I'm doing the very same this Saturday (the numbers have risen to 16 now!), so I've made a huge batch of Curry 2 Go style base and a smaller batch of Zaal base, and my brother is knocking up a Taz base, so we're going to see which gets the most votes.

I did something similar, albeit on a smaller scale (4 people) last night, using two different bases (C2G and Zaal), and in a blind taste test there was a 50-50 split between the two, so it will be interesting to try it with larger numbers.

Be sure to let us know how you get on, Mick, and I'll do the same!

Cheers

Gary

Quote from: Aussie Mick on March 21, 2012, 09:01 AM
I mash brewed form about 1981 to 1986 then got fed up.

For my 21st birthday, my sister offered to get me a gold chain or something like that, and I said, "Please get me a Brewheat"

I used to follow Dave Line's recipes "Brewing beers like those you buy"  I think Dave (God rest his soul) would have been the equivalent of Pat Chapman in the brewing world. His recipes were nearly there. lol

Bless Dave Line - a man truly dedicated to his cause. I still have my tattered copy of "Brewing beers like those you buy" in my bookshelf.

It was a sad day when he died, as there was more to come from him I'm sure. Although I'm not certain how he died, I suspect that it's a vocational hazard when you dedicate your life to producing books about brewing beer and the all-important testing of the recipes therein...

Apologies for going off topic and discussing beer on a curry forum - but beer and curry do kind of go hand in hand...

Quote from: michael.t on March 20, 2012, 07:39 PM
I'm  gonna give it ago this weekend , cooking for a family birthday which base do you use SD

My current favourite is the one from the Zaal, Michael (https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=7859.0), but I'll be using my own concoction for the birthday bash.

It's SO similar to the likes of many you'll find here it's not worth posting the recipe, but think along the lines of Chewytikka's, Curry 2 Go, etc., etc., and you'll get the gist.

Quote from: beachbum on March 21, 2012, 07:34 AM
I'm a home brewer. No I don't knock out tins of kit beer, I'm an all grain brewer with my car sitting in the rain because the garage is a brauhaus with thousands of dollars of equipment, bins of malt, five temperature controlled fridges, three taps of ales and lagers on draught, etc etc  ;D

However in the HB community there's also the "wow wouldn't it be great to open a microbrewery / brewpub and spend my days doing what I love to do, create wonderful craft beers...."
But like most businesses, the "core" bit is only about a quarter of it. The rest is filling out VAT returns, hiring and firing staff, paying the bills and getting up at 5 am to shovel stuff in the cold and dark and get very damp whilst doing so 

I really admire the people who work so hard to bring us luscious food and drinks, bless em.

Excellent - another home brewing fanatic. I started mashing my own grain beers back in 1980, and haven't stopped since. I've calmed production down from its peak of 10 gallons a week ( I had A LOT of 'friends' back then!  ;D ), but it sounds like you're even more enthusiastic than that, Beachbum.

As with curry, I've often thought about going into business, but (as with a curry business), running a micro brewery ain't a barrel of laughs (excuse the pun).

So many of them go down before they get a chance to make a success of it, but I'm mightily grateful to the micros that manage to thrive, and love nothing better than to consume their products with gusto - preferably with a stupidly hot curry...

Looking good there beachbum. That's exactly the colour I like my bases to look - and the pressure cooker method is brilliant. Whack everything in, get it up to pressure and wait for 'that' smell to be released from the onions (usually 30-40 minutes).

Anyone who hasn't got one yet I'd recommend going for a 7-litre model. I spotted a Tower 7-litre PC on Amazon or Argos the other day for around

Quote from: Aussie Mick on March 20, 2012, 02:09 PM
Just wondered if any of you have ever considered going into business in a restaurant or takeaway?

There are some very knowledgable and helpful people on this form, and just like Julian at Curry2go, I'm sure some of you would have a great chance at making a success of things.

So, anyone got any aspirations of hitting the big time in curry land?

I have thought about it a lot, and have often discussed it with my equally curry obsessed brother, but although I'm no stranger to hard graft I do like the social side of life and going out of an evening, so it's always been the hours that have killed it for me.

That, and the fact that I'm probably not the best person to be dealing with members of the public - especially when they're pissed.  ;D 

Julian probably has the best setup, whereby he's only open during the day. Even so, I understand that his day starts at 6.00am with prep, and I'd be surprised if he doesn't get home until gone 7.00pm.

So, up at 5.00am, 13 hours in a kitchen, fall asleep in front of the TV, get up and start again the next morning...

About the only part of that I could do is falling asleep in front of the TV...

It's something you have to be truly passionate about I guess, and full respect to anyone who gives it a go.

Quote from: loveitspicy on March 20, 2012, 01:51 PM
Yes i would - there wont be a problem  boil it and use as normal dont leave it much longer though

best, Rich

So would I (and regularly do). The nose is king in such matters!

I find a more mature base tends to darken in colour, but a quick whizz with a hand blender before bringing to the boil can have an impressively restorative effect.

Quote from: Stephen Lindsay on March 19, 2012, 11:49 PM
I've just been watching a recording of a new TV programme called The Little Paris Kitchen. An English girl (Rachel Khoo) runs a French restaurant from her flat, i.e. she cooks in her tiny little kitchen and serves customers in her lounge which is also tiny.

So this got me thinking - what about if I did a similar thing to Rachel Khoo by serving a small number of locals my own curries in my front room? My domestic circumstances are somewhat similar - I live on my own in a small cottage and could probably accommodate a max. of 6-8 people in one sitting. However it could satisfy my lust for sharing my passion for curries without being out of pocket or perhaps even making a modest profit. I'm thinking a Friday or Saturday or both would be more than enough and in order to "work round" licensing/retail laws etc. I would ask diners simply to make a donation for the food they have eaten so that it would be built on a relationship of trust rather than being based on a menu which has set prices.

Any thoughts?

I'd be interested in the thoughts of forum members in terms of things I should think about and/or pros and cons. Is this a good idea or is it wishful thinking?

Great minds must think alike, Stephen, as I had exactly the same thought. Limited menu agreed with the diners beforehand, get set up, bosh it out, await adulating comments and gushing praise, pocket a fistful of cash, laugh on route to bank.

Then I woke up...  ;D

Seriously though, if you're up for the graft and a bit of stress on the night and confident that your food is good enough then there's no reason why it wouldn't work. 'Pop-up restaurants have been in vogue of late, and seem to do really well.

The other thing I thought about was a mobile service, whereby you cook in other people;s homes. That would present its own unique challenges, but still...

Interesting...

Most restaurants/takeaways in my area score a lowly 1 and a few score 2 (I've used them all!), then there's a jump to 4 for a couple ( I was delighted to see that my favourite, which is run by Nepalese, is one of them), and the one I've been frequenting for decades scores a fantastic 5. That's the only 5 among the curry houses though.

Surprisingly all the kebab shops score 3.

My butcher scores a 5, too, so overall I'm a) surpirsed and b) pleased.

Quote from: natterjak on March 19, 2012, 07:30 PM
Makes you wonder what else gets recycled in the typical BIR.  Whole spices picked out of the pilau and reused?  Untouched chunks of chicken fished out of curries not finished by restaurant customers and returned to the pre-cooked meat tub?  It probably all goes on!

One of my mates works for a pest control company and regularly has to call on restaurants to deal with unwanted wildlife, and...

And I'm not going to say anymore as you've probably seen it all on Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares and the like, but after some of his discoveries suffice it to say that I know where I'm not going to eat in future.

Mind you, I've seen some domestic kitchens that beggar belief.

You should have seen mine after the weekend's baseathon!