scw@cepu.UUCP (07/15/84)
tonight my wife, daughter and I went to an Indian resturant. While dining my
wife made the following observation. "Food should be just spicy enough that
the pain almost overrides the pleasure."
I observed that Indian food comes in 3 flavors almost bland, mildly spicy and
killer (for the net.games.frp types 20d6, 2 attacks), and that the increment
between 'medium' and 'hot' is indeed a big one. I'll probably be sorry tomorrowmorning but it sure is worth it.
--
Stephen C. Woods (VA Wadsworth Med Ctr./UCLA Dept. of Neurology)
uucp: { {ihnp4, uiucdcs}!bradley, hao, trwrb, sdcsvax!bmcg}!cepu!scw
ARPA: cepu!scw@ucla-cs CORRECTED location: N 34 3' 9.1" W 118 27' 4.3"gordon@bolton.UUCP (Gordon Partridge) (07/16/84)
A friend of mine is the lawyer for the company that manufactures Tobasco Sauce. He told me that 40 acres of the peppers are enough for a whole year's production! Gordon Partridge, GenRad, Inc., Mail Stop 98, Route 117, Bolton MA 01740
riddle@ut-sally.UUCP (Prentiss Riddle) (07/17/84)
Oh, come now -- keep talking like that and you're going to scare
everyone away.
Yes, some Indian food can involve spices reminiscent of napalm, but it
isn't all that way by any means. Much good Indian cooking available in
this country is no hotter than moderately spicy Tex-Mex, and there are
many dishes which aren't hot at all. Furthermore, some Indians aren't
fond of extremely hot food, themselves.
Oh, for a good dish of potatoes and cabbage, raita, rice, dal, a couple
of puris and maybe a little bit of mango-gunda pickle right now...
--- Prentiss Riddle ("Aprendiz de todo, maestro de nada.")
--- {ihnp4,harvard,seismo,gatech,ctvax}!ut-sally!riddleminker@cvl.UUCP (Jack Minker) (07/19/84)
I am a fire eater and would love to see some of these "HOT"
Indian recipes posted. I know alot about REAL Mexican food and
TEX-MEX, but not too much about Indian. I would especially like to
know what spices other than curry and ?Paparika? are used in Indian
cooking.
Could you please concentrate on meatless dishes.
Thanks,
Susaneac@drutx.UUCP (07/20/84)
About Indian spices: Curry powder (or paste) is not a spice in and of itself. It is a custom blend of spices. The Spice Islands variety in the supermarket tastes like the primary ingredient is cumin. A good Indian cook varies the ingredients in the curry (powder, paste or sauce) depending on the dish. Would anyone care to share their favorite curry blends? What is the best way to grind the spices (in particular toughies like fennel seeds)? Do electric coffee grinders work? Betsy Cvetic ihnp4!drutx!eac
marcus@pyuxt.UUCP (M. G. Hand) (07/21/84)
Here is a recipe for a recipe for a curry paste (untried) which i post in response to a question about spices used in indian cooking. 4oz coriander seed 2oz salt 1oz mustard seed 1/4gill vinegar 1oz garlic 2 dried chillis 1oz cummin seed 1/2 oz dried ginger 1oz safron 2oz bengal gram 1oz pepper 1/4 cup butter or ghee Bengal gram is a kind of pea flour madras currys are on the moderate/hot side, for a real killer try a vindaloo or even hotter, a tindaloo or a phall. Kormas are mild and creamy, dopiaza, bhunas and rogan josh tend to be spicy rather than hot. its interesting to note that the portugese introduced the hot chili to india, i think mustard oil was the predominantly hot ingredient up until then I generally rely on my own curiosity and madhur jaffrey's Indian Cookery (BBC 1982)
eric@milo.UUCP (07/21/84)
I have also tried Indian food, and I agree that it does have some kick. But I would say that Hunan, done correctly, probably has it beat. There is one particular place in San Fransisco (named, like all the rest, Hunan) which serves excellent, but deadly, food. Four of us went through 4 pitchers of water and two of tea, and it was worth every bit of it. -- eric ...!seismo!umcp-cs!aplvax!eric
marcus@pyuxt.UUCP (M. G. Hand) (07/23/84)
I have yet to experience anything hotter than a bland shadow of indian cookery in indian restaurants in this country. I've never even seen a Phall or a Tindaloo on the menu.....
rob@ctvax.UUCP (07/23/84)
I'll second pyuxt!marcus' recommendation of a phall (or pall) curry. I find that vindaloo curries, especially those served in Indian restaurants in the US, are real wimp affairs. Even in England, palls are a special order. The last time I conned a Welsh friend into having one, the waiter announced that he had ordered an ambulance when he brought out the food. Definitely a religious experience for those who like their jalapenos whole. (There was a guy on TV recently, who ate 70 in an hour! Maybe that should be posted to net.days-in-agony or net.stupidity.) "No pain, no gain" Rob Spray ...convex!ctvax!rob
dxp@pyuxhh.UUCP (D Peak) (07/23/84)
-->I have yet to experience anything hotter than a bland shadow of indian
-->cookery in indian restaurants in this country.I've never even seen a Phall or
-->a Tindaloo on the menu.....
