Curry Recipes Online
Beginners Guide => Just Joined? Introduce Yourself => Topic started by: Steven Heap on February 24, 2016, 08:51 PM
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Whether you
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Hi Steve,
Welcome to the forum. An introduction would be nice as a few on here will just think your'e spamming. ;) :)
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Welcome Steve,
I hope you can learn from the forum and also share some of your knowledge with us too :)
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I hope you can learn from the forum and also share some of your knowledge with us too :)
I'd like to think so too. Otherwise I would definitely be classing this as SPAM and removing the post fairly swiftly ;)
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Be fair - he's probably been contributing to the forum for years. Where else do people learn BIR cooking?
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Might be a great book, or most of it might be lifted off this site, but sorry, I'd be wary of those reviews on Amazon.
Out the twelve reviews, only two are from verified purchasers of the book.
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Be fair - he's probably been contributing to the forum for years. Where else do people learn BIR cooking?
If his has Been contributing to this forum why change his user name?Most likely just lifting others recipes. On here since June 06, 2011, 08:42:39 AM, only 2 posts?
London.
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Why would he have a picture of an Andy Mears curry on his Facebook page?
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Who is Andy Mears?
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I hope you can learn from the forum and also share some of your knowledge with us too :)
I'd like to think so too. Otherwise I would definitely be classing this as SPAM and removing the post fairly swiftly ;)
I asked Steven to post on here, I found him on this forums facebook page, I thought an inactive member who is confident enough to write and get a book published would be a asset to the forum.
If his has Been contributing to this forum why change his user name?Most likely just lifting others recipes. On here since June 06, 2011, 08:42:39 AM, only 2 posts?
London.
He was a member known as SteveUk and hadnt logged in for years, Steven was going to re join using his real name but I suggested he log in with his old account where he could just change his name.
Sorry if Ive upset the locals by trying to get new members, and try and take the forum forward from its stagnent state.
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Andy your above post is bloody fantastic. Lmfao ;D
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Good morning all,
Sorry I didn
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Welcome Steven.
Any plans to put a digital version on general release?
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Hello Steven. Welcome, and sounds like you have a lot of experience and can provide us with a lot of useful information, and that can only be a good thing!
Hopefully, you might learn a few things from here too.
Oh, and thanks Andy for getting him here.
;)
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Thanks for all your kind encouragement. I am really please to be a part of this forum. I very much look forward to chatting more.
As for a digital release. Would that mean an eBook (published on Kindle, etc)? If so, I personally find Ebooks albeit cheaper to be not very favourable. So many people don't like reading things off a screen and like to have a physical copy in their hands. The only time I bought a Kindle book I sent it back to Amazon almost immediately because I wasn't even able to download it onto my computer and had to be on-line to access it. I felt like I didn't really own the book.
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Steven, I have to ask you a question!
Do you feel that your book would be benefit and help ones on here who have been cooking curries for quite a while and are very familiar with the BIR techniques/equipment/recipes available on this site already (the curry veterans :) ?) Could you honestly say that your book would improve their curries?
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Well someone had to buy it
:-X
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Made the spiced ghee and base gravy from the book today, the ghee has that instant restaurant/take away aroma and is easy and quick to make. Found myself constantly returning to the tub for a smell and a taste. Looking forward to starting a few curries off tomorrow with the ghee.
The base has a nice taste, nice aroma, not over spiced, had to thin the gravy for my own personal preference. I made a quick curry sauce and have to say the gravy worked very well indeed. The curry was well balanced and tasty, cant really comment to much until I have cooked a few curries tomorrow.
Cheers Steven, thanks for the book :)
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Welcome Stephen. Forgive my initial suspicions but from an onlooker's POV you must admit when someone turns up who's been a member on here for a while,having made no posts and then suddenly makes two posts concerning e-books, one promoting his own book, it does kind of look a bit suss :o
But your introduction has now cleared that up.
