Only one reply so far which unfortunately doesn't back up this theory. I'll reserve judgement until at least 2 or 3 people reply to see if they all agree.

Hi I am soory I don't know u but suprisengly I am a chef too if anything I help u with anyway we don't put fryer oil in gravy or sause cause it have smell of the thigs u fry in it so get the best flavour u should use fresh oil sunflower if possible Sent using BlackBerry? from Orange

One of them (Baskar) might. He was the very helpful chap who runs the course that Emin-j is going on. I have asked him if he would mind writing down his entire Chicken Madras recipe from base through to finished product. Fingers are firmly crossed that he gets back to me!

I have emailed 5 in total including Yogi, the manager of the excellent Zaffrons in Farnborough. If anyone is local to the area and hasn't eaten there - what are you waiting for??? I used to work very close to them and would enjoy their Wednesday buffet almost every week. I got to know the manager very well and I'm hopeful he will have some nuggets of info for us!

I have emailed a couple of head chefs to ask their thoughts on this. They have been very open with answering questions in the past so fingers crossed they will both get back to me.

I've been wondering if an all-in-one curry would work well to scale like this. i.e. rather than making the base and adding it to a separate pan with the spices etc, why not add the required spices to the base ingredients and when blended it should taste like a Madras? It would be quick and very easy to produce. A BIR has to make a generic base as it is used in so many curries, if you are just making a Madras then it shouldn't matter, should it?

I would add the oil to the stock pot and add all the usual base spices to it, but I would also add plenty of hot chilli powder. I would fry this in the oil for a few minutes before adding the onions and the veg, plus a good handful of chopped green chillies, extra tomato (fresh and puree), extra fresh ginger and plenty of roasted garlic. Fry all the ingredients for a few minutes before covering with water and leaving to simmer for an hour or two. Once blended, the sauce should taste just like a Madras and you can leave it to simmer away for as long as you like, anywhere from an hour to 4 hours depending on emergency calls. You could add water to achieve the required consistency. When ready to eat, just add the chicken and its ready to go.

I've not put this idea into practice yet. It would be good to hear if anyone else has done a similar experiment and if so, how were the results?

MSG is a strange product as it doesn't taste Sweet, Sour, Bitter or Sweet which are the 4 main areas that our tongue breaks down tastes into. Instead it is the essence of the 5th (relatively unknown) taste Umami.

Courtesy of Wikipedia:

Umami is one of the five generally recognised basic tastes sensed by specialized receptor cells present on the human tongue. Umami is a loanword from Japanese meaning roughly "tasty", although "brothy", "meaty", or "savory" have been proposed as alternative translations.[1][2] The same taste is also known as xiānw?i (traditional Chinese: 鮮味; simplified Chinese: 鲜味 literally "Fresh Flavor") in Chinese cooking. In as much as it describes the flavor common to savory products such as meat, cheese, and mushrooms, umami is similar to Brillat-Savarin's concept of osmazome, an early attempt to describe the main flavoring component of meat as extracted in the process of making stock.

I used to make a 10 minute Madras by frying some garlic paste and tomato pur?e and adding some Madras powder. I would add the chicken and fry it for 5 minutes before adding some chopped tomatoes (blended ideally) and water to get a sauce. One it was bubbling away it would be ready to eat. It was actually pretty good for a quick tea.

When you say using a base is impractical, what do you mean exactly? do you never have a few hours free to knock one up? All you need is a big stock pot and a few hours free. Once it is made you can put it in Tupperware dishes and freeze. Even for an impromptu curry you should easily be able to make one in under 45 minutes using a defrosted microwave base. It would be just as simple as the recipe you described. Also, if you forget all that hassle with the chicken cooking and just boil some in cumin for 5 minutes it would probably end up being a lot easier.

The recipe looks excellent and I will have to give it a go. I used to spend a lot of time trying to adapt and improve bolognaise recipes until we discovered the Seeds of Change sauce. If you haven't tried it, give it a go. It wont be as nice as this, but for a 10 minute tea its hard to beat!

Hi Jerry

I usually pour on the cooking salt and rub it in. For an 8oz steak I guess you are looking at about a tbsp of salt on each side. When you come to wash it you will notice that the steak will have changed consistency with a slightly harder outer layer and lots of fissures where the meat is starting to break up and tenderize.

Good luck with the next go. It is a technique well worth persevering with.

My second Naga plant has finally managed to start producing fruit. For months the flowers have just been dropping off. I tried lots of manual pollination ant all times of day but with no effect, there was no pollen being generated. I decided to let nature have a go and put it outside by a lavender bush for a week. I've now got 15 chillis growing through. Good old bumblebees!

You can understand why its a well kept secret too. No chef would ever broadcast the fact that they use weeks old fryer oil in all of their main courses. It also probably explains the occasional bout of Delhi Belly which must be from the oil not being cooked for long enough to kill off the bacteria.

When I was at school our tuck shop sold the most amazing bacon rolls which as far as I could tell were just fried in a pan. I asked for months what her secret was. Eventually she told me she uses the same oil in the frying pan all term. At the end of the day it was just left on the hob to go cold, then fired up the next day. Pretty gross when you think about it, but the results were absolutely worth it.