Great topic as ever this site just rocks. I have been cooking curries for thirty years and eating them for longer from Glasgow BIRs in particularand my cooking took a massive leap forward once I found out about our great forum and stared cooking from here. I will have a go with the Victoria Road one on my next visit back. The smell has in my opinion got lost over the years but apart from all the other credible reasons here it could be down to better extractor fans and regulations regarding them.

Other points, I have repeatedly posted that we can never really taste nor smell our own efforts in real terms due to our nostrils and taste buds adjusting as we cook. You can never smell garlic breath from another if both of you eat it it the same time. I do believe the industrial burners contribute particularly when they allow the pan's ingredients to catch fire with real flames that probably all of us would be scared to recreate in domestic kitchens.

Finally regarding the secret ingredient last year or slightly longer ago we had here a post that caused a big hastle and resulted in many members leaving to join another site run by the guy who posted his belief that the ingredient was an onion paste. I have asked about it on another post and have got the original recipe as a result but not the full thread which is a pity since apart from the controversy there were variations and experimentations that led me to make a batch which was the single most important ingredient in my own efforts.

I have recently asked Stew to reinstate the entire thread but understand if given its history he has decided not to. he suggests I kick off a fresh one so I will do so shortly.  keep up the good work and if anyone has a really perfect recipe for recreating Glasgow Pakora can you post it as I have been after it for thirty years.

Cheers Panpot

Over recent weeks I have experimented with 3 separate base sauces, SnS's, Rajver's and one from a friend.

I have to say that SnS's was by far the best and got best remarks from friends too.

It was however the last one used and I did add to the recipes the Onion Paste.

Admin has suggested I revisit the use of the paste in a fresh post so will do that in due course. Cheers Panpot

Hi Bitchinsahsa, these look the part. I have been working on Pakora for years and although Curry King's come closest to looks I still feel something is. Missing. Are you by any chance a Glaswgian and if so how did they compare in taste with the cities standards. I am almost desperate to get the taste and spice balance correct. Cheers Panpot

Haldi, your collectors item is exactly the same as mine. I wonder if they become tempered over time like woks cheers Panpot

I just purchased a large tub of vegetable ghee like Bobby Bhuna and intend to experiment with it, its certainly used somewhere in the process. As I have indicated elsewhere. I have an opportunity soon to get into the kitchen of a popular Glasgow BIR in the near future. I have promised not to give away any trade secrets but I am sure generalities like cooking tools, ghee or oil and other wonders I will be able to share. I am particularly after the definitive Glasgow Pakora recipe and ideally the base sauce and paste mixes. I will post all that I can once I have had the experience of a life time of cooking Curry now thirty years and like the rest of us on this site still searching for Nirvana. Cheers Panpot

I have a single portion and a double portion version and your right they just seem to do the business and if the BIRs are using them then their may be something in it.

I also currently use a ceramic hob and they work perfect on it though as I have pointed out on another post I am going to invest in due course in a portable gas ring like JerryM and other devotees. I certainly have witnessed these pans being used in a Take Away with the big power gas rings. They always let the contents catch fire and the pans take it no bother and with a wipe of kitchen towel they are pressed into use again immediately.

Thanks for the photo Unclebuck. funnily enough I have just explained how I am now using these pans on an other post. I got mine from a Glasgow Asian Store and it has the riveted handle with the wooded grip. They are the same ones used in my local Take Away in Scotland and I have seen them used elsewhere. I have an opportunity fairly soon to get into the kitchen of a well known Glasgow BIR and spend some time with the chefs. I will check out the pan thing there.

I am concerned though that the pans may well be made of aluminium but I only use them for curry and they do the trick with non burning and heat dispersal. Cheers Panpot

No never heard of it Bobby,but if its in Glasgow then I will check it out next time I am back. What about your thinking above when you wanted to revisit something any further thoughts?

I am not sure Secret Santa but they are used all the time in my local Take Away back in Scotland. I suspect they are made from aluminum but reasonably priced with a wooded handle and work really well with the chef spoon for frying stirring etc. I hope to get back stage in a popular BIR in Glasgow soon so I can make more enquiries.I have given my word that I will not betray any real detail but peripheral stuff like pans and maybe processes if not actual ingredients I should be able to post. Cheers

Bobby, Thanks for the nice compliment and forgive me for not responding quicker,I have been on the road and away for a while. I would welcome your further thoughts on my post above since you indicated you wanted to revisit something I had contributed. Haldi I wonder if the difference in the oil is that the chef used ghee rather than oil. I noticed when back in Glasgow rather large plastic tubs of the stuff in my favourite Asian Store. I am expecting to get backstage in the near future in one of Glasgow's BIRs and although I have given my word that I would not give away specifics I am sure generalities like oil and brands of basics wont betray their trust. I will post in due course.