Hi Ronnoc,

Personally, I really appreciate you sharing the recipe and committing to all this typing!   I'm pretty sure everyone else does too, but the questions are a necessary evil for the rest of us trying to get that last drop of stuff outta your head.  Please forgive us!

It sounds like you've been on the trail of this for quite a while and have a decent relationship with the chef.  I think that's great.  I know that I didn't follow-up with the initial contacts I had at a couple of different places beyond being friendly and nice.  Looking back, I should have - and it wouldn't be hard to do now - but, at the time, I wasn't trying to do this myself as I was close enough to the restaurants.  It's all a different story now, for sure.  I'm jealous.

Stew's planning on making this base, and I'm sure others will too.  I just used the last bit of my Saffron base yesterday, so I'll be needing to make some more in a couple of weeks (out of town this weekend, so no cooking).  This one definitely sounds like one that will give good results.

I put a lot of stock in, and have great respect for, these recipes that have come from personal accounts of BIR recipes.  They will always top my list of things to try.

Please keep up the good work and bear with us--especially us newbies!

Cheers,

ast

Hi George,

Fair enough.  This was before my time on the list, so I didn't see it.  I did do a search on the title of the book before I started the thread, but nothing came back.  Guess I should've just used his name.

Cheers,

ast

Hi Gary,

I guess the part that I thought would be the most relevant wasn't so much the end recipe (obviously not going to be a BIR one), but his insights on the tastes and characteristics he felt were essential to the tikka process as well as the effect of different approaches to the marinade (e.g. the differing effects with vs. without the yoghurt).

For example (and this is from memory), he was talking about the radiant heat producing a different charring on the chicken than the type you get from flames.  He felt that the charring from direct flame contact was what imparted a bitter taste vs. a more pleasant taste from the radiant cooking of both the tandoor and his mock-tandoor with briquettes he details in the cooking process for his version.  I thought this might be relevant in capturing the BIR Tikka taste, since they would use a tandoor with radiant heat vs. any of the grilling techniques we were likely to use at home.

To me, I find the way he thinks and explores the different effects of things to be where the real insights lie rather than the recipes.  They're almost the by-product, but the "good stuff" is in the exposition before each of the recipes are presented.

Even some of the cooking processes he explored in making the risotto reminded me of some of the things I was asking on my "what difference does this make" thread that nobody seemed interested in... 

In one case, he explored the effects of adding the correct amount of stock all at once vs. in stages and reducing it, or in adding it to the rice in a way that I don't remember.  To me, this smacks of my earlier question of what does the ladle-by-ladle reduction of the curry base in your final curry preparation really do to the taste of the resulting curry.

He found that there was a difference in the effect for the risotto, so maybe it's really worth seeing what the difference is regarding the curry base so we can collectively say "this is a better way because..."

What I don't yet know is how much of what's in the book's exposition is actually present in the TV show.  It seems more reflective vs. documentary, so maybe parts of it weren't on TV.

There were some other comments about the best time to add onions to the dish to reduce the chance that they would overpower or add bitterness, and that frying rice in oil briefly (as well as using rice at least 1 year old) helped to ensure it didn't puff up too much and turn mushy--qualities that would ruin a pillau rice as quickly as it would a risotto.

Maybe I'm just making connections that aren't really there; one of the main reasons I thought I'd bring it up to the masses. ;D

Thanks for the response,

ast

Hi All,

I was wondering if anyone else had picked up a copy of HB's book, Further Adventures in Search of Perfection, or had maybe seen the show.  I have to admit, until some of you were talking about him on other threads, I had no idea he even existed or who he was.  Since then, I got intrigued and noticed this book on the shelf while I was killing some time between meetings today.

It's fantastically interesting, but there's three topics that are relevant to us regarding making better BIR food:

1) He explores Chicken Tikka and CTM, providing his own take on both it and naan (the naan may be just the recipe I was looking for since it doesn't use yeast at all).

2) He gets up close and personal with the characteristics of rice while exploring different takes on risotto, including how much the mechanics of the processing of the grain influences the way it finally cooks.

3) He has some interesting observations of different tastes and characteristics of dried chillies and chilli powders in the chapter on chilli con carne.

Has anyone else seen this book?

I went ahead and bought it, because I found that I just didn't want to put it down.  I can try and summarize some of the info about each of the above, but not sure how interested people would be.  Also not sure about transcribing the recipes as there's a lot of text involved, and I'm not the copyright holder.

Cheers,

ast

Quote from: Bobby Bhuna on January 30, 2008, 12:46 PM
Ast - I see you were preparing for the Saffron base in that pic.

Yeah, same pic I linked to from the other thread.  Only one I had handy with the knife in it.

Quote from: Cory Ander on January 30, 2008, 12:31 PM

Quote from: ast on January 30, 2008, 12:16 PM
It may sound stupid, but what technique do you use with it for the onions and tomatoes?

Crikey AST!    I don't think that I HAVE a technique!  ;D  That's probably why I prefer a clever to a "decent" knife! 

