest number after Birmingham  ) should be no bad thing and I would like to see a lot less of them AND the waste that gets dumped in the streets right outside them!

I guess Fish and Chips is on it's last legs with the cost of fuel rising as well...

Is the cost of Cooking Oil threatening BIR?

Is the cost of Cooking Oil a bad thing?

I had a much longer statement/questions prepared but I think that was my soapbox: here, stand on yours and express your concerns, expectations, desires please.

BAJ

@Livo, I can't remember the exact allergy that the people suffered from, there was news about a restaurant owner being sued for using one of them... but so many people now have allergies to so many different things (that people never seemed to be allergic to before), be it nut, fruit or root...

I think I said my wife works in a school? And without having to provide any medical certification, the parents can claim any and some of the exemptions are laugable:
'My Child is allergic to Dairy... but can eat Pizza, just not fruit pie'...
'My child is lactose intolerant but can have Ice Cream'...
'My child cannot eat any form of eggs as they do not like it...'

People have severe allergies and I know they have to be extremely careful.. so I am always very careful about what I serve..
'Roger Cook' - TV Investigative Journalist had a severe allergic reaction to... Tomato or Cucumber, I forget which.. but who would guess that?

My point about this is, know your Consumer and their likes/dislikes/allergies and you can't go far wrong?

Maybe the 5% was some form of nut powder (Almond or Peanut) which is today not allowed due to Allergies.. I don't know.

Quote from: Peripatetic Phil on June 02, 2022, 04:57 PM
I am reasonably certain that, for those that did, animal bones were an integral part of the stock, and there were at least two difference stocks — whether there was a third one for vegetarians is somewhat moot, but given that vegetarianism is endemic to some parts of India, I would have expected the best BIRs to respect this.
--
** Phil.

Making stock from the left over bones would have made perfect sense back then (50's-70's) as it would probably be not only 'traditional' and the way the chefs had learned how to cook but there may not have been the belief that commercially available stocks conformed to Religious requirements for the contents.

Times have changed however and there are many 'stock' shortcuts that are now available that conform to every requirement and for ease are probably used instead.  However, the Great restaurants may still do it, not just to be better than OK but... I do wonder how many restaurants would have chefs/staff that would spend the time deboning to then start creating the stock before creating the final dish (volume over quality being key these days it seems).

The reason I question this is because Bradford won City of Culture 2025 this week and in an interview with a (very young) chef at one (of what I used to think of as one of the best) restaurant, claimed that the secret of his dishes was that he used NO additional spices, he only uses Salt!    Having not been to it in 20 years, I can't gauge if the quality has changed slowly over time but if he was being honest, then I do wonder what the current dishes taste of, other than Salt.

BAJ

Quote from: curryhell on May 31, 2022, 01:30 PM
Bob A Job, you've now got me intrigued.  I'm racking my brains trying to think of anything i've used in a recipe that I haven't seen used elsewhere during my curry journey.  Do put me out of my misery 

We both know to which dish I was referring, it was my revelation of 2019 and still a main 'go to' recipe in this house... It is however, the only one that I have ever made that uses Almond Powder, which I gather is widely used in some takeaways, despite being responsible for some severe Allergic reactions.  I know all my guests now and so I am not concerned by that but it was much better when I didn't and I could keep it ALL to myself 

Quote from: livo on May 28, 2022, 11:58 PM
At least this thread has generated some good stuff...

Yes indeed! Thanks to pap rika for stimulating the conversation 

Quote from: Robbo141 on May 26, 2022, 12:14 AM
...And to those of you in the UK, think yourselves lucky that you can just pop out for takeaway whenever you like.

Takeaway has moved on a looooong way from what it was..
I doubt there are any BIR left to be honest, as change is the necessity (not of invention but of continued business)...
I will not say 'dumbed down' but I will say that the majority of meals seem to be for 'the masses' and depending where you live, the offerings will be those. 

/Edit: and to give those born in the last 20-30yrs, they have nothing to compare the current offerings against, so they cannot be held to blame for accepting inferior product to that we used to like, then loved and now crave.

We have all read this topic (which I can't find a consistent thread for - move this comment to it if you know it) over the years and thrashed it to death with opinions and possible explanations and some people have claimed to have come close.. and so I throw my hat into that ring with an observation from earlier this evening that immediately reminded me of this subject!

I have enjoyed many days out over the years and when it came to early evening, the aromas coming from 'Takeaways' and restaurants firing up ready for the evening trade have always made my mouth water, even if I couldn't immediately distinguish one style from another.

Earlier this evening, I was making my favourite from curryhell, which is the only recipe I have come across that uses a particular ingredient... during the final cooking process I used the opportunity to take some rubbish(refuse) out to the bin(garbage) and being a particularly warm, pleasant and clear night, I spent a few minutes staring up at the stars.

And so returning to my opening point, as some have discovered, we suffer from sensor overload whilst over the pan and curries have 'tasted' better the day after and food prepared by someone else always tastes better...

So maybe the missing 5% is all of that, being cooked by someone else, no sensory overload and a particular ingredient we associate with our favourite restaurant (I am sure they all tried to be unique and used more/less of some ingredients, 2 I remember well, 1 used way too much salt, the other too much ginger, yet some people liked them enough that one is still going strong 40 years later).

Add in a smatter of fondness of memory and all the vagaries that brings and I wonder.. was there ever a 5% or just some smell we associated with our favourite restaurant/dish/end of the night out?

Slightly off topic but when I used to go abroad, I could never get a 'proper' cup of tea until I was back in England.  So if you never had BIR, trying to explain it and the taste of it, even if perfect might be impossible and not as palatable as your currently much improved takeaways or best home efforts to reproduce have rewarded you with.

Conclusion.  The missing 5% does not exist, it is subjective.

Quote from: tempest63 on March 05, 2022, 07:16 AM
We had our first curryfest since the start of the pandemic last week, and my enthusiasm bubbled over to the point that the table was groaning under the weight, but a mixture of friends and neighbours got through most of it with a little left over to give my son 3 lunches.

Thank the heavens the Covid restrictions are lifted and we can return to the new normal.

Tempest! Wow! I have read and reread this many times... I wish I was there!

For the neutral readers here, can we lose the Off-Topic posts/sniping please (including this line. not something I like seeing everyday!)