What it's supposed to taste like?

corblimey

This weekend, my 'new recipe' attempt was lamb rogan josh. I followed the directions to the letter (with a bit of added chilli powder cos corblimey like it spicy! ) and while it was tasty enough (I'm not mad on lamb, I was hoping this might change my mind), it occurred to me when I took my first bite that I have no idea how it should taste, having never tried it in a restaurant. I chose to try it based mostly on the ingredients involved and the fact that it sounded nice.

This goes for a lot of my other favourite recipes: goulash; beef madras; bolognese. I like them all and they're in hard rotation, but I wonder if my recipes (which have mutated down through the years) would result in a dish that is unrecognisable to anyone used to restaurant-quality versions (or worse, even taste bad). I have no great interest in going into my local Hungarian takeaway for a bag of goulash and chips, primarily because I like my version so much and the 'real thing' would either ruin it or not get close to it, but maybe I should be comparing myself to other versions as I might be missing some deep complex flavour that would just blow my mind.

So I'm wondering if this is a normal thing for people on here, to have favourite recipes but not have any idea how they "should" taste, and are you, like me, vaguely perturbed by the concept?

Dizzyblonde

To be honest, I go by ingredients and personal taste. If I like it then that's good enough for me
I make Hungarian goulash, Moroccan beef stew, chilli con carne etc and yet I've never eaten them in restaurants.

the beer revolu

It totally depends on the person.
I love exploring cuisines and often try to do traditional or authentic versions of dishes. Sometimes it's great to learn all the rules and then choose to ignore them! Knowing the flavours and processes of a style of food can be very educational.
But I do all this because I am really interested, it's a hobby, really. If you're not that into it, why feel like you should be?
If you are really enjoying the food you're cooking I don't see a problem.
If you're tired with it, go explore!

LaChatteGitane

I do that all the time.
From ingredients I can pretty much imagine what it should taste like. And even then, I don't always stick to the letter with recipes.
If you've been eating and cooking for 40 odd years you do get some experience under your belt.
Last year I made Laksa (Malay noodle soup) for the first time and while I had never eaten it before I knew what it should taste like. It was a big hit, even with the Malaysian girl who was staying with us. (or maybe she was too polite to say otherwise :pac: )

corblimey

I think you might be onto something there, I'm certainly not experienced enough to be able to look at a list of ingredients and get a good impression of how they work together. I wish I was, because that would give me the confidence to monkey with the standard recipes I have to enhance them according to my tastes. I've avoided doing that because I have no idea if doubling this or halving that will ruin the dish.

Right now, the only 'experimentation' I can claim is when I remove something I don't like (for ex prawns in my jambalaya) or double the number of chillis I use (in practically every dish )

Speedwell

You have a "local Hungarian takeaway"? Gobsmacked. The closest "Hungarian restaurant" I know of is in Aberdeen. Lovely place but not worth the drive from Sligo The only reason I know how it should taste is that my father was a Hungarian expat and very picky about his goulash recipe (he would not let my mother cook it at all!). I cook Italian because my grandfather was from Rome and I worked in a restaurant in college.

I know how to make chili because I lived in Houston and went to the Terlingua chili championship (didn't win, but got an education). I know how to cook a mean curry because, heh, I used to live in Houston (HUGE Indian/Pakistani expat community there). I know how to cook Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Bosnian, Turkish, Cajun, and Mexican because I... well, you get my drift. You can get nearly anything in Houston.

I don't think I'd cook something in a cuisine I had never had before, but I would cook an unknown dish in a cuisine I had had before.

hardCopy

Sounds pretty normal to me. I got my first taste of loads of dishes by cooking them myself. If you taste as you go and it turns out to your own taste then bash away.

When you do a bit of digging on any particular recipe you often find there's no consensus on an official genuine recipe so why stress about authenticity? Lasagne: pork or beef, or both? Milk or not? Ricotta or Béschamel? See the coddle thread in this forum. Most of the time when you follow a recipe you're just trying to emulate some chef's recollection of a visit to a foreign country.

Moroccan beef stew made with mince and served over homemade wedges? It works, I doubt anyone in Marrakesh is overly offended and I'll enjoy the comparison next time I go to The Cedar Tree.

BLAND.
I think the worst outcome of any recipe is that it's bland i.e. doesn't taste of much or mildly tastes of nothing.
You seem to have found what YOU like, so I'd say stick with that. Indian cooking has so many regional nuances that it's very hard to cook the "definitive" anything. If you like it and if the people you're cooking like it then that's probably as good as it gets.

A lot of takeaways in Ireland dumb down their recipes for European palettes. I've found a lot of Indian restaurants food overly sweet.

The best Indian restaurant i've tried in Dublin is Rasem in Dunlaoghaire. It seems to have a subtly of flavour that other Indian restaurants lack and a creative menu. But whether it's representative of a local or regional Indian cooking, i've no idea.

Check out Rick Stein India - it might help you appreciate what you're doing in the kitchen.

In terms of lamb, i think it takes flavour very well, especially chilli, ginger, garlic and cumin but it does need a lot of this if slow cooked with tomatoes, otherwise it will taste a little bland.