I have followed this thread with much interest.  How do these curries compare to some of the tried and tested curries on this site. eg CA,s and the ashoka recipies?  Do experienced cr0 members highly recomend trying the curries on this thread? I recently purchased the authentic balti curry book , and cannot make up my mind , which to try first, the curries in abc book ,or the curries on this thread. Can anyone advise ?   

I am not convinced that anyone at cr0 has really replicated the true bir taste.  I would like to think one or 2 of us have managed to create the illusive taste, but sadly i doubt this.  I know many of us can beat 3 out of 5 local bir restaurants, ( i know i can),  but i cannot match 5 out of 5 local bir restaurants.  This site has enough info to create curries good enough to stop you ordering takeways.  But some real bir chefs have 20 years experience in there trade and know a few tricks !   To answer your question, I would say no one here knows the real benchmarks in creating the bir taste.  The ashoka lamb korai bhuna is close enough to satisfy me though. I make that most weeks and enjoy it alot.  Mastering this recipe takes about 5 or 6 attempts. This will teach you most of the benchmarks such as base consistency, how long to fry garlic, how long to evaporate the base for, and how much tarka to add etc.

Thanks for this Mark, i look forward to trying the new recipe very soon.
I searched for the butter gravy on cr0,  could not see it on this site. I would be very grateful if you could post this , as it sounds delicious ! I did see your nut gravy, and tomato gravy ,which i will try soon.
I think your posts are some of the most interesting posts since the ashoka posts, back in the good old days ! 
I am sure many people on CRO would enjoy that rogan josh . especially those who like healthy good tasting curry. Great work mate.

Having been away from the curry scene for a while , i thought i would try this recipe (and the onion gravy) Here are my findings.

The onion gravy was very similar to ashoka banjura paste. The main difference was banjura was slightly sweeter and had tumeric in it. Overall i rate both onion pastes highly.

Next i made the rogan josh.  The final curry was not oily in any way, and was much closer to traditional indian curry than true bir. However the taste was very very good, with a great balance of spices. Its one of the best rogan joshs i have made, and with a few tweeks, and more oil could be made closer to bir styleeee !

a while back we had some interesting posts from an aussie chef, and some lessons and recipies. it may have been JB or mark, cant remember. Did anyone rate these as worth a go. i thought they looked promising. any feedback welcome

phil, good post this one. i will try this recipe soon.  kd1 base is so good for madras. i like your thinking.
I made a stunning madras with kd1 base recently. i chopped 3 whole raw chicken breasts up into chunks, and added that to the final madras during cooking. i then removed half of the chicken chunks for the next day. the result was a really moorish madras sauce with a near perfect subtle chicken taste.  The chicken released a nice savoury  flavour to the madras sauce.  complimenting the lemon juice and fresh coriander . The next day it tasted even better, with a very bir style savoury taste. 

phil, try this with your madras recipe, i have a feeling you wont be disapointed !

its quite likely i may have been happier 2 years ago when i new a bit less. i have done a fair bit of playing around with my own bases and recipies on my own. still not got that far mind. but i guess i have covered what the taz base and recipes produced a while back. so maybe its just a learning curve thing.

i always new the taste i was after is not written in black and white on this forum. its something you need to scope out yourself to a large extent. the chef at my local would assist, and advise but he felt i should do the trial and error to arrive at my own special taste. he certainly wasnt going to spill the beans, but hinted that its all about gradual chnages to your recipies. i fully believe this. that toffee taste is nothing more than a spot on method and  , technique .   

for those wondering, i added no oil to the pan, just added base then chopped onion etc to the first 200 ml of base. i will have another go , as i still have lots of base left.   

George i only removed oil from the final curry after finishing the cooking. the base was left as per the spec for the entire process.   nothing went wrong, it was a nice meal, but not my best. and certainly not my worst, about average.

for madras i like the kd1 base with a bit more oil, and some green pepper. but i intend to try that base with the spice mix from the taz base next on my list !  so all is not lost     

i assure you it was made correctly. but isnt 6 tennis ball sized onions to 400 ml of oil an awful lot of oil. even by my standards its alot. and i always use lots of oil per curry. The base tasted very nice after i made it. nice flavour. but when i actually cooked with it, i was spooning off far to much oil. it oozes oil, in a way i never witnessed in the bir kitchen i visited. i accept he had a different style of making base, but each to their own i guess.  I have spent 3 years practicing the bengual type method of curry making, where little oil is added to the base, (as taught to me by a bir chef)  i then add lots of oil at the curry making stage.  I guess i am interested in finding like minded members on this forum , who also advocate this approach.