-->
--> marcus hand
I concur even the vindaloos are pretty much a pale imitation.I was hoping
for better things from a small cafe that I found in Woodbridge,NJ but the
place closed down soon after I noticed it.
--
Dave Peak (pyuxhh!dxp)
Rev Jim - "What does an amber light mean"
Bobby - "Slow down"
Rev Jim - "What........does.......an.......amber..........light........mean ?"
Bobby - "Slow down"
Rev Jim - "What............................does.........................."clark@aurora.UUCP (Clark Quinn) (07/23/84)
<bland bug> This discussion of HOT food is one dear to my heart(burn), but I submit that the spiciest food for my money is Thai. I worked one summer with a young man from Thailand, who decided to expand my culinary horizons. Taking me to one of his favorite home-style Thai cooking places, he had them tone down the food for me, and it still blew my socks off! Tasty, too. And I could stand quite hot food even then. In those little condiment trays with three dishes around the center that you some times see they had three different types of chile peppers! I lost touch with Suwedh, but not my appetite for that good Thai food. -- Clark
rcd@opus.UUCP (Dick Dunn) (07/24/84)
>Something which illustrates regional differences with respect to >spiciness of foods: There is a Tex-Mex restaurant in Chapel Hill >which puts its "hot" sauce in condiment jars at the table; with a >lid and a little spoon. My wife and I generally cause much conster- >nation with the waitpeople when we just take the top off the jar >and dip in with our chips.... That might be, but it probably doesn't have anything to do with how hot it is. Once you do that, I'm sure they have to take what's left and toss it out (due to health/sanitation rules), then replace the container and wash/ refill the one you used, which is NOT the norm for condiments. Anyway, what's supposed to be special about dipping chips in the salsa (assuming a container appropriate for etiquette)? What else would you dip the chips in? Beer? (Maybe I'm just having a hard time imagining finding good salsa in a Tex-Mex restaurant in North Carolina, tho I've been wrong about such things before Now if it were in Santa Fe, I could believe good, hot salsa...:-) -- Dick Dunn {hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd (303)444-5710 x3086 ...I'm not cynical - just experienced.
joe@smu.UUCP (07/24/84)
#R:bolton:-20400:smu:12000005:000:451 smu!joe Jul 24 11:24:00 1984 I am a big fan of hot food. The hottest I have had at a restaurant was either at Queen of Sheba, an Ethiopian place, or Kobawoo, which is Korean (both in Dallas). Sometimes my nose gets stopped up when I eat very spicy food, but at Kobawoo my EARS got stopped up! Not only that, but the food still had a very delicious flavor; it somehow wasn't overwhelmed by the hotness, as sometimes seems to happen with very hot food. Joe Ramey convex!smu!joe
rcd@opus.UUCP (07/25/84)
>Here is a recipe for a recipe for a curry paste (untried)... I think that recipe (see "References") needs a little tuning up. Comments: >4oz coriander seed >1oz mustard seed Any problem with substituting pre-ground spices here? Ground mustard, in particular, survives pretty well. >1/4gill vinegar How much? ("units" claims that this would be one ounce.) >2 dried chillis What sort? A "chili" can cover a multitude of sins. >1oz cummin seed >1/2 oz dried ginger Much easier if ground first. >1oz safron Problem here. If you've priced saffron lately, you know why; an ounce of saffron costs more than an ounce of certain illicit herbs. Moreover, you'd be wasting the saffron in a mixture that's otherwise so potent. I might believe some small fraction of an ounce. >1oz pepper Wouldn't this be white pepper, most likely? -- Dick Dunn {hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd (303)444-5710 x3086 ...A friend of the devil is a friend of mine.
tristan@idi.UUCP (N. Starner) (07/26/84)
How come there has been no mention so far of Wasabi - Japanese green horseradish? You may not die from it, but in sufficient quantities it can blow your head off. The pleasant thing about it is 1) Once you swallow it it is gone. You don't suffer for hours with burning lips and mouth. 2) Your tastebuds don't become permanently impaired with continual indulging and 3) The Japanese food it is served with is much lighter than Mexican or Indian. (Of course if you don't like raw fish, etc. you may be out of luck.