But, for chopping and dicing (e.g. onions, tomatoes, coriander, etc) I just use two hands and "rock and walk it" over the stuff like it's a mezzaluna.  It works a treat for me, however incorrect and inelegant it may seem! 

Otherwise, I just use it like any other knife (e.g. for chopping boneless chicken breasts, slicing tomatoes, etc).  I use other smaller knives for finer work of course.

Nothing wrong with that, CA.  Just wondering.  Apparently, the Chinese do it the way you do to--cleaver for everything.  I know a friend of mine's Thai ex-wife used hers for just about everything too--including chasing him around the house a few times!! 

I guess I just got really interested in "proper" technique after I saw it in action first-hand in a commercial kitchen.  It was just one of those things you see and say, "I gotta figure out how to do it like that!"

Quote from: Cory Ander on January 30, 2008, 12:05 PM
[I really never understood why people (namely those that sell really expensive sharp ones, or those that are really embarrassed because they have just spent a fortune on one!  ) say that blunt knives are far more dangerous than really sharp knives   

They obviously haven't seen me wield a sharp one...blood..and missing digits everywhere!! 

Actually, CA, I'm a firm believer in this one.  I grew up on a farm in the Midwestern US.  Every kid I knew (me included) had a pocket knife from the time they were about 5 or 6.  Personally, I went in phases of having, not having and then having again.  However, the thing about dull knives is that you always end up having to work harder, press harder and you focus more on trying to make the actual cut than why you're making the cut in the first place.  Pretty soon, you've a finger or something where it shouldn't be, and whack!

I can see your point, though, but I think that it sorta comes down to what you're used to.  If you're used to having to put in all that extra effort, that then becomes normal, so you're not prepared when the knife actually does its job.  With a couple of exceptions, when I manage to cut myself is nearly always because I didn't have a sharp enough knife for the task at hand, it didn't cut properly, it slipped or something and blood sprang forth.

Still, you sure only cut things against your thumb (like garlic or other things you can hold) once if you have a really sharp knife.  Even our food processor blades bit me the other day when I was drying it because I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing and it just rested, yes *rested* for just a moment against my hand.  1 2mm-wide cut and 3-4 days later, it's now mostly healed.  Wouldn't have it any other way, though.  ;D

ast

Quote from: Cory Ander on January 30, 2008, 12:59 AM
I use the clever for chopping onions every time!

I think that's interesting.  It may sound stupid, but what technique do you use with it for the onions and tomatoes?

I have 4 chefs knives, including one fancy Japanese one that my mother sold me for a penny (some superstitions just die hard for her)--which is still in the box, but I end up using the one I use (pictured below, even if you can't see it very well) simply because I don't have nearly the space in this kitchen as I've had in the past, so the biggest cutting board that I can practically use is also pictured.


I used to use whatever knife was handy for a long time, then, many years ago, I was shown how to properly use the flippin' thing, and I haven't looked back.  The Chinese cleaver is on my list to buy as well, but I find that I don't cook much with bone-in meats, so I don't know how much use I'd get out of it.

I did think it was interesting that all of the BIR chefs pictured chopping things in the 2 or 3 videos I've seen from here also have fairly basic knife techniques.  I'm actually getting much better here lately since I've started making so many curries which has forced me to practice a bit more regularly.

I also give all our main knives a "proper" sharpening using a Spyderco sharpening kit about once a year, and I use one of those sharpening steels, "blade straighteners", on the main knives any time I'm going to cut more than 3 or 4 times.

If I'm in a hurry (and more often, when we used to have the space), I'll also frequently use one or two knives for different things (meat vs. veg) on different cutting surfaces.  To me, even though some of them are nice to look at, I'd consider them essential kitchen kit (along with properly-sized cutting boards to go with them).  My mother has a really nice one, but she only has A5-sized cutting boards, so you can't really use it properly.  If I was to cook there much, I think I'd have to end up buying some proper kitchen stuff because we cook very differently.  I don't think she uses hers all that much.  Like my wife, she'll tend to use the smaller, straight-bladed knives for just about everything.

I suppose at the end of the day, it really doesn't matter.  The stuff ends up chopped up and in the pot, but for geeks like me, I try to always get better, faster and safer with my cutting techniques every time I do it.  Guess that just makes me weird! ;D

Chop, chop! ;D

ast

Quote from: smokenspices on January 29, 2008, 09:26 PM

Quote from: ast on January 29, 2008, 09:16 PM

Quote from: Bobby Bhuna on January 29, 2008, 06:58 PM
it looks like only the two of us have voted Saffron, but I would certainly say it is better.

I voted for it too! ;D

In that case we'll split the E-Book profits 3 ways eh? (what's that, 5 quid each per book download) 

Whoo-hoo!!! ;D  We'll get rich for sure, now!

Quote from: Bobby Bhuna on January 29, 2008, 06:58 PM
it looks like only the two of us have voted Saffron, but I would certainly say it is better.

I voted for it too! ;D