Oh, and thanks Andy for getting him here.
+1
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Hi all,
Thanks for the welcoming, I understand the initial suspicion until Madrasandy prompted me to write an introduction.
Regarding the question 'Do you think your book could assist a veteran?', to answer that question I would first ask myself the same thing (I have a fair bit of experience with this too). So, 'would I bother to buy a BIR style cookery book? ANSWR: Probably not. But that doesn't mean to say that there wouldn't be anything I would learn from it.
I'm aware of the general BIR videos so I wanted to focus on some elements in the book to make it different in terms of a 'deeper' knowledge and flavour. That's why I included an excellent and seem-idly little known technique for making seasoned oil (without having do resort to cooking 40+ onion bhajis or adding more oil to a base gravy and skimming the excess oil off to cook with). That's just one example of how my book differs.
And just like Madrasandy said, the smell of this oil alone is addictive. I even got a hint of the smell writing about it.
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Sorry, Steven, at
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Steven - thank you for flagging up your book and for explaining where you are coming from. I agree that most of the best curries come from restaurants in far away places like you mention and not from (too often) sub-standard BIRs. That said, I've recently had some superb-tasting food from two or three BIRs, so I now reckon the standard is going up.
How much do you expect to make from selling your book? After all costs and fees are taken into account, I doubt if it will amount to much. And as Phil says, from the buyer's point of view,
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Thanks for the feedback. I am happy to have the opportunity to address those questions here:
Q:
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Steven, Glad to see you have met the resident Statler and Waldorf ;D
Always willing to try something new, the base from the book gets an outing tonight, and going the whole hog and using the spiced oil, the mix powder, Jalfrezi and Vindaloo recipes also from the book. And as a measure will make a standard curry, using my normal recipe and mix powder but with the base.
Should be good, havent tried a new base in a while.
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I
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72 pages for ?10!? WHAT!?
I can print that off in 5 minutes myself for a hell of a lot less than you can provide it
In this day and age to go and say people prefer paperback and not even giving an option for digital download is a bit silly.
And old timers view in my opinion, as i rarely buy paperback anymore.
Excessive cost and takes up too much space when you buy lots of recipes books like myself.
Digital is easier to find certain recipes and references too, as most have a search and note feature.
Also Instant! I get excited when i come across a book that looks interesting and with an ebook i can have it open and testing recipes right away. I hate waiting for stuff to be delivered and having to pay for that service too.
Have you looked at google books as a platform for release?
I have downloaded hundreds of books of it and at reasonable prices. I don't think they take the mick with royalties like Amazon.
I have to agree with other members, we have such a deep resource of recipes and information on this site that ?10 for 72 pages of things most of us probably already know is too steep.
You should really sort out a digital release, you will struggle getting people to pay for what you are currently offering.
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Ok I do apologies. Next time I publish a book I'll consort your expert marketing advice. Some of you guys are obvious such curry experts that you couldn't possibly learn anything more. Discussion closed :)
Joining this forum reminds me of the time those two American hitch-hikers go into the Slaughtered Lamb pub in the film American Werewolf in London. lol.
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First impressions, after browsing about a bit.
Your still coming across as a spammer to me... even using your book cover image as an avatar
As for a digital release. Would that mean an eBook (published on Kindle, etc)? If so, I personally find Ebooks albeit cheaper to be not very favourable. So many people don't like reading things off a screen and like to have a physical copy in their hands. The only time I bought a Kindle book I sent it back to Amazon almost immediately because I wasn't even able to download it onto my computer and had to be on-line to access it. I felt like I didn't really own the book.
A bit of a contradiction Mr.Heap, as you are clearly trying to sell your quite expensive EBOOK
Payment and Delivery Details, clipped from your website
_____________________________________________
To purchase on-line in paperback form, follow this link:
or Direct Price (eBook):
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Ok I do apologies [sic]. Next time I publish a book I'll consort [sic] your expert marketing advice.
