This has me confused!!!

I went to my local BIR last night. They have an open kitchen so you can see what is going on.

When they made my curry there was nothing that looked like this. First they put oil in a pan then added the chicken and what looked like a fairly thick paste They heated this for maybe 30 seconds, then added a ladle full of a clear looking liquid. I guess this is some kind of stock. This would have to be vegetable stock because it looks as though it goes into every curry (it was in a Huge catering pan). They boiled this for 3 or 4 minutes then kept adding a little more stock every now an then. I didn't see anything else being added 'cause I was too busy taliking with the manager!!!!!

At no time did I see any gravy that looked like this picture. I'm guessing every restaurant has it's own way of achieving a similar result.

Also I've seen written many times about the heat used in restaurants not being able to be achieved at home. I'm not convinced. For sure their burners in the restaurant look like rocket engines, but when I cook a curry at home the entire kitchen (and me) can sometimes get covered in burning spitting oil (little red dots of oil all over the kitchen makes me Mr popular with the Mrs ;D). Last night in the restaurant the heat looked much more controlled and nobody was running around swearing and there wasn't a burning blister to be seen ;D ;D ;D

All this leads me to believe there is no secret ingredient or technique just the correct combination of spices. I think personally I'm over complicating and over spicing my curries and it's time to go back to basics!!!!

Keepin it simple...I like it (being a bit simple myself )

Thanks Bryan

Cheers for the feedback Bryan.

Time to get cooking (although it is 30 degrees outside so I might wait a bit!!)

 ;D ;D ;D
Nice one Darth

Or it could be the look of an upturned cold shower cooling the 2nd burn!!!

Looks more like the after effects of a kick in the crotch  ;D ;D ;D

Whole basil leaf...whole green cardamoms.

Not odd really but at least I know 2 of the ingredients they use for sure!!!!!

"The taste" is 1/2 tsp ground hens teeth.

Not much of a joke.........not too funny either now that I read it back!

Ah well  ;D ;D

Hi

If you have managed to re-create a descent curry at home then well done. I'll try the whole taste test some time.

I agree to some extent that senses can alter during cooking but from the curries I've cooked it seems as though "the taste" is being masked by over spicing/adding unnecessary spices.

My curries taste "heavy" (if that makes sense!) and not at all like the "fresher" flavours in my local BIR curry.

In my humble (and possibly misguided) opinion, it's not a taste we are looking for anyway...it's a smell ! ?Apparently most of what we generally call tastes are actually smells (thats why we smell the wine before drinking it). So all I need to do now is walk around my local asian grocers holding a curry, smelling the the spices ?;D

But what do I know....I've gone mad..

I'm new to this forum so I may be going over old ground but....Darthphall said that he doesn't believe in whole huge quantity theory. I agree - otherwise all the producers who supply Tescos and Sainsburys with their "curries" would be able to replicate a BIR curry, and I think you'll agree most of them are no better than dog food!

As for the secret ingredient/technique....sure there are differences around the country but that "taste" always seems to be there. I don't believe it's beyond the realms of possibility that there is a secret ingredient/technique. Afterall the owners of these restaurants don't usually own one but many. Family members then end up running the places and his is how the secret gets passed on!!!

Just a thought.....

Looks like a great site with loads of ideas for producing that restaurant style curry. I've been tying for years with only mediocre results (although the expanding waistlne is testiment to my efforts? :-[ ).

I look forward t reading and trying out a few recipes.

Cheers