I saw this sat on the shelf at Morrisons and thought 'my god, now even supermarkets are stocking curry base, cool!'. Sadly having used it last night to make a curry it is poor - avoid!

I didnt use it quite as it said on the label but used it as we would use a normal curry base.

Pete you have brought up something I meant to mention a while ago, try adding chicken stock instead of water to the base, I would make sure it contains MSG (could be called a number of things on the packet like flavour enhancer)

I have just cooked a base with a green pepper and it didnt seem to be anything different.

Actually thinking about it, it could well be the oil off the curry gravy that is the taste, reused.

I was present in a takeaway kitchen at change over time from one pot of old gravy to the new, they didnt just mix in the old, it was very thick by this stage and they used half a ladle from old and half from new.

I still think your base with 600ml of oil is the best Pete, in fact im tempted to lob in a litre and skim it off. When I have skimmed of curry base oil before it does smell like that taste if you see what I mean  ;D

The chilli masala I had last was swimming in the red oil, im sure it cant have got that colour from just the curry itself

OK this thread is again an attempt to bring together all the ideas on that illusive restaurant taste.

To my mind this can be one of 4 things:

1) An ingredient or specific preperaton of an ingredient
2) A taste generated by the cooking process of a BIR e.g. cooking 20 litres of sauce for 4 days on end
3) The fundamental difference between going to a BIR and having one at home
4) Technique


1) First off I have to say I agree with Pete, Ive been in a number of kitchens and there isn't a secret spice or ingredient that creates this taste.

One thing to bear in mind is BIR's use a lot of oil, I had a chilli masala tonight from my local and it was swimming, probably at least 3 TBSP of oil visible.

Other secret ingredients I have read about are garlic powder, tomato ketchup and a spoon of tandoori marinade in a dish towrad the end of the cooking process. I think there may be something in garlic powder but not the rest (haven't tried ketchup)

The other day I cooked an authentic curry and it had a taste similar to the elusive BIR taste, the only ingredient I could see that may have caused this was the initial fried crushed garlic. The recipe was for ~3 people and started with 8 plump cloves of crushed garlic.


2) The bottom line is the BIR kitchen is creating base sauce for a lot of dishes and a lot keep the sauce for ~4 days.  This will be hard to replicate unless we all take it in turns to come round to one another's houses for curry!



3) The most depressing possibility  . When we go for a curry we take a walk through the fresh air full of anticipation, our senses aren't dulled by an hour long cooking process. Of course its going to taste great!

I will be testing this in future by getting my missus to cook a curry from my base sauce (with strict instructions of course) and I will see if it is any different having not cooked it yourself (I doubt this is it)


4) The one the BIR's would like you to believe (when they aren't bullshitting about a secret spice).
Obviously a lot of BIR chefs are very adept at cooking curries, does this make a difference?

I will do a post in the near future about my curry cooking technique but again I doubt this is really it.


If I had to point out one thing that I thought was the root of the taste I would say it is related to garlic in some way.

Nice one Phil,

Methi - yes definitely dried fenugreek leaf.

The CTJ sounds almost exactly as I would expect the kitchens I have been in to cook it

It's all in the base sauce or maybe ghee to my mind?

cheers

Mark

I was told it cant be done online nor can you buy the course materials.

Im going to enquire if we can do it online or get the course materials, Ill let you know

My feeling on this whole subject is that we have all of the ingredients required and all that is needed is technique and to introduce other aspects of the BIR cooking process.

I believe as Pete does the base is very important, I have observed a few meals being cooked in BIR kitchens and the ingredients, bar the base, are no suprise. They all use a special spice mixture that they claim is secret and handed down in the family for generations etc, this is rubbish, it is just different variantions of curry powder that they have made up.

To my mind the secret is a combination of the recipes we already have plus the unique way a BIR cooks the meals, they have a huge pot of base sauce that is usually on the go for a few days. Also when you go to a BIR you are not exposed massively to the cooking process as you are when you cook it yourself, i.e. your smell and taste aren't numbed.

I will try this weekend to get my wife to cook one of my dishes and see if that makes any difference, I suspect it will

regards

Mark

I think they have less trouble with bunring due to the amount of oil they use also

Indeed, I reckon they use canned whole tomoatoes remove the juice and puree