qpw3141

I have a couple of thoughts on why restuaraunt curries are so similar (type for
type) right accross the country, and yet we can't seem to produce them.

I think the first difference is the amount of oil/ghee used. If you look at,
say, an IR Madras, it is swimming in oil. Very few people would use that much
oil in their home cooking, and I feel that is an importantt part of the
difference.

Secondly, I suspect that the amount of time the base sauce spends cooking plays
a significant part in getting the restuaraunt flavour.

Realistically, the chef is not going to throw the remaining sauce away at the
end of the day - why should he, there's no meat in there - nobodies going to get
poisened. I suspect that there is a big pot of base sause that gets topped up
with fresh ingredients from time to time. Thus, part of the sauce that goes to
make each meal will probably have been cooking for *hours*, and other parts for
a much shorter period of time.

I've never been able to get the exact brown gloop that comes around the chicken
in a chicken madras, and I am certain that it is not because there's some magic
ingredient that is added only by resturaunts.

I do remember being amazed when I went to a takeaway that has a very good
reputation, and from which we had had *many* excellent meals (delivered). I
can't remember why I went in person to pick up the food, but I was quite taken
aback by the small number of large pots on the cooker in the open to the shop
kitchen.

One day, I'm going to try making a basic sauce, and let it cook (probably in the
oven to avoid catching, for *hours*.

Quandon

bryan wallwork

to get poisoned.

oh?........... if you believe that, then be afraid, be very very
afraid.........
and do not cook for anyone else, please.

crunchie

Rick Stein does it (and thats with fish) his Restaurants, Books and TV shows
are doing ok. I did it for 20 years and never had a problem either.

Only problem is his thinking you cant get food poisoning from something
without meat!


Crunch................


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qpw3141

Please explain why I should be afraid.

I don't know if your comment is make from ignorance, or a misunderstanding of
what I wrote.

Quandon

qpw3141

That was not the inference I intended.

It is the fact that the sauce is heated to boiling point for a considerable time
that makes the practice safe.

If, however, there is meat in the sauce, and it is insufficiently chilled during
the time it is not "on the go", toxins can build up from the action bacteria
during that time, and although the bacteria are killed by subsequent heating,
the toxins remain.

Quandon

dave fawthrop

| I have a couple of thoughts on why restuaraunt curries are so similar (type for
| type) right accross the country, and yet we can't seem to produce them.

Because the sauce is all made in one factory?
At the Curry Project we use white 15kg Food Grade tubs for storage.
These were intially used to hold sauces of various kinds, one of which was
Tika Masala.

Dave F

dave fawthrop

| It is the fact that the sauce is heated to boiling point for a considerable time
| that makes the practice safe.

So that the centre of the dish reaches over 75 deg C, for a minute or two,
if you are serving food to the public.

Dave F

qpw3141

No, the sauce should be brought to a simmer, and kept there.

Obviously if correct procedures are not followed, this practice can give rise to
food poisening, as indeed can many others.


Quandon

qpw3141

An interesting idea.

But if that's the case, how does it come about that this globally used sauce has
been kept secret for so many years ?

The same argument as applies to some special secret ingredient.

I am convinced that it has something to do with the technicalities of the
cooking process, and has more to do with the requirement to have a perpetual
supply of basic sauce(s) available, than any act intentionaly undertaken to get
a particular flavour.


Quandon

dave fawthrop

| On Wed, 14 Apr 2004 14:02:30 +0100, Dave Fawthrop <hyphen@hyphenologist.co.uk> | wrote: |
| >On Wed, 14 Apr 2004 09:34:58 GMT, qpw3141@yahoo.co.uk (Quandon) wrote:
| >
| >
| >| It is the fact that the sauce is heated to boiling point for a considerable time
| >| that makes the practice safe.
| >
| >So that the centre of the dish reaches over 75 deg C, for a minute or two,
| >if you are serving food to the public.
|
| No, the sauce should be brought to a simmer, and kept there.

Simmer is slightly over 100 deg C in the UK, so fine.

I can not speak for mountains in New Mexico without more research. ;-)

| Obviously if correct procedures are not followed, this practice can give rise to
| food poisening, as indeed can many others.

Wrong! I was talking to an EHO on exactly this point a few days ago.
I now have his official letter mentioning 75 deg C for reheated food. He
did not give a time, so I added a minute or two, which is the lowest
practicable.
As a result I changed the do***entation from 82 deg C to 75 deg C for
reheating food.

For more information See:
“Industry Guide to Good Food Hygiene Practice: Catering Guide”
ISBN 0 900 103 00 00

Dave F