Topic: Using the Glasgow Base Sauce

[Secret Santa]

There's a widespread and self-defeating myth that goes around this place at times that you can't cook BIR at home.

I don't know though natterjack. I certainly can't replicate the curries I used to have pre 1990 (ish) and they were far superior to the current BIR style. I can certainly make a curry as good as most takeaways now (essentially because they're Pataks based) and sometimes better but the pre 1990s version remains totally elusive.

It's certainly not a myth anyway...if you're long enough in the tooth to recall.

[Secret Santa]

It has inspired me to experiment and come up with my own base. One that uses all the onions of the Glasgow base, but not nearly so much oil.

I think the huge amount of oil used was my biggest gripe when I first tried it too. It's no problem in something like a madras where you can ladle it off at the end but I shudder to think about all the oil that remains when you cook a creamy curry like a korma for example.

Let us know how your experimentation goes if you make any progress.

[HeehawBaws]

Will do - next time I'm making a base.

If I was to describe the taste I'm talking about it would probably be "carroty" maybe even "burnt carroty".

Perhaps it was leaving it in the buffet warmer? Maybe we don't pay enough attention to the bit in the recipe that tells us to reduce and scrape the caramelised bits back in.

[natterjak]

I'm long enough in the tooth to recall my first Ceylon as a bright yellow thing with a striking coconut and ginger flavour. Nothing like a brown Ceylon a modern BIR would serve. And yes, I can't cook dishes like that either, nor have I tried. My focus is on modern BIRs which I feel I can mostly outcook, thanks to the massive decline in the quality of the offers out there on the high street.

If you're looking to replicate pre 90s BIRs I think you need to look at fundamentally different base recipes, and multiple ones for the different styles of curry. Good luck with that, not much info out there in recipes as far as I know.

[haldi]

It's certainly not a myth anyway...if you're long enough in the tooth to recall.

No it's not a myth
I was still buying curries of this flavour only a year ago
I know the chef who made them
He's about 60, so he has a lot of experience
I can't make these curries at home, but I know they are very simple
I obviously have not got the whole truth, but the base really comes down to onions and a savoury old oil
The base has "the" flavour
The curries are just variations on the base
A little hotter or a little creamier or a blob of fried garlic puree added at the end
The oil is the puzzle
It's thick, not a perfect liquid
I've seen white tower cans of it, stored in the fridge
I asked many times without a satisfactory answer
"How do you get the flavoured oil, I can't make it?"
the reply?
"fry something in it"
Not very helpful

[Garp]

I shudder to think about all the oil that remains when you cook a creamy curry like a korma for example.

Very good point there, SS. You cannot possibly use an oily base to make a decent Korma, or even a CTM.

[ELW]

ctm in Glasgow is normally a savoury dish, with no sweetener, always has been so this base will do just fine if your looking to recreate this particular chefs ctm. Some places have a base for korma alone depending on how much they sell as chewytikka has said not for the first time when he posted the masala sauce for tikka masala. Just the best system for what sells. The "Glasgow Base" & Ashoka base taste nothing like a basic curry, they are curry bases. There's very little spice in a curry mostly onion. Getting the base right is crucial & is where people fall short. Not overcooked or undercooked. If its not right you've no chance of recreating the dishes your local chef makes. Powdered spices / mix powders are just a method & not essential unless that's how your favourite place does it

[HeehawBaws]

Between foreign holiday and other stuff I haven't had to make a base since I last posted here, but this week I came up with my own recipe, which I will post to these forums.

I've tried to scientifically come up with a good blend of Glasgow and others and I've taken on board the comments about oily bases and creamy curries. You add oil when cooking, anyway.

[George]

I don't know though natterjack. I certainly can't replicate the curries I used to have pre 1990 (ish) and they were far superior to the current BIR style. I can certainly make a curry as good as most takeaways now (essentially because they're Pataks based) and sometimes better but the pre 1990s version remains totally elusive. It's certainly not a myth anyway...if you're long enough in the tooth to recall.

I agree. I think Natterjack has much lower standards and is wrong again, like so many times before.

[Peripatetic Phil]

I think Natterjack has much lower standards and is wrong again, like so many times before.

Is that not in the nature of an ad hominem attack, George, and therefore something that a moderator might reasonably want to caution the poster about ?

** Phil.