Quote from: jb on January 20, 2013, 12:53 PM
I'm wondering how you managed to get so much surplus oil,could it have been from the pre-cooked chicken method? I must admit I dont't lke very oily curries myself. I had very little oil from mine as you can see...

As you rightly say, JB, and as I said in my post:

"It released a fair amount of oil (much of which - about 60ml worth - I spooned off).  But an amount of it came from the precooked chicken (and its sauce) that I added"

That's not to mention the oil in the pureed chili and the oil in the garlic/ginger paste, of course....

Bottom line, for me, is that the curry base tasted greasy, the precooked chicken tasted greasy and the chicken curry (unsurprisingly) tasted greasy.  I am truly sorry to say that 

To your credit, you also cooked the full 7kg version of BB1's base (I don't think anyone else has yet?)

Sorry guys, I was busy editing my previous post to add some comments (I wanted to post the photos first in case I lost my post!).  So my comments are now added to my previous post.

....Sad news, I'm afraid.  My wife (who has just eaten the chicken curry) has just informed me that she doesn't want to eat "that" again and for me to bin the rest of the curry base 

I made a "full size" (i.e. 7kg) version of BB1's curry base, exactly as specified.  I added 3 litres of water to the onions (which, as specified, half filled my stock pot).

It yielded about 11 litres of curry base.

I also made BB1's precooked chicken (but a one quarter sized portion and cooked for only 15 minutes rather than for the 1 hour specified)

I also made BB1's Chicken Curry (exactly as specified).

I took "1 heaped chef's spoon" to be equal to 60ml (as confirmed by BB1)

Here are the photos:

7kg of onions (unpeeled weight) plus spices and water:



After simmering the onions in water until soft and reduced:



After adding the oil:



After adding all the other ingredients and simmering for one and a half hours:



After blending:



After simmering again for 1 hour:



After standing:



Precooked chicken:



Cooking the chicken curry (single portion):



The finished chicken curry (plus about 60ml of excess oil that was removed):



The finished chicken curry:



Comments and observations:

• The final curry base was quite a bit darker than the photo seems to show.  It smells and tastes quite pleasant (but not sufficiently flavoured, to my mind, to constitute a "curry sauce").  It is quite sweet.  The coconut block isn't particularly discernable (flavour wise) apart from giving the base a degree of creaminess.  The base is a bit greasy on the palate; probably due, in large part, to the large amount of oil present, and partly due to the creamed coconut block (I have found this before when adding quite a bit of coconut block to a curry base
• The precooked chicken had a nice flavour (quite smokey)
• The basic chicken curry was interesting.  It released a fair amount of oil (much of which - about 60ml worth - I spooned off).  But an amount of it came from the precooked chicken (and its sauce) that I added.  The oil wasn't particularly flavoursome, nor did it have much of an aroma.  The final dish was quite greasy on the pallate, but otherwise enjoyable.  The texture was more "congealed" than I am used to (as can be seen from the photos)

The chicken curry was enjoyable.  I will certainly use the remaining base up.  But I doubt that I would make it again. 

Perhaps it's just that I am not familiar with this type of curry (Punjabi?  Pakistani?) cooking.  But it's not particularly like that with which I am familiar (i.e. Bangladeshi/Bengali). 

I have also never eaten a curry in Scotland.

OK, I won't add any more comments or observations, because I am sure I will be criticised and attacked for them. 

A huge thanks for posting your recipes, BB1, they are an enjoyable change from the norm on the forum.  And you seem to have made some of our Scottish friends very happy 

What a total load of old tosh!

I have seen this several times before:

• someone coming here claiming to work in a BIR and/or knowing the "secret" to reproducing BIR curries
• that someone posting all over the place
• that someone being seemingly quite literate (when it suits them) and being seemingly quite illiterate (when it suits them)
• that person having (seemingly) absolutely no regard for the forum, it's members or the structure, or the etiquette of the forum
• that person becoming most indignant when the SIMPLEST questions are asked in order to clarify their recipes in order to give others the best chance of replicating them
• that person threatening to stop posting because of the perfectly sensible questions regarding clarity of information

I am personally very curious about the other glowing reports that have been quickly submitted by "other members"  :-X

My assumption is that anyone legitimately posting recipes on this forum are doing so for the benefit of the members.

I also presume that they wish members to fully replicate their recipes.

I also presume that legitimate posters would like their recipes to be able to be followed as precisely as possible.

I conclude that anyone that is reluctant to do this is not genuine or sincere in that endeavour.

Anyone who disputes that clarity is good in order to reproduce a recipe is seriously misguided, in my opinion.

Anyone who claims that cooking is an art and not science (regarding reproducing posted recipes) is also seriously misguided, in my opinion.

Anyone who claims that batch size is critically important and that a "chef's spoon" size is not important, or that whether the "chef's spoon" is "level", "rounded" or heaped" is not important is also seriously misguided, in my opinion (in terms of replicating recipes)

I think that anyone who argues the toss otherwise is either seriously misguided or just here to argue the toss  :

I have cooked BB1's curry base (7kg version which, it materialises, is a SCALED DOWN version anyway - though scaling it down is a definite no no - apparently!) and will post my findings shortly.

I think BB1 has, so far, been extended the utmost courtesy, which many others here would never have been afforded...yet he is STILL offended!  Go figure! 

