Quote from: JerryM on November 20, 2010, 10:43 AMWell, I'm certainly old enough to remember curries in the 70's and even in the 60's, but I would be very hard pressed to try to answer your main question "what makes a decent BIR madras for you ?". The simple answer is, "I don't know" : it just tastes "right", with no one element dominating the others (this is even more the case when you move up the heat scale to vindaloo and Bangalore phal : it is vital in the last two that the chilli content does not become the only thing that one can taste). What I do remember from the 60's and 70's is how much variation there was from BIR to BIR : this variation seems to have been almost completely ironed out, and although there are still (of course) good BIR, bad BIR, and simply average BIR, I do not think one still finds the same range of flavours for the same dish as one once did.
given the interest in madras then please put down thoughts on what makes a decent BIR madras for you.
i'd particularly appreciate thoughts based on direct experience of the 70's curry and even how we can retrace history. as an example i can remember on Wolverhampton market how there were no plastic bags of spice - they were all in tins. if you wanted a curry powder it would be made to order.
Oddly I have no recollection of curry powder ever being made to order, and I am not now speaking simply as a Southerner : I spent almost three years in Smethwick and the nearby Black Country, and made considerable use of the Indian shops as, at that time, they were the only ones to open on a Sunday ! I do remember trying to buy some lentils to make a dhansak, somewhere along the Hagley Road, and failing completely to explain what I wanted until I suddenly remembered the magic word "dhal". All of a sudden I was surrounded by lentils, of every possible shape, size and colour, and a delighted shop owner who clearly appreciated the fact that at least some English people were willing to try to communicate in a language other than their own !
** Phil.
It must be all this interaction with TasteTester about Burrito Supremes and the benefits of owning a set of kitchen scales. Shades of Fowler, Gowers, Weseen and Onions, please forgive me : I promise never to sin in this unthinkable way again.