Please feel free to do so, Steven. I charge
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Ok I do apologies. Next time I publish a book I'll consort your expert marketing advice. Some of you guys are obvious such curry experts that you couldn't possibly learn anything more. Discussion closed :)
Joining this forum reminds me of the time those two American hitch-hikers go into the Slaughtered Lamb pub in the film American Werewolf in London. lol.
LOL
Please do! It looks as though you need it.
This forum is filled with people that are experienced and passionate about BIR.
If they give out advice i would recommend taking it and not getting the arse and running away.
Did you think people would be bowing down to you and throwing money your way when you made that first post!?
What your offering is nothing new and far from value for money, good luck with that.
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I've written a book and want to make people aware of it, nothing wrong with that. What I don't like is arrogant negative people. If you don't think they book is right for you, you don't buy it. It's selling well and I'm not here to justify myself.
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It's selling well and I'm not here to justify myself.
out of the 12 Amazon "sales" only 2 are verified purchases. You said yourself that unverified were sent FREE PDF copies by you.
It justifies itself
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Just ordered a copy
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Ok all, I think enough has been said about the book, other than what it actually may or may not deliver in the kitchen. It's very much a matter of choice whether you buy it or not and take the same gamble that many of us took or didin't take with books by Pat Chapman, Khris Dhillon Dave Loyden etc.
The usual "passion" about BIR has started to emerge, which doesn't always portray this forum or its members in the best of lights, albeit their intentions sincere, i would like to believe.
IMHO it is now time to limit the discussion to the contents in terms of whether they deliver the author's intention - which is obviously not to get rich from the sale of this book.
I think enough has been said about marketing methods, media format, will the book contain genuine BIR info, spelling mistakes, the offering of services at premium rates etc. etc. I now intend to limit the discussion to comments made by individuals who are in a position to try its recipes and provide legitimate feedback on the results, and any resulting on topic discussion,rather than what is simply now developping into "white noise".
Consequently, any subsequent posts will need to remain strictly on topic or risk being pruned.
Looking forward to your feedback MA.
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Well said CH. Time to calm things down a little!
Steven obviously has a lot of experience, and I'm sure he has an lot to offer here. I think the fact that he was asked to come here by MA shows that he hasn't come here to purely to pimp his book. When I asked him if an experienced BIR type person would benefit, he said that he personally probably wouldn't buy it. Not exactly pushing his wares.
We're all big boys and can decide for ourselves whether we want to buy his book or not.
Hope you stay around Steven, and pass on some of your experience. :)
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I don't tolerate bad vibes. I'm far from that. Good luck to you all!
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Steve there is very few people interested in authentic BIR on this forum, even the likes of JB posting recipes straight from his local take away recive criticism of the process he is showing us.
Many old members are well aware of the that this forum works and like myself sit back and watch the show, I wish you all the best with your book and hope you make a good return for your work.
Thanks also to MA for inviting you here, I'm just sorry the experience was negitive for you.
Cheers LC.
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As per my previous post, I have, and will continue to prune any subsequent post not on topic.
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Still pruning I see.
As a mod and supermod on other forums - I recognise the tinpot hitlers when they are in action. AOL were the worst I have come across - even deleting a post of 'Hello' !!
As a result, I will be merely a viewer / donater here. How long will you let this innocuous post last?
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Still pruning I see.
As a mod and supermod on other forums - I recognise the tinpot hitlers when they are in action. AOL were the worst I have come across - even deleting a post of 'Hello' !!
As a result, I will be merely a viewer / donater here. How long will you let this innocuous post last?
Not "pruning", Ghoulie (pruning is a positive activity, intended to stimulate strength and growth); what we are seeing here under the present r
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Steven, Glad to see you have met the resident Statler and Waldorf ;D
I find it interesting that the present moderator allowed the above insult to remain, even after I'd written to him to ask if it could be deleted. My guess is because he's so grateful to you for being a key member of the group who mounted a coup to get your man installed.
