Topic: Anyone tried Julian's base yet?

[tongey]

I have tried the Curry2Go base gravy (3 litre version) and the result were ok. I have to say the smell was fantastic in the kitchen whilst cooking the base. When it got to cooking the curries, they were very good too. However, because I am still very new with BIR style have not got much to compare it against just now.

I am now in the final cook stage of the Bangladeshi 3 litre base which again smells fantastic. Tastes pretty good too! I will try and get around to cooking a curry tomorrow but may have to wait until later in the week. Plan for tomorrow is to cook up 2 batches of Pilau rice (500g per batch) and 1-2kg of Chicken to replenish my stocks. Probably half tikka, half plain.

I will post again when I have cooked a curry with the Bangladeshi base.

[tongey]

Well, I cooked the C2Go Bangladeshi base. I have to say the smell was fantastic throughout cooking. Like others have mentioned, I never really smelt 'that' smell whatever it is so decided to stop the initial cook after about 2 hours (inc. 45 minutes heating time!)

This was the result before the blitz


This was the result, post blitz before putting back on the stove....


After roughly an hour, of waiting (im)patiently the oil finally starts to release...


After a further half an hour I turned off the heat and waited another half an hour to see this.......


A pretty good result on the base.... so packaged it up for the freezer (as well as keeping 1 or 2 batches aside for cooking later in the week  )


Final Result.


Will get some more pics on here later in the week. I have already cooked a Madras but have not taken pics. Will try to get some tomorrow!!

[Tommy Timebomb]

Hi Tongey,
I am at the same stage as you or maybe just over a week ahead coz I've nearly finished all mine, I have three more cartons left.

I wish i kept note like you of the process throughout the whole episode but only logged the beginning and end.
My base tasted lovely but was a bit thick I think.
I brightend the photos up a bit as I sent them to my cousin to wind him up. ;D but I did come clean on this!

You seem to of yielded around the same amount as me so I'm posting my photo for you to see.
As for my finished curries they have tasted fantastic but not as photogenic as some of the ones I have seen on here so I will reserve the pics till a later date.
Anyway, not to detract from your superb results and post... Well done mate!

[tongey]

Hi Tommy

Thanks mate, your gravy looking fantastic too

Glad your having good results with it!  I have cooked one Madras with it and I have to say it taste really good. Will have to get a pic of it on here....

[Kashmiri Bob]

As Im relatively new to curry cooking Ive only used 3 different bases up to now.  One recipe I saw on youtube with tons of onions, garlic and ginger, and lots of water, CBMs recipe, and the C2go.  So far, I think there is a lot of mileage in Julian's recipe and the techniques and ideas behind it.  I liked the idea of using a pressure cooker and opted for a 4 L Prestige high dome, to use for the 3 L C2go recipe.  Now what about that "taste", "smell" "aroma", "vinegar"?  First time Ive used a pressure cooker so to I was a bit unsure of how much hissing should be going on.  The smell of the seasoned oil was very dominant very soon after the heat was turned up and up to pressure.  Spent some time hovering around the cooker sniffing away like a demented blood hound.  Nothing noticed to start with, i.e. no change in the smell.  I figured perhaps it would take longer due to the smaller pressure cooker (12 lb weight thingy).  After about 40 mins still no change, so I thought Id let things cool and have a look to see what was happening.  The onions were very soft.  Lots of sweetness, more than Id experienced before.  But I was using Dutch onions for the first time and thought they may be responsible, so I brought everything back up to pressure again.  15 mins later still no change in smell.  The kitchen was still full of the seasoned oil smell, which is very nice btw and did smell like a curry house. 

Id basically given up on finding the change in aroma and decided to switch off the heat (after popping outside for a breath of fresh air).  Thing is, my extraction fan vents outside directly and once out in the fresh air for a couple of minutes I caught the smell from the vent.  That was it.  Distinct change in aroma!  Difficult to describe it.  I can see how Julian would use vinegar as a comparison, but it was somehow much deeper, acrid, and almost sulpher-like? Julian also mentions in his book sulphites amongst other being produced/released during cooking of the onions.  I quickly ran in and took the pan off the heat.  After letting things cool down again the lid came off and I was greeted by an unbelievable rich smell.  The onions had darkened significantly.  I guess this is just caramelisation (or partial caramelisation).  Whilst giving everything a careful mix I found the dark "syrup" like substance at the bottom of the pan Julian refers to, and plenty of it.  The taste of this sludgy stuff was clearly the source of the aroma.  I havent seen this before using other base recipes/techniques.  Has anyone else?  Is it complete caramelisation or something else? Is this like the bunjarra?  I haven't made any as yet.

