Topic: Some lessons in my local takeaway

[Secret Santa]

It was in fact half and half of plain veg oil and ghee...

Veg ghee or butter ghee? If you get the chance can you ask them why they do it this way and if it's veg ghee why do they think they need it? Cheers.

[Zap]

Veg ghee or butter ghee? If you get the chance can you ask them why they do it this way and if it's veg ghee why do they think they need it? Cheers.

My view on the entire veg ghee debate is texture, richness, and mouth feel.  Both coconut and palm have saturated vegetable fats (which are heart healthy).  These mimic the texture and feel of animal fats and most definitely are distinct from other veg oils in their effects.  I've done extensive amounts of vegetarian and vegan cooking, and I can say with certainty that it is possible to mimic animal fats using these substances.

Veg Ghee will mimic the richness found in real butter ghee, but at a substantially reduced cost, hence why it is used by many takeaways and restaurants.  I use Veg Ghee when I make my dishes and while not slap-you-in-the-face prominent in the final dish, it definitely makes a noticeable difference.

[Secret Santa]

I use Veg Ghee when I make my dishes and while not slap-you-in-the-face prominent in the final dish, it definitely makes a noticeable difference.

You present a plausible sounding theory Zap but I must be lacking veg-ghee taste buds because in a side by side test against a curry made with just veg oil I can't detect any difference at all. That's for meat curries though, I haven't tried it with veg curries.

Given the expense of veg ghee against standard veg oil though it does make you think these cost savvy BIR chefs would only use it if it added value in the final dish. I dunno! 

[Madrasandy]

Hi Jb have you managed to get back into the take away kitchens yet? Or got a date maybe. Love the base , have to make another batch this week . Looking forward to anything else you can get  from there , cheers

[JerryM]

Secret Santa,

It must be as you say taste bud.

I can relate fully to zap.

What put me onto it was ashoka (Marg) but more importantly TA carton in fridge always have slight solid debris.

I have asked at BIR and very clear butter ghee naan only and veg ghee rest. Must admit can see the mixture of oil and ghee although I only add v ghee to base - just a small amount (30g in 800g you can go wild and add more)

[Invisible Mike]

"The funny thing is,even though I was in the kitchen for about three hours my smell sense got so used to the place I couldn't detect any BIR aromas in he kitchen,my senses were well and truly blunted.It's only when I drove home with my goodies that I got that familiar aroma."

Hi JB. Great write up and fair play for getting in the kitchen. Just a quick one on the above comment you made. I have often thought the reason why we think we have not "cracked it" in achieving the BIR taste is because our senses have become dulled during the cooking process and by the time we sit down and eat we cannot appreciate the flavour of the dish properly. (I remember Gordon Ramsay commenting that you should never wear aftershave when going out to dinner for that very reason. - it corrupts your senses) And therefore we constantly tell ourselves there must be a secret missing ingredient that only chefs are privy to. I have thought it before but when I next do a curry (sadly not very often these days) I'm going to get the mrs to make it while I go outside and then come back in and taste it with completely neutral taste and smell. See if that makes any difference... :-)

[Madrasandy]

Hi jb,

Any news of when you will be getting back in to the kitchen of your take away again? Looking forward to whatever info you can obtain from them, especially if its as good as the base recipe 

[littlechilie]

Hi JB yep it must be about that time again. Soon  I hope, good luck if you go back in.