Topic: hi everyone from corby uk

[Yellow Fingers]

Hi Curry King

It's a good point Curry King and one that I think I've made on here before. I've tried quite a few of the curries posted in this forum and while they are almost always good they have, at least for me, neither the 'taste' and more particularly the smell of restaurant curries. So it always intrigues me when people claim that they have achieved curry Nirvana and yet I'm left thinking 'well it's OK but it ain't a restaurant curry'. Maybe it's just a question of what you are used to?

I think it was George who first mentioned the great waft of curry odour that greets you when you open the door to a take away delivery. I've never been able to get this smell into my curries and that has to be the final missing element. Find the ingredient(s) that create this overpowering smell and I reckon we will have cracked this bloody curry lark!

While I'm on the subject, I recently tested the theory that cooking a curry dulls your sense of smell. I ordered a take away and then started to make a few curries for freezing, while I was waiting. It took about 30 minutes to arrive so I reckon my sense of smell would have been well overpowered by spicy cooking aromas. I went to the door, opened it , and guess what, I got a nice big waft of the curry smell I am trying to replicate. So it's so strong that it's quite distinguishable even after having my senses  saturated with my own curry making efforts.

YF

P.S. I forgot to say, I only started eating curries  around about 1980 myself when I lived in Notting Hill. I was  a two curry a day man then (ahh, those were the days ), and I never had a bad curry and they all had the 'taste' and the smell.

[George]

This maybe why I am more satisfied with what I can produce than others as I didn't start eating BIR curry until the 90's, as far as i'm concerned they are the same now as when I started  :

I must say I didn't notice any great change in BIR taste standards from the late 70s onwards, until well after year 2000. So, whereas in the 90s, most BIRs still seemed pretty good to me, I'd say the number of quite disappointing BIRs has shot up between the 90s and today. This is only my own personal impression. I'm not even sure I'm right. It's just an impression I formed.

Regards
George

[George]

I think it was George who first mentioned the great waft of curry odour that greets you when you open the door to a take away delivery. I've never been able to get this smell into my curries and that has to be the final missing element. Find the ingredient(s) that create this overpowering smell and I reckon we will have cracked this bloody curry lark!

Yes, I must return to this quest of creating the same aroma as a BIR take-away. It should be easier to produce the aroma than to achieve a great taste. It must be something simple. I doubt if any 'secret ingredients' are involved, so what is it?  Coming from the foil cartons, it can't be anything tied down in the kitchen either, like smells coming from the tandoor or a huge pan of base sauce, bubbling away.

Regards
George