Topic: What is your favorite mix powder and why?

[RubyDoo]

Do you have a base and sample recipe that goes with this mix powder? Is it right to assume that most of the individual dish flavour comes from the addition of spices to this mix when the actual dish is cooked?

Hi Spicey,

Sadly not i'm afraid, but it is something that I am looking into now that I have found my curry mojo again.

I think it is wrong to assume anything, but all the conversations I have had regarding old school and the snippets of information that I have garnered from them, suggest that there was alot more going on in the old school BIR kitchen by comparison to today's. 

If you use a base and mix powder that contains alot of spices, those flavours will be in the final dish, you won't be able to take them out. Like garam masala for instance, I don't want that flavour in every dish I make, so I wouldn't use it in my spice mix when I can simply add it to the dish when needed. So it stands to reason that I using a simple base and spice mix, will aloow the chef to create a huge array of differently flavoured dishes.

Spot on Axe.. Keep it simple. That is why I do not like CA' s mix. Too many strong flavours. Come to think of it his base didn' t work for me either. 

[goncalo]

Thanks for all your participation. I would like to clarify that this thread's purpose isn't to help me find out which of the 3 mix powders I mentioned above are the best, but rather what are your mix powders and why you pick them over something else. I'm glad this thread has picked up some interest so far

I think it was JerryM who at one point made a number of different mix powders from this site and ended up shortlisting only 2-3 out of them and this got me thinking. I've never given too much thought into the mix powder, but I would imagine if your base already contains coriander and your mix powder is high on coriander, that's going to round the flavor a little if not overpowering it.

[spiceyokooko]

I've never given too much thought into the mix powder, but I would imagine if your base already contains coriander and your mix powder is high on coriander, that's going to round the flavor a little if not overpowering it.

Which is why it's not wise to use x's base with y's mix powder and z's recipe, they're not really interchangeable and the results will be somewhat unpredictable at best.

This is one of the strengths of CA's suite of recipe and base/mix powder components - they're all designed to work together and give consistent reliably good results. Whatever people decide to use, it's best in my opinion to pick a base and mix powder that works with it, from there you can experiment/tweak the final dish construction to your own personal taste.

[goncalo]

Which is why it's not wise to use x's base with y's mix powder and z's recipe, they're not really interchangeable and the results will be somewhat unpredictable at best.

Exactly. Although, occasionally, you will be lucky with the result (i.e taz base seems to work very well with c2g)

[Peripatetic Phil]

To answer the question in the title of the thread : none.  I have never used mix powder, and have no intentions of ever doing so.  I add individual spices so that I have greater control over spice content of the finished dish.  Mix powder may be a time saver, but the only other benefit I can see is that it allows accurate trace-level spicing which is hard to achieve if the spices are added individually.

** Phil.

[Peripatetic Phil]

Old school BIR's appear to have started the commercial refinement of traditional Indian recipes for mass, repeatable, consistent kitchen production that the current modern crop of BIR's have simply refined down even further.

To revisit that old school taste one has to go back to that transition stage of traditional Indian food fusing with commercial kitchen practice.

That is exactly the same conclusion that I have reached.
** Phil.

[Derek Dansak]

Ok here goes, from 5 years experience i found ......

i always default to the DD spice mix given to me from a real bangledesh bir owner, simply because it is good and never lets me down.  (great for dansak btw)   

2nd...  the kushi spice mix is well rounded and great for rogan josh . a real gem also. (mild + subtle)

3rd  ... the cbm spice mix is pucka. especially with a dash of pataks madras paste to boost it.

i have jars with all 3 spice mixtures in my cupboard always.  i also renew them each 6 months with new spices.

of course each spice mix suits my personal  base,  so i cant guarantee it will work with your own prefered base. but thats another story !!     

 

[goncalo]

Ok here goes, from 5 years experience i found ......

i always default to the DD spice mix given to me from a real bangledesh bir owner, simply because it is good and never lets me down.  (great for dansak btw)   

2nd...  the kushi spice mix is well rounded and great for rogan josh . a real gem also. (mild + subtle)

3rd  ... the cbm spice mix is pucka. especially with a dash of pataks madras paste to boost it.

i have jars with all 3 spice mixtures in my cupboard always.  i also renew them each 6 months with new spices.

of course each spice mix suits my personal  base,  so i cant guarantee it will work with your own prefered base. but thats another story !!   

Quite interesting. Is 1 available on the forum?

Regarding CBMs, he has 2 different mix powders in his book. Which are you referring to? I've used the first one and while I didn't find it bad, I wasn't overly impressed either, although, only yesterday I made a giant leap using CBM's base/mix powder #1 in a dish I'd hardly ever cook - madras.

[Derek Dansak]

Yes 1 was available , named DD spice mix about 1 or 2 years ago. however not sure if its still stored on cr0. presumably because stew and the cr0 administrators dont have enough space to store everything ever posted over the last 5 years. 
     I will re post the spice mix tomorow when i find the exact measurments given to me by the chef.
      I always return to it , so its stood the test of time.   as i said before its great in dhansak recipies.   

[Malc.]

I will re post the spice mix tomorow...d the test of time.   as i said before its great in dhansak recipies.

Is this it?

coriander 2 tsp
cumin 1 tsp
paprika  2 tsp
curry powder 3 tsp  (any mild one will do)
tumeric  4 tsp