Hello,

Just seen this recipe and ideal to use up my pork loins but in the notes section the very last point, it states 'if you want to add more don't add' does anyone know the answer? Don't add more chilli flakes or chilli?

Thanks

Em

Hello Em

I have asked Steve to respond. Meanwhile, I think that if you want to make it (vindaloo), you should go ahead. If it is not hot enough for you, add more chillies, but not at the end. They need to cook a little with the meat and gravy.

Thanks for spotting that Em, I think its missing "if you want to add more heat, add more fresh chilli not flakes"

hope you do try it

Steve

vindaloo is, essentialy, a stew. That is, chunks of meat, slow cooked with excess water. The heat chemicals in chillies are not soluble in water, they have to be extracted with oil/fat, so if chilies are added at the end of cooking, you will end up with pockets of very hot chilli, rather than the overall glow as intended.

Oh dear, sorry but I cannot agree with all this chemical stuff. I love cooking curries, but if I had to work out everything the chemicals were doing it would probably put me off cooking in the first place.

you mean you can't understand it, so you rubbish it.

Ignorance is bliss. Have a blissful life.

Wilsonz,

Not having interest in something (such as the actual chemical properties and behaviour of the ingredients and processes involved in cooking, Indian or other food) is fair enough.

But what's not to agree with in what Lapis has said?

Lapis has a scientific background AND enjoys cooking, and is simply providing some helpful information which may explain results in cooking which may be unexpected.

One can choose to ignore them or make use of them, and that's totally fine!

But to disagree with all this "chemical stuff" is simply to negate the expertise and knowledge of someone else, for no fair reason!

x

I think Wilsonz post wasn't dismissing the scientific theory, merely suggesting that he cooks from love and passion rather than chemical compostion... Does it matter how a slice of bread goes brown to be able to make a nice slice of toast kind of thing...

Steve

I have learnt a lot from the stuff that Lapis has posted on this forum. I think it is interesting to understand things from a different perspective. At the end of the day it is horses for courses though.

Sid

Yes, perhaps it was just phrasing...

"I can't agree with" as opposed to "I can't be doing with" ...

Happy cooking to everyone, whether they want to follow recipes carefully, use them as a guide and shove it all in, merrily, or investigate the whys and whats on a scientific level.

Room for everyone, no?

It's all very interesting stuff...end of... How people choose to roll is up to them. Nobody is right and nobody is wrong. It is what it is. Personally I am grateful for the input that Lapis provides...even though I may not apply scientific reasoning when I cook a curry (or the likes) I am still grateful for 'food for thought' and the scientific reasoning behind stuff...it gives me something to think about when I am cooking a curry.

x to all!!

What I find most interesting is that some of the things that our grandmothers and mothers were doing in their kitchen and we learnt from them as a matter of course, are now shown to have a scientific reasons behind them, though they were only doing it through experience + learnt wisdom of generations!

I did not mean to be rude and must admit to having learnt a few things from Lapis in the past about how the chemicals react with other things. It was said more in jest and I was not dismissing anything Lapis said. Oh dear, however I am having a blissful life and hope it continues for a long time still. Apologies for not making myself clear.

Text is a very small part of communication and it is very easy for people to take things in the wrong context.

Sid

True that...!

It's so nice to have regulars here to come and chat with, that it's good to remember to respect each others points of view.

x

I think we all know, but are too polite to say, who has been rude here, and on countless other occasions. It's SO uncivilised: arrogant, dismissive, aggressive.

Such a shame, on such a civilised forum.

Phil