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So,I ordered my book from Amazon,I really shouldn't buy any more BIR cookbooks,I have far too many and I always seem to be disappointed when I get a new one.Full marks to the author for actually producing a cookbook though,if I had the time and resources I should gather all the information I'm learning at the moment in the takeaway and produce a book myself.
The book itself is ok,anyone starting out in BIR cooking would find it contains a lot of good information,if I had had this book twenty years ago it would be a goldmine of information.To be honest though all of the information(and a lot more) can be found within this forum.
Probably the most interesting thing in the book is the recipe for seasoned oil,or 'niter kibbeh'.I was sure this had been discussed on the forum before.After a bit of searching I found it,a post by Ghanna way back in 2005 (wonder where she is now?)
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,190.msg1078.html#msg1078
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Good on you for actually ordering and reading the book rather than merely pontificating on it, jb. Good detective work on Ghanna's posts too! :)
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Thanks for your feed back JB, very interesting.
London.
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Made the spiced ghee and base gravy from the book today, the ghee has that instant restaurant/take away aroma
But JB confirms the recipe is much like Ghanna's from 2005. I've made Ghanna's recipe several times I agree with Ghanna that the smell is 'out of this world'. But, in my opinion, it's nothing like the BIR smell, so I find your comment surprising and difficult to reconcile. The difference is the main reason why I don't use it when cooking BIR dishes. My guess is that IF (and it's a big IF) many BIRs use flavoured oil, it's more likely to come from the bulk cooking of onion bhajis, chicken, etc.
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Excellent book Steven - written as it should be - a simple, unpretentious style for the beginner to follow easily from square one to full curry making (most types covered). Perfect for those wanting the definitive guide without wanting to search all over the show for the many different aspects.
When my daughter was writing her book about an introduction to the complex Alexander Technique - I advised her to write it in a style that a simple layman with no knowledge of the subject could pick it up and read it easily and understand it. Something advice-wise I have given to many sales reps I have employed over the years when they complained about secretaries mis-typing their reports.
You have achieved this Steven - an admirable accomplishment - well done.
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@ Ghoulie,
Thanks you very much Ghoulie ;D
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Hey Stephen! Thought we'd frightened you off! :)
Hope you can stay around...
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It's great to see positive feedback on my book and also positive people's comments who are willing to give people a chance. When I read some of the nonconstructive negative criticism
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I've written a new book about South Indian food. I've always felt BIR is such a small genre and I really wanted to strive to broaden this cuisine further and introduce recipes and knowledge from a region in India that doesn't seem to get the recognition and attention it deserves. Here's a link for anyone interested:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Authentic-South-Indian-Cuisine-Steven/dp/1534703608/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468436664&sr=8-1&keywords=authentic+south+indian+cuisine
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https://www.amazon.co.uk/Authentic-South-Indian-Cuisine-Steven/dp/1534703608/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468436664&sr=8-1&keywords=authentic+south+indian+cuisine
It's showing "out of stock", Steven -- have stocks not yet reached Amazon ?
** Phil.
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Looks like its in stock now,
delivery date Monday 18th July.
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Thank you Graeme.
** Phil.
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Stephen
I've given your book a little plug on our Facebook page.
Good luck with your venture
https://m.facebook.com/pages/Curry-Recipescouk/135428449949115
Stew
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Thanks a lot Stew,
Sorry for late response, It's the first time I've logged in for ages.
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I've been busy writing a new book and posting recipe videos on Youtube. Didn't really like the tone of a small minority of the some of the people on the forum but 'oh well' that's the internet :P
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Perhaps if you were to offer a free review copy to one of the more respected forum members, Steven, there might be benefit for all concerned including yourself.
** Phil.
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Mr Heap has been busy.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcC3gqh4wEnHnHno4I8urmg/videos
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I only watched the paratha and naan and it is hilarious.
Donald Trump does Indian bread.