Ive definitely produced my best curries so far using this base.  Significantly better. But I havent by any means mastered the cooking of the currys themselves, and as curryhell said in an earlier post somewhere " .... a good base in the hands of someone with poor technique will at best product an average home made curry".  A way to go for me yet but Ill be sticking with the C2go base. Looked a bit more into the relationship between sulpher-like compounds in food and found that "allyl propyl disulfide" is the principle substance in onion oil, which has a very pungent smell. Commercially made onion oil is apparently extracted from onion cores using a process involving steam.  Perhaps this (in sufficient quantity) then is an intrinsic factor, or at least relevant in the BIR taste, specifically the base itself.  Presumably oils from the other ingredients will also be produced, which then blend in to produce that elusive aroma found in good BIR? I suppose one argument against this is that bases tend to be fairly bland when diluted, although reduction when making the curry itself I gather is an important stage.  Alternatively Im talking complete bollox. 

Rob   
 

[Secret Santa]

The only problem I see with your analysis getonthegarabi is that 99% of BIRs won't be using a pressure cooker to make their base sauces.

[vinders]

Thanks for the fascinating information getonthegarabi. That's really interesting.

[Kashmiri Bob]

The only problem I see with your analysis getonthegarabi is that 99% of BIRs won't be using a pressure cooker to make their base sauces.

Is that right?  I guess possibly so given the large amounts of base needed in many cases and limitations on the capacity of pressure cookers.  Perhaps the same result can be achieved without a pressure cooker, but with extended cooking time, how long I have no idea.  It would be interesting to know if anyone else gets this oily syrup residue during prep of the onions/base using their chosen recipe.   

[curryhell]

A good report getonthegarabi.  Great news that you are having success with this base.  I suspect the same affect will occur in non-pressure cooked bases, given that in many cases the onions have the living shite boiled out of them when you look at the burner used in one of CT's threads.  When at Zaals high temp was used for the initial cooking of the base.  I would  think that the same release of sweetness would happen but would not be so obvious because of the use of more liquid used in the cooking.  I think the term chef Az would use to describe it would be "when the onions melt"  ;D. The Zaal base i cooked was the sweetest i've ever made in 20 odd years using various methods.  Time i'd finished cooking the onions, they still resembled onions, but only just.  They were ready to disintegrate or "melt"  ;D
Carry on the good work and keep us posted on your results with the base and different dishes.  The first time i used C2G's base the result was not great.  But i learnt something from this experience and subsequent curries from using it have been very edible to really quite bloody good  .  My preference is still for the Zaal base with Abdul's enhanced being a close second.  I still feel that i have a little bit of work to do yet in this area though.  But this is all part of the fun.  The bonus being you get to eat some damn fine curries into the bargain.

[Kashmiri Bob]

Thank for the replies guys.  Here are a few phone pics of the C2go base.  The second pic is after the spice powders etc have just gone in.  I then transfered the mix to a larger (5.9 L) pan.  Not sure why I didnt do that first. When I do my next (third) batch I'll get some close-up pics of the dark oily syrup.





Not got many useable pics of actual curries as yet, but this is the C2go Vindaloo recipe made as the sauce to freeze down using leftover base.  The pics arent great as they dont really show the lovely red colour imparted by the crushed dry Kashmiri chillies (got these online from a place called the spiceworks). 




Just noticed I seem to have the same frying pan as Chef Nural at the Manzil.  All I need now is some of his skills!  Still, the sauce and the Chicken Vindaloos I made fresh earlier were mighty fine if I do say so myself.  All feedback/suggestions much appreciated. It is great fun learning. Cheers, Rob.