Quote from: Naga on January 30, 2013, 12:47 PM

Quote from: Salvador Dhali on March 08, 2012, 02:42 PM...And for 18 quid if it blows up after six months I'm not going to lose any sleep over it...

Well, SD, did it blow up after 6 months - or is it still going strong?

I'm looking for a suitable machine just now, so, almost a year on from initial ownership, would you recommend the Krups grinder?

I'm happy to report that I've used it every week for the last 10.75 months and it has failed to explode!

While I'd urge caution when it comes to whole nutmegs, house bricks, etc., it copes with general spice grinding duties admirably, so yes, I would definitely recommend it.

Quote from: George on January 28, 2013, 02:58 PM

Quote from: Salvador Dhali on January 28, 2013, 02:44 PM
Finding the right book title is a nightmare!

...The book title has to be the least important issue. What strikes me as a lot more important is having tried and tested recipes which are good enough to warrant publication - easier said than done!

Yes, tried and tested recipes are of course important. But in terms of disseminating the book to the widest possible audience and generating sales, the title is THE most important issue.

At the risk of repeating myself, when searching for a book on BIR cookery, there are certain words that people will type into search engines, online book stores, etc.

If your book title doesn't contain at least one (preferably more) of these words in either the main title or the subtitle, then the chances of it being discovered by a potential buyer are pretty much zero.

Finding the right book title is a nightmare!

There have been some great suggestions already, but it's always worth checking that the title you go for hasn't been used before. Many have, and often a number of times.

For instance, a search for 'Pot of Gold' in Amazon books yields over 2,000 hits:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=the+pot+of+gold&rh=n%3A266239%2Ck%3Athe+pot+of+gold 

Using an already common existing title isn't a problem if you're just going to stick to a PDF based eBook release, but if you have any plans at all to take it to the next level and launch it as a Kindle, or even a print version, then you need a title that makes it easy to find in searches.

In this regard it always helps massively if there is something in your title that relates to what the book is about - hence we have Julian's 'Secret to that Takeaway Curry Taste', Mick Crawford's 'British Indian Restaurant (BIR) Style Cooking', etc.

The titles may not be particularly imaginative, but type 'BIR', or 'curry secret' into Amazon books and see what comes up.

You can, of course, elect to call your book 'Pot of Gold', but add a subtitle containing some keywords (such as 'Pot of Gold - The Real Secret to BIR Cookery at Home', or something.)

Anyway, something to think about...

Like Natterjack I always fry mine until the water content has evaporated and it's just starting to take on a little colour.

Sometimes it takes on more colour than is traditionally recommended, but again, like Natterjack I've not found this at all detrimental to the finished dish. (However, I cook mainly hot, heavily spiced curries. In a more subtle, milder dish, any browning of g/g/ may be more noticeable.)

The reasons I like to cook it first, in no particular order, are: a) I love the smell of g/g when it hits hot oil; b) to cook out the water content; c) to provide the first base layer of flavour upon which to build the rest of the dish.

 

Quote from: George on January 27, 2013, 10:43 AM

Quote from: h4ppy-chris on January 26, 2013, 07:31 PM
Now my big question, what do i do now?

My best suggestion would be to try and repeat it, at least a couple of time, on your own. If the results are as spectacular as you tasted, when the chef was there, you could be on to a winner.

As for getting rich quick, I somehow doubt it. Perhaps Pat Chapman made a bob or two by publishing dozens of books but most of the other writers probably struggled to break even. It's a relatively small, niche market.

George is absolutely right.

I've been involved in publishing in one form or another most of my life, and can tell you that in terms of sales for your eBook you need to be thinking in the hundreds, rather than thousands. (Of course, over time, this will gradually build - especially if you also launch on the Kindle market. But be aware that Amazon take 30% in the UK, and 70% of some overseas sales. You'll also need to register for US tax for the eight Kindle copies you're likely to sell to the American market via Amazon.)

I'm not trying to dampen your fireworks, but unless you've put a book together before, then prepare for a lot of hard work. It isn't easy! 

That doesn't mean that it isn't fun and tremendously rewarding, but it is most definitely time consuming. If you're planning a decent size book (100 pages or more) that includes a good range of recipes, supporting information, images, and possibly a few video links, I'd recommend that you allow yourself at least six months to do the job properly.

Other things to consider when producing PDFs is that, unless you're wealthy enough to own a suite of Adobe professional publishing software (Acrobat Pro, In Design, etc), you're going to encounter a few compatibility issues when it comes to converting content to PDF format from other programs (MS Word, etc.). What you see is most definitely NOT what you often get!