ellen@ucla-cs.UUCP (07/26/84)
I know from living in Indonesia, that the food varies from quite mild and
sweet (yes, the Javanese put palm sugar into almost every dish they cook)
to killer hot (the Balinese and Sumatrans are not shy of the chili). I
lived with a Balinese family who, during a meal, would break out in a sweat,
develop runny noses and watery eyes from the heat of the food, so that they
were blowing their noses and mopping their brows throughout. They LOVED
it. I had always assumed that people who ate HOT food were used to it and
wouldn't have the same responses that tenderfeet had, but NO-OOO...The only
diffence is that delicious encounters with nearly raw chilis in food (esp-
cially Thai) give me the hiccups.
To counteract the heat, Indonesians eat raw or very slightly pickled
cucumbers, or fresh fruits, such as bananas, of which there must be a dozen
kinds, or papayas. Also, traditionally, dishes of sambal, various HOT relishes,
are placed on the table so that the diner can decide just how hot s/he really
wants the food to be. When i say hot relishes, i mean HOT, not these wimpy
pickled chilis served in Thai restaurants here, but fresh red chilis ground to
a paste, seeds and all, perhaps with the addition of garlic, onion, citrus
juice (they don't have lemons or limes as we know them, but other much tastier
and more pungent varieties), and shrimp paste. The hottest i've had combined
steamed red chilis ground to a paste, seeds and all, with fresh raw green
chilis, shrimp paste, and fermented soy bean paste. PUNGENT!marcus@pyuxt.UUCP (M. G. Hand) (07/27/84)
In regard to not drinking and what to drink with currys. Raita is certainly the most refreshing item for the table, but beer, although it goes well with curries, is not much better than water for providing relief. I think what happens is that a film of food gets attached to ones tongue, and if you drink it is cleaned off to reveal a fresh surface for burning. I've always found the indian breads a great relief (chapati, naan, paratha etc) - they seem to cool the old gob down a bit. marcus hand (pyuxt!marcus) PS I wasn't actually seriously suggesting anyone trys a Phall unless they're very sure - I was just commenting that Indian restaurants in USA seem to be reluctant to serve food at its normal spiciness. (I want my Madras...)
marcus@pyuxt.UUCP (M. G. Hand) (07/27/84)
Newsgroups: net.cooks Subject: Re: How hot is HOT? References: <636@opus.UUCP> The untried curry paste recipe i posted has been picked up and querried (quite rightly) by Dick Dunn - the original should probably not have been sent - it was intended to demonstrate the type of spices use in curry, not to give anyone a good recipe. To most of Dick's questions the answer is "I'm not sure," however: powdered mustard is fine black or white pepper - who knows? chillis - those small thin red ones about 2 inches by 1/4 at the thick end saffron - thats what the book said. I've always balked at the price and used turmeric instead a gill is 1/4 of an Imperial pint - 5 fluid oz to you (if it was an ounce no-one would ever get drunk on whisky - in UK a standard measure is 1/6 gill or 1/5 gill in Scotland) To beginners in curry cooking I can thoroughly recommend Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cookery book - since she lives in NYC it or a similar one ought to be available in this country even if that particular book is published by the BBC. marcus hand (pyuxt!marcus)
das@ucla-cs.UUCP (08/01/84)
... Water, tea, Coke? I've always found rice to be a fine tongue-cooler. On a related note -- when you go to, say, an Indian restaurant you've never been to before, especially in a city you're visiting where you suspect there is only a tiny Indian community (in my case, visiting Cincinnati from L.A.), how do you specify the degree of hotness you prefer? After ordering the lamb vindaloo at Khyber in Cincinnati (fine restaurant, by the way), it occurred to me that they might tone it down for non-Indians, so I asked my waiter (blond Cincinnati native): "How hot do you make it?". His reply, was "Oh, don't worry, it's not too hot." "No, I like it hot. How can I describe how hot?" "How about a scale of 1 - 20? 10 is how we normally make it. Maybe you want it 12, say?" "Well, for a vindaloo, maybe 16 or 17 would be right." [I was cautious, since I didn't want to err on the hot side.] It turned out to be what I would call medium, very weak kick to it. There's got to be a better way. I haven't tried this thought yet, but what I should have done is asked for tiny samples of various chutneys of different degrees of hotness, tried them, and said "This one is about right." [I'm ruling out the solution of just adding that chutney once the dish is served, since it may have other flavors I don't particularly want.] Other ideas, especially for cuisines where you don't normally have a large selection of condiments to serve as a scale?