So do Indian people like this stuff?

October 18, 2005 4:18 AM

Indian food experts (whether of Indian descent or not), please help me with some questions I have about some sauces I just bought.

My local grocery store has begun featuring an expanded collection of Pataks products. I tried some of their maranades and relishes on a whim, and damn them is some tasty sauces! My questions are: do actual Indian people find these sauces tasty and authentic? Or are these silly products that only white people buy?

(their website says that 70% of UK Indian restaurants use Pataks, but I'm not sure which side that is probative of)

Their website also says that their products draw from a wide variety of Indian regional cuisines. Is this true, or are they really only representative of a certain region?

posted by falconred to food & drink (15 comments total)

I'm not Indian and can't speak for Indian people, but have some knowledge of the cuisine. There is no way on gods' green earth that 70% (and I'd take a bet on any at all) indian restaurants use Pataks sauces. They MIGHT use chutneys, packaged spices or some other preserves, but definitely not curry sauces. Indian restaurant cuisine is not very authentic (but very tasty!), and is generally based on a variations made to a stock curry gravy made with thickened, fried onions (bhuna) and spices.

I guess you could say that the Pataks range tries to project an image that is representative of a cross section of Indian regions, but you should bear in mind that they can only really represent "saucy" regions. Some areas eg the far south tend towards dry fries or very thin sauces, and obviously jarred sauces don't make a lot of sense in this context. The "style" of typical jarred sauces is more Northern Indian / Punjabi than anything to be honest - thick and based on bhuna cooked onions and / or cream and nuts, although of course they have slightly bastardised regional variations.

Cooking Indian is a lot of fun, and really that complicated (although it does mean that you need to lay some some spices in that you probably don't already have laying around otherwise). It's a much better product than jarred sauces too. Check out any Pat Chapman books that you can find if you're interested.
posted by bifter at 4:32 AM on October 18, 2005

Just had a look on their site, they say that their PASTES are used in 75% of Indian restaurants in the UK. These are the prepared wet spice mixes, rather than sauces. I guess this is possible, although in view of the fact that many of these restaurants will buy their supplies from cash and carry shops rather than larger purveyors, then I'd suspect that their figure is unverifiable, and probably inflated (ie they probably commissioned a survey of 100 restaurants by phone, and 75% of the ones that would talk to them admitted to using their products).
posted by bifter at 4:35 AM on October 18, 2005

Sorry, a last point. I don't think it's unfair to claim that well known brands like Pataks, sold in small quantities do tend to be marketed towards white people and western prices in the UK (just look at where there are placed on supermarket shelves). You can buy other brands of things like chutneys, spices, basmati rices etc. in huge containers aimed at people that eat them every day rather than once a week for proportionately much, much less money than brands like Pataks. For this reason alone, I seriously doubt that many Indian people eat this type of product.
posted by bifter at 4:39 AM on October 18, 2005

The advantage of using Pataks or similar is that of convenience. I'm (also) not Indian, but I live in an area that's mostly Pakistani or Bangladeshi. In my "corner shop" (more of a asian supermarket than a corner shop!) they have a vast range of these jars, from a number of suppliers. They also have a spice aisle for those who prefer to work from scratch (which is great!). My guess is that if you want to pound the spices, chop the garlic, ginger and chillis etc. etc. afresh then you do it afresh. But you can't beat a jar for convenience.

Pataks also do chutneys, and (as Bifter says) I suspect these are what the restaurants are using. I have some of their catering size pots of mango chutney and lime pickle in my fridge. Mmm, that's nice.
posted by handee at 4:39 AM on October 18, 2005

I am Indian and live in India. Patak's is not sold in our country. I know of it only through friends abroad.

Most of us don't cook food with readymade curry pastes etc., preferring to make things from scratch instead.

I doubt many restaurants would use ready made mixes of the commercial kind unless it were some bloody-hard-to-find ingredient.
posted by madman at 5:03 AM on October 18, 2005

In one recipe on the Paqtak's site (aromatic chicken) it calls for something called "Quark"....

Other then putting a pinch of the little Ferengi (sp?) from Star Trek DS9, what is that?

Aromatic Chicken
posted by keep it tight at 6:27 AM on October 18, 2005

Quark is a kind of cheese.

Patak pastes are loaded with cheap fat and are incredibly expensive compared to making your own spice mixture. IANI either, but I rarely use the stuff, although I did find the tandoori paste to be not too bad.
posted by maudlin at 6:41 AM on October 18, 2005

Ferengi is farsi for "foreigner" or "westerner", so basically the recipe calling for quark is actually written for the fenengi.
posted by Pollomacho at 6:51 AM on October 18, 2005

I am of Indian descent, and my boyfriend is Indian, living in the States. I'd be surprised if that many Indian restaurants use Pataks, because of the price.

We do buy Pataks pastes from the Indian store, (especially the tandoori one) as it is much more convenient than grinding from fresh. However, I would be surprised if many Indians here use the sauces - they're too restaurant like, not at all what one would use for home cooking. They taste good, just not authentic, really.
posted by darsh at 7:06 AM on October 18, 2005

English Indian restaurants serve curries loaded with fat and based on a 'gravy' from which all the dishes are made. It's quite possible they use Pataks products as a basis. This is not authentic Indian cuisine, but it tastes great and some Indian people go for a curry in the same way that white people would go for a curry.

The Pataks sauces aren't authentic Indian, or authentic fake English Indian, but they taste okay. They're alright if you can't be bothered to cook and you want to sling some chicken in.

Does it matter if it's authentic?
posted by lunkfish at 7:13 AM on October 18, 2005

Patak's pastes and chutnies (in particular the Brinjal/Aubergine) are great. I'd never use a ready-made sauce for making a curry - it just doesn't have the same fortitude of flavour.

AFAIK Patak's products are made by a British-Indian family with quite an interesting history. IIRC they are a matriarchy, and there have been many years of wrangling over the family fortune. Worth a google, I think.
posted by coach_mcguirk at 7:41 AM on October 18, 2005

(IAI) My mom is a hell of a cook. Most moms in my family are at least knowledgable in the kitchen (big family, I have over 100 cousins). Therefore, I have never seen a bottled or canned sauce or pickle ever used.

I'd probably use the bottled stuff if I got desperate (hot date, no time to call mom for the good stuff), but I'd never willingly use it. I don't know of any white/coloured/non-Indian people that cook Indian food though (except my ex), so I can't speak for them.
posted by SeizeTheDay at 7:44 AM on October 18, 2005

This if really interesting info. Reminds me of when me and the wife go for Fake Chinese Food (anytime you see Canadian Chinese CUISINE, or alternatively, American Chinese Cuisine!, it's FCF). Mind you, not that it's bad (well, sometimes it is), it's just not authentic.
posted by eurasian at 8:30 AM on October 18, 2005

I am Indian. I think I have bought Patak's out of curiosity a few times. But most Indians I know do not use them and prefer to cook by scratch. Most non-Indian folks I know who enjoy Indian restaurant food tend to use Patak style mixes just because if you only consume that type of food a few times a year, why would you bother having a cupboard filled with spices you aren't going to be using?

As for the regional aspect, Patak's is more North Indian/Mughal.
posted by wannabehippie at 8:49 AM on October 18, 2005

See some previous discussion here...
posted by VulcanMike at 8:51 AM on October 18, 2005