curry secret

[mr. piper]

this i hope will interest someone, there is a recipe book called the "curry secret" by Kriss Dillon. it tells you how to cook indian food the way that it is in indian restaurants in england. it is not like the curries that delia or maddur write, it is authentic restaurant food, the birianis are superb and look the part, has anyone else tried it?

[brachiopod]

Yes, have a very old, yellowed copy that I bought quite a few years ago now. (I think it's yellowed both with age and turmeric).

Had some really good results with it - as you say 'authentic Indian-restaurant-for-the-British-palate cooking', as opposed to 'authentic Indian'.

[Chillum]

I concurry, fantastic book. Anyone striving for the restaurant taste at home should get a copy of this little gem.

[Quizmonster]

The Patak family - makers of jars of excellent curry-pastes - were recently involved in a high-profile case at the Old Bailey over the rights of the daughters to inherit parts of their father's estate. In the midst of all the reporting of this situation, it was mentioned that over 90% of Britain's 'Indian' restaurants actually use Patak's pastes. Maybe that's "the curry secret"! (Seriously, though, Mr P, I'll look out for a copy of the book.)

[ursula62]

Ah, but therein lies the rub... Indian restaurant food is not "authentic" at all!

I have this book. Granted, it enables you to create restaurant style food, but at the expense of the freshness and flavour you get from traditional Indian home cooking. For instance, the chicken dishes in that book are all made using pre-cooked chicken. You cannot get the same result using cooked chicken as you can from cooking the raw meat in the herbs and spices and letting it gently infuse the flavours as it cooks.

The Indian restaurant food we know in the UK today was never a "cuisine" as such. It developed when migrant workers who came to the UK after WW2 couldn't adjust to the subtle palette of British food and had spices sent over from home and did their best to recreate spicy food without recipes.  Prior to that, the "Indian" restaurants in the UK were Anglo-Indian food from the time of the Raj.

Madhur Jaffrey has a great line in one of her books. She says that no self respecting Indian man would go to a restaurant and pay for food he could have much cheaper at home, and that restaurant food, even in India, does not resemble traditional Indian home cooking.

[maitre d']

Try Pat Chapman's books [& range of products too] http://www.gcosta.co.uk/curryclub/

http://www.pat chapman.co.uk/

[sib444]

i am of Indian origin and i totally agree with ursula62. The curries in restaurants, take-aways and recipe books are nothing like the one we indians make at home.

I recently gave my own recipe to a british friend who loves asian food. She tried the recipes at home and said the curries she has been making at home are much better than any she has made/brought in the past.

[brachiopod]

ursula and sib, you're missing the point slightly.

The book (and the question) is about replicating the food we eat in 'Indian Restaurants', not about its authenticity compared with real Indian food.

We all realise it is a contrived style of cuisine, adapted for our British palate with its rather poor reputation!. But the success of the 'curry house' speaks for itself.

Perhaps if we'd been exposed to real Indian food from the start, things would have been different. But when 'Indian restaurants' first started to become widespread in this country, spaghetti bolognese was an exotic dish; and a well-done steak and frozen Black Forest gateaux at a Berni Inn was the height of sophistication.

[cheyenne]

I dont think you can get his Book anymore.Ive tried on the web but no luck.Having said that,there seems to be an E-book that you download after payment,but some people seem to think its not the real mcoy!!and not written by Kriss Dillion?Anybody out there with any info?cheers.

[mr. piper]

poss, although i did get my last copy from WH SMITH on order not too lomg ago! savvy

[mr. piper]

thats "LONG" soz

[Dom Tuk]

The term Indian restaurant is a misnomer. 99% of them are Bangladeshi restaurants run/owned by Bangladeshis and the chef is almost always a Bangladeshi. Talking of chefs in your bog standard bangladeshi restaurant that goes by the name Indian restaurant, the chef is invariably someone with no formal training in cooking but knows from what he has seen being done at his home and can replicate it. Besides he is the one with the stamp in his passport that says he can stay in the UK (not all the time though).  The rest of the helpers in the kitchen are usually Bangladeshi illegals with no basic qualification in cooking or hygiene. And i am not just saying this...i work there. If you wandered into our kitchen you would not eat there again. And if you saw the living quarters upstairs (yes all teh time upstairs) you would retch. Ofcourse the classier Indian restaurants in London are genuine and have trained cooks with qualifications but that is a handful. The rest are all bangladeshi and the next one of a lorry can work and cook there.

