Ah yes, such strong memories of Dad coming in from the engineering firm, thanking Vishu for the great family, Mom throwing on a ham hock for dinner. (Great work Barry- just hilarious to me).
I could imagine that curry powders might not have had as much kick or they were on shelves for longer time and not sealed air tight completely degrading it.
Name of this sandwich reminds me of a joke-Cannibal goes into a cannibal restaurant,looks at the menu,"Missionary $5,Explorer $6,Politician $25".He asks the waiter "How come the politician is so expensive?" Waiter says "Man,you ever clean a politician?"
One thing to consider when doing scaled down versions of something that has to be cooked is that the surface area of the pot doesn’t get scaled down. This can cause a higher percentage of liquid to evaporate than would otherwise have evaporated if making a full recipe. To a lesser extent this can happen with solid ingredients as well with increased surface contact creating more direct heat on the ingredients which can change how it cooks. For example, it’s possible the curry had increased direct heat, causing more toasting and a more intense flavor than the original conditions with a full recipe. So scaling down proportionally doesn’t always make a faithful recreation if the cooking conditions can’t also be scaled down.
Cooking the spice prior to adding the minced chicken and ham would have coaxed out some deeper flavors and removed any rawness. The recipe does scream for ghee and some acid.
I think your curry powder might be more potent that the one they had in early 20th century. In addition to developments in logistics you have to take into account economy of scales. That curry powder they expect you to use has probably sat around a few years, as opposed to your less than one year old curry powder.
If'n he hath not yet done so, mayhaps Barry will attempt the vegan (carrot)hotdog, for the 4th of July. I've attempted it thrice, with only 1 time I'd call a success. Idk the key to that 1 success, but suspect it involved cooking the root more than recipe said, prior to the marinating process.
File under "Not Quite Indian Food", but I love curry powder. Here is what I would do: Boil a potato or a Swede until softened, but not mushy. 2 ounces should be more than enough for a sando. Add chopped onion to the pot and cook on medium low heat, with a little butter till softened, then add your starchy root veg, followed by everything else, but add equal parts coconut milk and stock, then a handful of raisins near the end. If you like fresh cilantro, chop up a clump and add it, before putting on the buttered bread. Chutney is always welcome.
So jubilee chicken, the progenitor to coronation chicken, was 1935. For some reason I’m impressed you could buy a “curry spice mix” in 1909 I always assumed people back then were afraid of spices lol
