I made a chilli con carne last night and used a heston blumenthal tip of making 'finishing butter'. It's lime juice and zest, chilli powder, cumin, worcestershire sauce, tabasco, ketchup and parmesan mixed into butter. It reminded me of this idea as there's a big savoury combo.
It's stirred in at the end, like when making a risotto or french gravy. It tasted nice and the meal was good and savoury enough that i didnt need MSG. How much difference did it make? I dont know but i suppose enough because i often find the savouriness lacking when using (supermarket) beef mince and tomatoes. The lime was nice but could be reduced to make the butter more universal. It's made out of stuff you've probably got lying around and it's quite a cool ingredient to have kicking about your fridge. Now to think up more things to use it for...

I have read opinions that are opposite so i cant be sure which are correct. I have read more than one article that said ghee reduces cholesterol and is good for the heart so have a good read of everything you can find before you consult any marketing.

Derek where did you learn your 'rule' from? It sounds pretty dodgy to me!

I've read that indian ghee is made from yoghurt whereas western stuff is made from butter. I dont know enough about dairy to know if that's true or relevant.
I know veg oil and margarine are slated regularly for containing trans-fats. I dont think it's known if they're bad for you yet, but it's suspected.

I've been meaning to try palm oil as lots of african shops around here sell it fairly cheaply. Also the red stuff looks pretty interesting. I'm a fan of reclaimed oil and appreciate the power a flavoured oil can have so maybe red palm oil will contribute something (not necessarily for BIR). It certainly doesnt look tasteless! I'll let you know how i get on.
I found the article below via wikipedia. Also with palm oil there is another factor to take into account - environmental ethics.
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=927712

Quote from: JerryM on February 23, 2010, 07:30 PM
i've used olive oil and it just don't taste the same - the same outcome when i done same for garlic bread.

I think a lot of people get confused over olive oil as recipe books and cooks on TV throw it around without being specific about what type they are using. They often make out that you can substitute it for other oils or fats.
The first point they should make is that when they're sauteing they're talking about oil from the last pressing of the olive. It could say pomace oil on the bottle but importantly it definitely shouldnt say virgin or extra virgin. Those are completely different beasts. Extra virgin is used for flavouring and shouldnt be cooked with. It's like buying bacon just to use the fat: It may be nice but what a waste.
It's best used in a similar way to toasted sesame oil in chinese cuisine.
I suspect when people shop for olive oil they often buy an extra virgin one because they've heard it's better and it's only a tiny bit more expensive.
This is my diagnosis. It might not be relevant to you Jerry, just thought i'd put it out there 

Loving the flaming photos so *bump*
I also agree that when i've tipped the pan so much that the onions are in the flame the smell that was produced is beautiful. Or as my girlfriend's dad would say, orgasmic.

I can recommend making chutney, it's really easy! Everything goes in the frying pan and simmers. Season and the job's done.

You're right that it's sometimes not as cheap as buying it but that shouldnt be the only factor should it? Curries are the cheapest takeaways you can buy so i'm sure we're not all here just to save money.
As for lime pickle, i'm not a fan and i have no idea how to make it as it's bewilderingly strong. Just make sure the recipe comes from someone's who's actually made it and not someone who's 'helpfully' googled an untried recipe 

From my experience names of chef's specials or even basic curries in most places outside england rarely mean much (this goes for india too). Chefs just make up names to differentiate dishes. I know because i do too - guests often expect dishes to have names. Personal experience has told me that calling a dish Zeera Chicken has a better reaction that saying "it's the same as the others just with more cumin".

Examples of how little a name means is clear on most menus. The words arent meant to define a dish, they're just a description. Westerners are keen to label/pidgeon hole everything and that's the reason we have such relative uniformity now in BIR.
You hear statements like "a korma should always be mild", "a madras doesnt have lemon" or "tikka masala has to have tomato". All of these are nonsense comments as they only relate to their own interpretations. I do wonder how much the staff laugh at their customers' reluctance to try something new. Customers effectively force restaurants into an identikit/franchise style of business so that when they want a big mac/CTM or a subway/bhuna they know it will be the same anywhere.

Jalfrezi just means stir-fried, korma means braised, bhuna is the first stage of cooking most curries, tikka masala means something cooking in the oven with a sauce. None of these describe the taste of the dish at all.

To actually answer the question ( ) it sounds like a jalfrezi with potato and i reckon the chef comes from Sonargaon, or fancies someone from there  ;D

I was looking at doing that too floyd. I think one place i know cooks their curries in the balti pans. I know most dont but the way the food was cooked into the sides of the pans and the presence of evaporation rings made it look like that.
I think it would be harder to cook in something that small though!

(i'm talking about cast iron, not stainless steel bcos that is a bad conductor of heat)

Thanks for the account dellydel, seems like you remembered the order of everything!
I bet when the chef added the precooked onions/peppers the BIR smell was there. Yeah? If so that's really frustrating!
So did the garlic come out pungent/raw tasting or did it get browned? Most curries seem to have the garlic lightly browned at the start so this looks like a different technique. I suppose cooking it this way makes it stand out and dominate more?

I hope you showed your appreciation so you might get another demo! 

Quote from: Yellow Fingers on January 22, 2007, 10:14 AM
I haven't tried your particular recipe CA, but lemon juice in a tikka masala!? The ones I've had in restaurants are universally mild, sweet and coconutty and not a hint of lemon juice.

I know it's an old post but thought it was worth saying:
You cant always taste every ingredient. Citrus find its way into all sorts of things without people noticing it specifically.
Jam is my favourite example. It's fruit and sugar right? Yes but if you dont balance it with lemon/citric acid it wont be as tasty or as rounded. It will be cloying and sickly. Children's sweets are another. Their sourness is critical and the better ones have better balance.
Ketchup or mango juice are pretty sweet right but just wont taste as good without a bit of sourness. There's a reason sauces will almost always contain sweetness, sourness, saltiness and savoury. If they didnt they'd be dull. The balance makes them stronger tasting, more complex and 'longer' on the tongue. Basically, more tasty.

CA's inclusion of it shows me he understands the importance of balancing tastes. I've found since learning to cook that it's things like this that mark the difference between decent cooks or dishes from average ones.
Unfortunately this is not as common knowledge as it is in south east asia. In japan their understanding is so far ahead that they balance textures, colours and easthetics as well.

I try to replicate BIR cooking but i realize that a lot of them are not the best chefs and are not interested in perfecting their recipes. Most cant even be bothered to taste what they send out can they? What makes a superior dish is often small details, where the chef understands how taste works.

Quote from: chriswg on February 20, 2010, 07:51 PM
I would say that looks like the dogs b*llocks, but they are a bit too big!

enormous aren't they? Big cojones