Curry

12 February 2004
I saw in Susannah's log file "...some of the most important spices to research include pepper (lots of info provided)... cinnamon... cloves..... and one of my favorites curry", and that sets me off on another odyssey of interesting links.

First stop: a dictionary everybody should know about, though few do: Hobson-Jobson: a glossary of colloquial Anglo-Indian words and phrases, first published in the 1880s. If I do a search for 'curry' here's what I get

And of course we need to visit the OED for its [literary] perspective. (and I'll add the word tiffin to your vocabulary too)

Another site that I think of as pretty useful is Penzey's Spices

The bottom line: 'curry' isn't one thing, but a cover term for a kaleidoscope of mixtures of various spices. A glorious subject. How to get a handle on it? A few sites that sketch something of the complexities:

Prepare Curry Paste and Powder for Asian Cuisines

"Curry is not a thing, it is a state of being"

Spice Library from Spices Board India

Indian Spices from The Cook's Thesaurus

...and here's what Amazon gives me for the searches curry spices (5000+) and "curry spices" (133)