Quote from: chilli chopper on November 05, 2010, 11:49 AM
I agree that it is useful and fun to watch different people cook. But I guess its a bit of a hassle to upload vids to youtube, especially if you have to convert the video format from your camcorder before being able to edit it.

It is possible that other video hosting sites are less picky.  I use Vimeo by choice, and they have not yet baulked at anything I have attempted to upload.

** Phil.

Quote from: PaulP on November 05, 2010, 01:16 PMBy my reckoning and understanding of osmosis, the exact opposite would happen and the salt solution would draw water from the chicken making it drier.

Doesn't this require that there be a semi-permeable membrane which is permeable to water but not to salt between the flesh of the hen and the saline in which it is placed ?  Now I am no biologist, and it may well be that there is such a membrane (the skin, for example, if the bird has not already been skinned) but from a physics perspective there does need to be such a membrane for the osmosis to take place as you describe.

** Phil.

Quote from: haldi on November 05, 2010, 08:10 AM

Quote from: Chaa006 on October 25, 2010, 08:20 PM
... in view of the discussions in this thread, added one teaspoon fenugreek

Was this ground fenugreek seeds?

Yes, although pre-ground rather than ground by myself.  There are just five ground spices in my basic repertoire, although the spice cupboard contains many many more : ground chillies (or Bassar Curry Masala), ground cumin, ground fenugreek, ground coriander, and garam masala.  These are listed in decreasing order of quantity required (something like 3:2:1:1/2:1/4).

** Phil.

Quote from: fishy on November 04, 2010, 08:51 PM
Has anybody tried this ?http://www.indiacurry.com/faqhints/tenderchickencurry.htm

Following my earlier reply, I looked more closely at the site, and read at the bottom, to my horror : "Submit bid to buy this website and domain name  FOR SALE by owner".  So I think that in the interests of posterity I will have to clone all of its content, just in case Mr Gupta receives an offer that he can't refuse ...

Cloning complete : a total of 21,693,160 bytes in 2181 files

** Phil.

Quote from: artistpaul on November 04, 2010, 09:18 PMI'm now living in Turkey and constantly dream of Clotted Cream, impossible to source here

Ah, you might want to try here; they claim to deliver Clotted Cream by post to overseas buyers ...

** Phil.

Quote from: fishy on November 04, 2010, 08:51 PMTake a look, it's very interesting.

http://www.indiacurry.com/faqhints/tenderchickencurry.htm

I agree, it is very interesting  : thank you for drawing it to our attention.  What I particularly liked about it (quite apart from all the useful tips for improving flavour and/or texture) was that the author justified his assertions by referring back to culinary science.  On that basis alone, I am inclined to value this document more highly than those that make assertions without any accompanying evidence other than anecdotal.

But one other point comes to mind : when he writes "The chicken absorbs the water make it juicy and flavored with salt.", we had a roast chicken yesterday that was juicy, tender and full of flavour, yet had not been marinaded at all.  It was a Leckford bird, which I have long wanted to try but which have always seemed very expensive; however, on this occasion, my local Waitrose were remaindering a few, so I took the opportunity to try one and I shall now be keen to do so again !  The remaining half of the bird is now destined for currying, so I shall report back once that is complete.

** Phil.

Quote from: Secret Santa on November 04, 2010, 07:52 PM
The husbandry of the animals and what they are fed at a guess. I'm betting that that Hinxden Double isn't called that for nothing. What's it cost? About double the supermarket prices?

Don't really know what cream costs in supermarkets, but Hinxden Double 284ml cost me GBP 1-90 today, and should last me for about five days at four coffees/day.  I also wonder whether the breed comes into it : Jersey & Guernsey (and all C.I. cattle, as far as I know) are famed for the high butterfat content of their milk, which is why I  try to buy C.I. milk whenever possible.

** Phil.

For about the last fifty years, I have drunk my coffee with cream, ever since discovering the pleasures thereof in Twining's Coffee House in The Strand.  For a few years I switched to Elmlea, which seemed almost as good and lasted a darned sight longer, but then I switched back and have remained with real cream ever since.  But what surprises me is just how different one real cream can be from another.  Regardlesss of whether it's single, double, extra-thick, whipping or whatever, almost all supermarket creams taste virtually the same.  But just a few miles from our home, there is the Hinxden Dairy, and their cream is out of this world.  One sip of coffee with Hinxden Double, and I am transported back in time to coffee in Twinings, an establishment virtually unchanged since its inception in 1717. What is it, I wonder, that can make one cream out of this world, whilst the vast majority are interchangeable and little better than thick milk ?

** Phil.

Quote from: chilli chopper on November 04, 2010, 04:31 PMI did make a curry from the original 'Curry Secret' book by Kris Dhillon but it was disappointing.

Interesting,  I am just re-trying Kris Dhillon's recipes and methodology today.  After slowly but surely moving towards a more individual style,  I now feel the need to go right back to my roots to remind myself where I started.  The stage-1 sauce is just cooling now (one change : I used red onions), and I will try to take some photographs at subsequent stages (when the steam has cleared !).  One thing that I know in advance I will do is to double the quantity of sauce per unit of meat, and double the quantity of spices per unit of sauce : in my early days, these two modifications made a considerable improvement to the quality of the final dish.

** Phil.

Quote from: guitarmanguitar on November 04, 2010, 01:00 PMLooks pretty much like a Tablespoon to me.

Yes, they look very similar in some styles (our old family EPNS are identical except for size) but the desertspoon is only 2/3 the size of the tablespoon.

** Phil.