Quote from: curryqueen on March 27, 2005, 04:51 PM
but I do feel that the green pepper enhances the smell and flavour.

and yes, I think green peppers are an important ingredient.

Quote from: curryqueen on March 27, 2005, 04:51 PM
Hi Pete,

Yes my gravy did turn out thicker than yours. Please don't give up - although I know you really don't mean that!

I think that we should get on the the Bengal and have it out with them. Having said that, they might get suspicious. I suppose we could be just friends or neighbours, couldn't we? I do feel very cross about the gravy, but I do feel that the green pepper enhances the smell and flavour.

What do you think then? Shall we accost them or not?

I don't see what we can do if Bengal has misinformed us.
They don't seem to reply to emails and they are too far for me to casually visit.
The staff all seemed so nice , though.
I am surprised.
If anyone else goes on this course, they must be very careful of this curry gravy issue.
Taste the stuff in the big pot and check if it has the flavour.
If you can't get this right, then you can't cook it at home.
I wouldn't mind making the gravy in the same quantity as them.
It freezes ok, I've tried it with loads of curries.
The main ingredient goes a bit soft, when thawed, but it still retains that delicious flavour.
I would have two months worth of gravy, made in one go.
The demonstrated curries at Bengal are very easy to cook.
That leaves only two possibilities of error.
The curry gravy is wrong or
You can't get the required heat on your cooker.

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I must confess that on witnessing the chefs making the curries it did cross my mind that maybe it wasnt salt they were adding but was actually MSG. There is absolutely no doubt that chinese restaurants use MSG and asian grocers do stock MSG (although they supply chinese restaurants also)

Quote

I had a bag of msg which I tried in various recipes.
I noticed no marked difference.
The stuff is odorless like salt.
I suppose it should react with flavours in whatever it goes in.
There was meant to be a cancer link to msg.
I stopped using it a few years back.

Quote from: Yellow Fingers on March 27, 2005, 03:55 PM
Hi Curry King

Quote
Where's your proof that there's no 'secret' ingredient in the curry when no one has ever seen the base sauce being made?

I suppose it's not really proof, it's more a character judgment.
I really believe these chefs when they say there is nothing else.
I have gone back to a chef and asked again, and he was most insistant that the base he gave me was correct.
I felt that further quizzing, was like calling him a liar, which I didn't feel to be the case.
Maybe I'm wrong.
But how much business would he lose by telling?
I know of noone outside this group who would be prepared to make these curries.
Therefore it would not noticibly affect him.
Are these commercial gas cookers capable of producing more heat?
Maybe we're not getting the oil hot enough.
We've all had brilliant chips done in hot oil and we've all had horrid soggy ones where the oil wasn't hot enough.
Maybe you can't make the curries on a domestic cooker because a lack of heat?

Quote from: curryqueen on March 27, 2005, 11:56 AM
Hi Pete,

I have already tried to email them and guess what! No reply. I don't know why because they were so full on and attentive during lesson. It can't be where they are so busy, because before lesson I emailed them loads. I'll try again though.

Same here, cq, same here!
Do you think we have been duped?
The curry gravy isn't right is it?
When you make your Bengal curry sauce, does it turn out? thicker than mine?
Being as that makes a very large proportion of the vindaloo, it has got to be exact, hasn't it?
The main flavour will come from it.
I feel like giving up.
How many hours do we spend on this?
I think we have the several correct curry bases on this site.
But in the restaurants they are adding to the pot all the time as they salvage the oil off the cooked dishes.
If you bought a curry on the first day they make the base, I bet it would taste like one of ours.
I'm trying a few of the recipes from this site tonight.
I've gone back to the base that uses the 600ml of oil.
That seems very hard to beat

Quote from: curryqueen on March 27, 2005, 11:50 AM
Hi Keith,

The Curry House Cookery download you are talking about by Bruce Edwards, does it give more info to that which Pete posted? If it does, then it's got to be good vallue at ?7.95. Could you please post the link for me.

This download is NOT by Bruce Edwards
It is by David Smith.
He has spent a long time working out the recipes.
He said on the forum there, that he had not got these recipes from indian chefs.
I have tried a couple and they are ok.
They are also a tidy format of recipes.
Everything is clearly laid out.
If you think that you will get a missing step ,bringing you closer to a restaurant flavour, then forget it.
You are wasting your money.
There are better recipes on this site.
The curry base, and other recipes are already free on his site, but there are a lot more in the download.
Check out the basics on:-
http://www.curryhouse.co.uk/rsc/index.htm
The only clear advantage is that there is a Q & A section where you can sort things out (after you have paid)

Quote from: ghanna on March 26, 2005, 06:31 PM
another waste of money for me .
ghanna

I'm really sorry
I wanted to buy it too.
But all these things are a con.
We don't know everything here, but we obviously know more than anyone else.
Could you post the curry gravy recipe, though.
I am still interested.
I have cooked a couple of curries tonight and spooned off the excess oil and put it back into the curry gravy.
This has made some difference.
Imagine doing that 100 times, like in a restaurant.
I think that must be it.
The missing flavour is the condensed taste of the evening's curries.

I was making two different bases today.
There is a very different aroma from the one made with green peppers.
Neither have the flavour yet.
I made the curryqueen prawn vinadaloo from the cooking demo.
I don't understand, but it still isn't right.
It has got to be the base because the cooking of the meal is so simple.
She's seen it made
I saw it made
Something is definitely odd.
It can't be an unknown spice.
I am running out of ideas and feel we are just going round in circles.

Hey.
How come if we have 161 members only 11 have voted?

Alright then, how about this?
All the meat, chicken and veg is precooked.
That is a definite procedure.
The oil from that and any sauce created goes into the curry gravy.
To duplicate this I would probably use the Bruce Edwards "Curry House Cooking" method.

I have been boiling some curry gravy for a couple of hours.
The oil goes very dark and the sauce seems to almost disintergrate.
I added some home made chicken stock.
Very tasty but missing the flavour still.
I no longer feel that the missing flavour can be made by prolonged boiling.
Sometimes I feel the aroma is there before I puree it.
That kills it dead.