[cheyenne]

DOM TUK.just put my mind at rest and tell me you dont work in north devon.2 indians were raided a couple of weeks ago,and they arrested 6 illegals .And ive eaten in them.

[Dom Tuk]

Vinny1000...you mean 2 bangladeshi restaurants were raided in North Devon and arrested 6 illegals. No i dont work there but i am the rare Brit who works in these places. But make no mistake what i said is 100% true. Usually the bloke taking the cash is kosher( not illegal) and so is the head chef. reason being that if they were arrested the place will have to shut for the night. The others are all usually illegals and they cook and clean and serve the food. None of them have worked in kitchens before and usually have been bought into the country illegally by traffickers and they find jobs in the restaurant trade by word of mouth and organised rackets. Their jobs at country of origin would mainly be farming/odd jobs or in 99 % cases long term unemployment. If this lot are arrested they can always get new ones within the next day and the place does not have to shut. This is the only way this capitalist market works and if you want your curry cheap and minimum wages not to be paid then this is the system you have to accept. It is across the board and also applies to all kebab shops/pizzerias in the country. face the truth people

[brachiopod]

"and also applies to all kebab shops/pizzerias in the country"

And how do you know?  No, don't tell me, you've probably worked in all of those, too.

-

I love a sweeping generalisation in the morning.

[Dom Tuk]

Brachipod ....I cant go on any further with this. No i have not worked in all the kebab shops/pizzerias in the UK. It is silly to suggest that. But i have a indepth knowledge of the way these things work. My expertise is not restricted to Bangla/ Indian curry houses. I cannot elaborate any more. You will just have to take my word for it. Sorry cant elaborate anymore on this subject. Listen folks the food is good and they will not deliberately do anything wrong. Its the best that they can do under the circs. But they are not trained. Like if you went to India where no one knows how to make a shepherds pie and you sort of know whats in it and you have eaten it.....you can have a fair go at making it. Thats exactly what the truth is here. Want to test this hypothesis. get on plane to India and eat in the first restaurant you find. The food will be different. Same as the shepherds pie made by a Brit chav in India will be different from the one made in your local pig and fiddle.

so what you have had here for years as indian food is food cooked by bangladeshis who are not tarined cooks and making do from memory and the ingredients available here. Hence the differeing tastes here and in India.

[sib444]

I cannot believe what iam bloody reading from you guys (dom tuk/brachiopod). I hope people reading these message dont think ALL Asian restaurents and take aways are the same. I have been in this country for 38 years and have always lived in Nottingham. I know of many family businesses that were established way back then and are still running.well. As you may know Asians stick together and help each other out. These families have several generations working in their businesses. Some have branched out onto their own. I also know that 'chefs' do have to be trained these days. If someone applied for a job in one of these places the owner is not going to ask if he whatched his mother cooking at home, but where did he train/work previously.

sorry, brachiopod, for going off the subject before. We had started out with a question about a book and here we all are discussing illegals.

[brachiopod]

Please don't include me as a proponent of this "all Bangladeshi restaurant workers are illegal immigrants" statement, sib ! In my last post, the first line in italics was a quote from dom tuk.

The catering industry is notoriously poorly paid, wherever you work.There are well run establishments and poor establishments, and a whole range of standards of quality and hygiene in between,  irrespective of the cuisine or ethnicity.

Singling out only Asian restaurants or kebab shops for criticism, adding a bit of that current bete noir, 'illegal immigrants', and you have the exact recipe (pun intended) for the bigoted attitude that subsists in this country. Thirty years ago, this would have manifested itself in those ridiculous stories of cats disappearing in the neighbourhood of a new (Asian) restaurant, or 'half an Alsation' being found in the fridge of another.

Have we really not moved on since then?

-

I was shocked at dom tuk's posts, and wondered how he is qualified to make these statements and sweeping generalisations, other than reading the Daily Mail. His singular lack of objectivity makes it difficult to believe his assertions that "what i said is 100% true" and "I have a indepth knowledge of the way these things work" (sic).

And hiding behind a self-important, hush-hush "I can't elaborate anymore" merely heightens my disbelief.

[Dom Tuk]

sib44....how many Indian restaurants are actually run/staffed by Bangladeshis. A honest percentage will be enough. What you think, in your opinion. and how many staff do you think in these restaurants are not allowed to work in the Uk or have a legal basis to stay here. Go on answer that one. The truth sometimes can be bitter

[brachiopod]

Why don't you come up with some qualified facts and statistics, Dom Tuk?
You are the one with the "in-depth knowledge"
Or do you not have your "Daily Mail Bumper Book of Facts" to hand?