Nothing insurmountable, but as I'm sure Julian Voigt and other PDF book authors will tell you, it can cause some headaches.

Then there are other details, such as editing/proofing. It may be that you're perfectly happy with your writing skills, but even so, the best writers in the world need their work proofing before it's published.

This can be expensive, but I'm sure that you'll get offers from a few generous and literate souls on here. 

As said, I'm not trying to put you off - particularly as I want a copy of the book when it comes out - but it's always best to be well aware of exactly what you're getting into before embarking on noble projects such as these.

Go for it!

I am unable to resist buying anything that contains the acronym 'BIR', so you've got another sure-fire sale here too.

Quote from: Secret Santa on January 26, 2013, 10:11 AM

Quote from: BIR-TY on January 26, 2013, 09:13 AM
Didnt Julian C2GO claim his recipes deliver the secret to the takeaway taste? Well they didnt for me

I think it depends on when you started to eat curries as to whether you'll think the books deliver or not. If, like me and several others on the forum, you ate in the 70's and 80's they won't even come close to producing the taste and smell of that era. If you started in the 90's or later they may fit the bill.

The real test for me is always the bhuna. All of the 'secret' books give laughably poor bhunas in comparison to the rich, savoury unmistakably delicious flavour of old style bhunas. Now they think chucking a few pepper and onion chunks into the curry and cooking it to a thick consistency is a bhuna...well it ain't! 

If there is a 'secret', then I think it is simply technique and skill backed up by knowledge gained over many years of experience working in a professional kitchen environment, day in, day out. In other words, the chef is the 'secret'. 

And this is admirably demonstrated by Secret Santa's bhuna example above.

In the 80s and into the early 90s the bhuna (specifically, lamb bhuna gosht, as it was described on the menu) was my curry of choice. Rich, intense, savoury and with a depth of flavour to die for, it was the benchmark I used to determine the quality of a chef in a restaurant, and when I found a good one I stuck to them like glue.

Sadly, the last decent bhuna I had was back in the early 90s, when the head chef of my favourite local restaurant went back to Bangladesh to visit an ailing relative, and never returned.

Since then, while the food at that establishment has remained above average, the classic bhuna is, sadly, no more. In it's place is the now industry standard curry which has merely been reduced over a high heat to produce a thick, cloying sauce.

Not one of the chefs taken on by that restaurant over the years can make the dish that the old chef made. For it wasn't a secret ingredient that made that bhuna what it was - it was the man who made it.

If I could find him and get him to teach me how he did it I would die a happy man...

That looks stunning, CA - and as RD points out, eminently edible.

I haven't tried making the GCB myself so have yet to experience the taste, but in terms of how I like my curries to look, that hits the spot.

Quote from: gagomes on January 25, 2013, 11:52 AM
Thanks Salvador. I bought green ones, but they definitely don't look similar, but oh well.

Just get the beggars in there!

It'll be fine!

If you're worried about them being too hot, while there's a general rule that the smaller the chilli, the hottor it will be and the larger, the milder, remember that the hottest parts of any chilli are the seeds and the membrane (the pithy white bit inside). If you scrape the seeds and pithy bit out you'll get the flavour of the chilli but not so much of the heat.

But personally, I find the best way to determine a chilli's heat levels is to simply man up, bite a chunk off, and chew...

Apologies if you know all this stuff already...

Quote from: gagomes on January 25, 2013, 11:32 AM
Thanks Salvador dali

As for kashmiri chillies, there was an interesting thing which I forgot to detail. When I arrived at one of the stores, the main supplier of vegetables for that asian store, was an indian from kashmir and he was there talking to the store owner and he approached me, after not being successful at identifying them with the store clerk. I asked for the chillies in dried or not-dried form, and he didn't recognize them - even from a ton of pictures. So, is there a more common way to refer to these chillies?

I ended up getting some green/fatty/big chillies which supposedly are milder, but unlikely to add that color which the kashmiri chillies seem to add.

An Indian from Kashmir that doesn't know what one of the region's most famous products looks like? Most strange!

That said, I've had similar responses when I've asked for such things as Ceylon or Sri Lankan curry powder, basaar powder, etc., from Asian stores. There are so many products out there I guess we can't expect them to know every single one - especially if it's not in much demand.

As for the name, there really isn't another way to describe them - they're known as Kashmiri chillies!

They are, as you know, very distinctive. Here's a snap of one from the last batch I bought:



And fresh they look like this (the Kashmiri is the large green chilli in the middle of the bowl - the last of my crop, hence unripened to red):