Quote from: Mikka on December 23, 2009, 07:26 PM
I want to try Goat soon.

Me too! My friend at work is from Pakistan and the women in his family are amazing cooks. He's always saying how he wishes he could let me try how delicious it is.

Anyway, he doesn't like lamb, but he said he does like mutton. Eventually it turns out that in Pakistan, they call Goat's meat mutton. He says it's lighter than lamb and really soft with a milder smell and flavour. It's the meat of choice back home for him. I'm trying to source some. Do you know how to cook it?

Cheers

BB

I was a bit sceptical when I seen that you were using beef but that looks delicious. I'd be all over that!

Hey guys

It's dawned on me recently that I wasn't completely sure what members meant by spoonfuls in their recipes. I know in mls what each different spoon holds but I couldn't quite remember if that was that level, rounded, heaped or levelled with the back of a knife (as BE instructs in his most recent base recipe).

I was chatting with CA and for his recipes, he uses bog standard out of the cutlery drawer spoons, rounded if unspecified. This is what I do also. However I'm assured there is a wide variation in sizes of spoon.

So, I'm going to buy a set of proper measuring spoons. I recently bought scales (I previously just judged by eye). This has improved my results - I'm no doubt getting closer to the result intended by the recipe's author. I think measuring spoons could help too.

Is anyone currently using measuring spoons? I think it would be a good way to standardise our units.

Any thoughts appreciated.

Cheers

BB.

My favourites are Bruce's SnS' and CA's. This is not only because they turn out good curries and are versatile but because the recipes are laid out in such a way as to leave no room for error. This is crucial.

That said, I've still not managed to make a base like the one I bought from a takeaway. It tasted very mild and more pleasant than any I've made. It was like a nice mellow oily soup. I need to try and buy more base from takeaways.

I've been thinking...

We don't know what this is for, but we DO know that the oil is reclaimed and goes into the base. How large is the base? I'd be for doing a scaled version of this to match the volume of say CA's base (I'm having a lot of success with it) and adding the oil in. Could be a good shout.

Quote from: Secret Santa on December 22, 2009, 01:09 PM
That's exactly what I thought when I saw it being made. But that's an awful lot of sour ingredients and chilli to be in a general purpose tomato paste (as opposed to a chilli paste), don't you think? Definitely within the realms of possibility though.

On reflection of the ingredients, it looks like it could be used as the garlic / ginger / tomato paste / spice mix for hot curries. Extra chilli could be added for hotter dishes. This could speed up the process of adding them all seperately.

Just a thought but don't you think there is a good chance this paste is their diluted tomato paste with a kick?

Quote from: Cory Ander on December 18, 2009, 12:44 AM
What do you consider to be "minimal spicing" BB (quantity per main dish serving, say)?  Are you saying you can't produce the BIR "taste" and/or "smell" if you use more (or a wider variety of) spices?

By minimal spicing I meant having a low volume of spice mix present in the curry, rather than the limiting the variety of spices used. I consider minimal spicing to firstly involve a sensible volume of spice mix in the base (I don't know precisely but most popular bases on this site use a similar volume). Thereafter I find using 1 tsp of spice mix in one portion of main is about right. Any more and I find the result is steering away from the BIR flavour. However your addition of a tsp of curry powder in the main works well, which is surprising to me. I know that I've tried using 2 tsps spice mix in a main and it's too much. Madras curry powder seems more subtle than most of the spice mixes I've tried.

As far as creating the BIR taste / smell while using more volume of spice... I don't think so - my attempts have got much closer since I've cut down. As far as variety of spices is concerned, I think you need the basics in place (mentioned below) but after that, a little pinch of this or that is acceptable I would imagine, as long as it's not a really alien or overpowering flavour. I don't think you need anything other than the basic curry spices to create a standard BIR curry e.g. Bhuna.

Quote from: Cory Ander on December 18, 2009, 12:44 AM
Are you saying that ALL of these spices are essential to creating the taste and/or smell BB?  And no others are?

I would say that most of these spices are essential to most dishes and by using only these spices you would be able to have a convincing attempt at most BIR curries, especially the classics. However there will be dishes in which not all of these spices are necessary and no doubt dishes that aquire the addition of other spices.

Quote from: Cory Ander on December 18, 2009, 12:44 AM
Roughly how much might this be per main dish serving?  Do you think you cannot get the taste and/or the smell without it?

Again, I'm not exactly sure on volumne but for example, I find that one dsrt spoon in your base and half a teaspoon in the main dish does the trick. I know that's quite a lot ;D Salt won't effect the smell obviously but yes, I think a fair whack of salt is paramount to reproducing the BIR taste.

Quote from: emin-j on December 17, 2009, 10:03 PM
That's interesting BB , I have never seen base added before Spices ( I could be misreading   ) I have personally watched two BIR Chef's cook my Madras plus a good friend of the family who is Indian and a very keen cook all put Garlic / Ginger / Tom / Spices first ,and have said Spices must be fried in the hot oil , not added after ,  interesting post BB 
Which Base and Curry Recipe do you use BB to be able  use minimal Spicing .

Hi Emin-J. You weren't misreading, just making assumptions, as I said nothing of the kind

It goes oil, then onion and capsicum if using, shortly followed by garlic and ginger until light golden, followed by diluted tomato paste, evaporate slightly, off the heat, then spices (including methi), back on high heat for 30 seconds, then base in the method I described.

I'm currently using CA's recipes with great results. However, I have mentioned that I think the synthesised spiced oil does little and that I enjoy my curry sauce a little thicker than CA does, again, no disrespect to CA, that's just regional variance and my preference - his recipes are amongst the best and most precisely documented, leaving little margin for error if followed correctly.

Cheers

BB

Quote from: Secret Santa on December 16, 2009, 11:07 PM
DD I couldn't agree more. None of this 'oh I definitely had a hint of the taste in this one', or 'I definitely caught a brief waft of the smell in this one'. Nahhh, when (if) I get it right it will be there, bang in your face, no disputing it.

Hey SS,

I disagree. There are degrees to everything. If you were trying to replicate a BIR curry using one recipe with a standard base / main from this site and another using a recipe for Scones, I'm pretty sure you'd say that the recipe from this site had the taste / smell of a BIR to a huge degree! It's not a true or false situation but rather an incremental process.

Cheers

BB