Posters of recipes owe it to themselves to make their recipes as easy to follow as possible.  Otherwise, they should not (cannot) be dismayed when others fail to replicate their results.

Quote from: scoobydoo on January 18, 2013, 06:05 PM

Quote from: Cory Ander on January 16, 2013, 02:45 AM

Quote from: Cory Ander on January 15, 2013, 07:35 AM
That said, I respectfully ask that BB1 please confirms the size of his "chef's spoons" and whether the measures are level, rounded or heaped

For anyone wishing to try this base, BB1 has confirmed (in another thread) the following measures for his "chef's spoon":

"1 LEVEL CHEF SPOON  2 TBLS
1 ROUNDED CHEF SPOON 3 TBLS
1 HEAPED CHEF SPOON   4 TBLS

My measures in my recipe are heaped"

BB1 has also confirmed that the weight of onions is, in fact, before peeling.

4 tbls is that 4 level or heaped tbls i am trying to make a half version.

Scooby,

I've taken it (rightly or wrongly) that BB1's "chef's spoon" is 30ml capacity (i.e. 2 x 15ml level tablespoons). 

And BB1's "chef spoon" measures, in this recipe, are "heaped", which is 60ml (i.e. 4 x 15ml level tablespoons).

I guess, unless BB1 wishes to put weights to his measures, which I doubt, we're going to have to work the rest out for ourselves.

Hope this helps!

Quote from: Cory Ander on January 15, 2013, 07:35 AM
That said, I respectfully ask that BB1 please confirms the size of his "chef's spoons" and whether the measures are level, rounded or heaped

For anyone wishing to try this base, BB1 has confirmed (in another thread) the following measures for his "chef's spoon":

"1 LEVEL CHEF SPOON  2 TBLS
1 ROUNDED CHEF SPOON 3 TBLS
1 HEAPED CHEF SPOON   4 TBLS

My measures in my recipe are heaped"

BB1 has also confirmed that the weight of onions is, in fact, before peeling.

I paid a visit to my local market, last weekend, and acquired this "Incinerator Extreme Hot Chili Sauce" which contains pure Capsaicin (which measures 15 MILLION on the Scoville scale!)! 





And here is their disclaimer:

BY PURCHASING THIS PRODUCT YOU MUST READ AND AGREE TO THE WAIVER BELOW:

I am aware that this product contains the hottest known ingredient in the world ? Pure Capsaicin, and hereby disclaim, release and relinquish any and all claims, actions or lawsuits that I or any of my dependants, heirs, family members or legal representatives, may have against Wildfire Chilli, Heatseekers Chilli and any party relating to any damage or injury that may result, or is alleged to have resulted, from the use, consumption, ingestion, contact or other use from Heatseekers Chilli Incinerator Extreme Chilli Sauce.

I agree that I am 18 years of age or over and will not give this to anyone under age and without their knowledge of the heat level and associated risks.
I will not consume if I have any health problems, including but not limited to Asthma, Heart complaints, Respiratory complaints or any other conditions or complaints. This should be added to food and only eaten in very small amounts.

To put that into perspective, the world's hottest chili, the Moruga Scorpion (an Aussie creation!), measures 2 million (or less) on the Scoville scale. 

So pure capsaicin is more than 14 times hotter than the world's hottest chili! 

The company supplies a range of hot plants, sauces and seasonings (http://www.wildfirechilli.com.au/).

They also have a downloadable ebook on growing your own chillies (here: http://eepurl.com/rc0kz). 

I also acquired Moruga Scorpion, Trinidad Scorpion, Bhut Jolokia (aka Ghost Chili), Habenero and Birds Eye Chili plants.

I look forward to trying all of them (especially the Incinerator Chili Sauce) in my phals 

To my mind, cooking (at least repeatability in cooking) is a science and a process, not an art form.  It's all about understanding and controlling variables and reproducibility.

Artistry plays a part in recipe creation and dish presentation, but not in reproducing established recipes and procedures in a controlled manner.

That said, I respectfully ask that BB1 please confirms the size of his "chef's spoons" and whether the measures are level, rounded or heaped. 

Clearly this is significant and important (and maybe more so than batch size) in being able to successfully recreate this base.  My "chef's spoon (level) is 40ml.

Once BB1 has confirmed that, I will be happy to make and assess a full scale batch of this base and compare it with a small scale (scaled) version and others.

Until BB1 confirms the size of a chef's spoon and whether it's level, rounded or heaped, I believe that trying to reproduce it is erroneous.

PS:  I presume that this is from a Punjabi owned (rather than a Bangladeshi owned) restaurant BB1?  Either way, that's a lot for posting; looks sufficiently different to be interesting and worth trying 

Cheers,

Happy New Year to one and all! 

May all you curry cooking dreams come true in 2013 (if they haven't already)! 

Just a question, Stew, why, when we (you) have a section of the (your) forum called "administration", are we (you) posting all of this stuff in "talk about anything other than curry"?

Is it any wonder why the forum is (structurally) all over the place? 

And, if the answer is that you don't understand the layout of the forum, why don't you change it/simplify it?

Oh, and thanks for the new pop up ads, much appreciated 

But, granted, it seems (so far) faster.  Any other member benefits?