Fair point George

Yes Ray,
From what I have seen the use of pastes in tikka, tandoori, kebab marinades and CTM is widespread, most of us are aware of this.
The only paste I have seen used in a curry is Balti paste. I have seen this in takeaways and restaurants that are not marketed as Balti houses. They would cook a Garlic Chicken Balti, for example, by cooking the Garlic Chicken curry as usual and add a tablespoon of this paste and cook out for a minute or so.
The "Balti house restaurant" I get into would cook a curry as normal except add more mix powder to deepen the flavour. Nothing more than that. To be honest I think its more about the dish it's served in rather than how it was cooked. I think the modern day "balti" house just means it has a large steel tandoor capable of cooking the huge Naan breads that we associate with Balti houses.

Mick

Quote from: Secret Santa on December 04, 2010, 11:57 PM
I can get these at lots of local places...but where the hell has the tej patta gone?

I can't find asian bay for love nor money (and I've tried both)

I'm stuck with crappy english bay. I blame jerry, before he asked about them I could get 'em anywhere. Now...nowhere.


Grrrrrr...Jerry.   ;D

SS,
I'm having the same problem re tej patta,
I looked in just about every shop in the Asian area of Peterborough and could not find any Asian Bay but I did find this labelled....East End Tej Patta...and guess what? ..In the bag was European bay leaves... :

Quote from: Razor on December 04, 2010, 09:36 PM
Hi Mick,

It certainly sounds like you've earned your stripes mate, and good luck to ya too.

Out of interest, how long back does your kitchen experiences go, and have you noticed any thing change over the years, even if it's just equipment?

Ray

Hi Ray,
The first kitchen I got into would have been mid 80's but to be honest my interest in cooking curries wasn't as strong as my interest in eating them. It was enough for me at the time to know about the garabi and how the curries were put together using the garabi. I have seen the use of dark coloured bhaji frying oil without knowing the impact it would have on the base. I suppose I wish I had taken more interest then about the base making.
The access I have now means that I could watch a pot of garabi being made from start to finish but I didn't have that opportunity in the 80's. Nowadays I see new veg oil go in the garabi.
As far as I'm concerned "the taste" (assuming we are all talking about the same thing) came from the garabi.
The access I had then would have been "come in and watch your curry being made" which was great but no difference to how I see them being made today.
I believe "the taste" came from practices like the use of 'burned bhaji oil' or similar, practices that nowadays may be considered as poor practice,.. as most of us know... if you ask your local curry house chef what goes in the garabi many will tell you onions, green pepper, maybe carrots, maybe potato etc .. but they won't mention flavoured(burned) oil.
I also believe that as the use of such methods disappear the great tasting curries some of us remember are also going by the wayside.
Those of us that remember such great tasting curries would also know that a madras would have the same distinct background flavour as say a dopiaza, which I had seen both being made. They were made the same way then as I see now, I think the only difference being what was in the garabi.
Certainly, the two restaurants that I have access to at the moment don't use the bhaji oil in their garabi, consequently I can have great tasting curries from both but not like I used to have.
Another insight I have is to see a chef add his mix powder to the oil and tomato paste and 'fuse' the ingredients for some ie 30 seconds or so, and then see the same chef make another curry, add his mix powder and give a quick stir and put in the garabi and reduce down, without the two curries tasting any different to each other.
My point to that is this....I think people can get a little hung up on the idea that it's all down to technique and the 'decades' of training a curry chef has had. I believe as long as you and I had the same ingredients and used roughly the same timings we can produce a curry to match a chef. After all a madras is simply oil, tomato paste, spices, lemon dressing(optional) and garabi, meat and coriander, it's not exactly Blumenthal.
Just my take on things....
Mick

Quote from: Razor on December 04, 2010, 08:59 PM
Hi Mick,

That's very reassuring indeed.  And thank god for actual first hand experiences such as this.

Ray

Thanks Ray,
I have been fortunate over the years to have been allowed into seven kitchens but it's not without hard work and having bought shed loads of curry, constantly asking questions, befriending the staff etc
Despite all that I still can't get the exact taste of years ago, damn close but not spot on.
Mick

Quote from: Secret Santa on December 04, 2010, 08:38 PM
Mick that's the sort of eye-witness experience we need here.

Why don't you post more often?

SS,
I suppose because most of my time is spent on another site and although I don't have any issues with cr0 at all, I feel that on occasion people post on here and they can be faced with some less than pleasant responses,
I'm not saying everyone has to go round kissing everybody else's back side but some times it doesn't help and I feel without doubt it will stop people participating,
I am happy to post on here more often and see how things go.
Cheers,
Mick

Hi All,
I can tell you that the three kitchens that I have been allowed to film in and the four others have all made the Garlic/Ginger paste fresh. Either with water or oil.
In my local I saw what I would describe as a small bucket of peeled garlic. I said that would have taken me all day. I was told that it took the chef, the tandoor chef and the cook/runaround lad about 20 minutes. It's one of those jobs that they all muck in for.
BTW they separate the cloves and leave them to soak in water for a few hours before peeling.
They do much of their prep between 12 and 2 pm for that evenings opening.
Mick

Quote from: George on November 23, 2010, 10:40 PM

Quote from: George
a shed conversion is not necessary.

Quote from: AchMal on November 23, 2010, 07:04 PM
Maybe so but it is helpful for me and allows me to have all my curry cooking equipment in one place and all to hand rather than taking up so much space in the house kitchen, which in turn keeps 'er indoors happy.....

I'm envious of your dedicated kitchen facility. I wasn't criticising anything like your kitchen; only doubting the justification for moving a hob outside if the primary reason is the decision to use a propane fuelled burner.

All understood, no worries George,
Mick

@ Solarsplace...
I can flame the pan whenever I want to but to be honest I don't believe it alters the taste of the finished curry so therefore I don't go out of my way to set the shed alight, If i wanted to then I would have to install some kind of extraction system as the shed would quickly fill with smoke albeit lovely smelling smoke ;D Good looking curry BTW
@ Ray...
I hear you Ray, is there room for the ferret cage? ;D

a shed conversion is not necessary.
[/quote]

Maybe so but it is helpful for me and allows me to have all my curry cooking equipment in one place and all to hand rather than taking up so much space in the house kitchen, which in turn keeps 'er indoors happy..... ;D