Quote from: Chilli Prawn on October 27, 2006, 02:00 PM
Ok, I have spoken to Mark, my BIR Chef friend...

A BIR chef named Mark?  Hmmmmm...presumably from the Markistan region of Bangladesh.

Caveat emptor!

YF

B.T.W don't you find people who quote from dead languages annoying?   :

Hi Ashes

Quote from: Ashes on October 26, 2006, 10:03 AM
A PDF file isnt editable (i think, or another non editable file)

Unfortunately PDFs are editable and there is no such thing as an uneditable/uncopyable text document, so that scuppers that idea. In my opinion it would also be a very bad idea to neatly package up the two years' worth of curry making effort that has gone into this site by tens of contributing members, and freely distribute it to all and sundry. Anyone who is seriously into the restaurant style curry making should relish trawling through this forum and by doing so it also gives new members an idea of our goals and what has gone before, so to speak.

QuoteFor me the spirit of cr0 is the freely sharing of information, ideas and recipes, a mini community dedicated to recreating our favourite BIR food.

I agree but I think it should be kept within the confines of this forum.

I hate to say it, but while the copyright of any individual information belongs to whoever posted it on the forum, the copyright of the forum as a whole belongs to Stew, the admin. The onus, therefore, when any copyright infringement is brought to our attention, is on Stew to serve notice of copyright breach and if that fails to produce results to then get heavy with an official lawyer/solicitor letter and so on.

YF

Do a search for "harlequin", you'll see it's surfaced quite a few times before.

The problem, George, is how do you define the core group? And what if one or more of that core group are the same scumbags who are ripping off this site's goodies? I agree with your desire to make it harder for them, but I think the practicalities of implementing any long-term solution make it a near impossibility.

YF

I have no intention of replying...D'oh!

Hi Mark

Perhaps CK could add that to the FAQ so that new members don't get confused.

I used to believe that cooking curries desensitised your senses but I did an experiment - which I've already posted a while ago - but in essence I blasted my senses by cooking a base sauce and a couple of curries while I waited for a takeaway curry delivery. I made sure I ordered from a place that I knew made curries that had the taste and smell. When it arrived, and despite the huge curry smell already in my house, when I opened the door I immediately got a waft of the "smell" from the takeaway. That's how powerful the smell is that I'm trying unsuccessfully to replicate.

When you eat at a restaurant the curry is cooked and on your table in minutes with both the taste and smell. So leaving your own efforts for a day before eating may improve the flavour, but if we're trying to match the restaurants then it shouldn't be necessary. So the answer to your question is that both the taste and smell should be in the curry the moment it is cooked, and I don't know about you, but I still can't achieve both and have never achieved the smell.

Hi hotbot

If you have kids the one you really want to stay away from is Tartrazine which manufacturers try to hide by using its E-number, 102. This is known to cause hyperactivity in children, amongst tens of other worrying effects on both children an adults. It is a red food colouring and when mixed with other colours can be used as a yellow (custard) or green colour (tinned peas).

If you are squeamish you may want to steer clear of cochineal which is made from the crushed shell of the female cochineal beetle. I've seen a bottle of red food colouring in Tesco that was labelled "artificial cochineal", can you guess what the colouring was? Yes good old E102, tartrazine. Devious buggers these manufacturers aren't they?

You ask if they are detrimental to your health and if so why do they allow it? Well, artifiial colours are cheap to make and cheap means more profit. Things are changing though. If you've seen the latest smarties advert, they make a big hoohaa out of the fact that they no longer contain artificial colouring.

Contrary to what CP says there are literally hundreds of non-natural food colourings still in use which are known to have detrimental effects on your health.

If it's not something you do already you should start reading the contents label on your foodstuffs. It'll scare the pants off you - or at least it should.

YF

Quote from: Chilli Prawn on October 18, 2006, 03:18 PM
...If you have read the article I linked on hints and tips you would see the amount of concern there is within the business community and the health authorities about the number of restaurants/takeaways that are flouting the guidelines on additives...

Whoaaaa there horsey! Don't try to teach your grandmother to suck eggs 

Here's a quote from my post in March 2005

"Pete if you are worried about cancer don't eat anything in a curry house that is red in colour. The colourings used are ponceau, tartrazine and sunset yellow. They are all carcinogens and tartrazine in particular has been known to kill asthmatics. There was a report that said some places exceeded the recommended use by ten or more times!"

and here's the link to that page:  https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=170.msg915

It's one of those topics that has been done to death - pun intended.

YF