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Launch HN: The Buttermilk Company (YC S18) – Homemade Indian Food in 5 Minutes

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Re: Launch HN: The Buttermilk Company (YC S18) – Homemade Indian Food in 5 Minutes

#271

Post by baddox »

astura wrote: post #256
baddox wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Coming from small-town Missouri and having traveled very little even within the US, I had literally never heard of any specific Indian dish (authentic or not) until I moved to San Francisco. I had no idea what naan or chicken tikka masala were until my company in SF ordered some.

You should probably know that chicken tikka masala is British, not Indian then. :)

Yes, I did learn that. I threw in “authentic or not” to avoid attempting to define what is “actually” Indian food.

Re: Launch HN: The Buttermilk Company (YC S18) – Homemade Indian Food in 5 Minutes

#272

Post by tptacek »

js2 wrote: post #268
sarchertech wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience non-westerners tend to underestimate the level of spiciness that westerners can handle (particularly westerners who are culinarily adventurous), and overestimate the average spiciness of their cuisine. If it's too spicy for me, it's too spicy for 99% of the population of any country, but it's damn near impossible to convince servers of that.

A bunch of us Westerner looking types went to a Thai restaurant in Mountain View. This was many years ago and I don't recall the restaurant. We ordered some shared dish and were asked how spicy we wanted it, 1-10. We said 10. The whole "are you sure?" thing a few times. They brought the dish out. We said "this really isn't 10 spicy." The server said, "next time say you want it 10 on the Thai scale". Sigh. I live in N…

I think this may be a thing with Thai restaurants in general; it's not just spiciness but also level of fish sauce and even the way the dish is prepared. There's a thing in Chicago about "secret menu" Thai restaurants, which are often written in Thai language (food nerds in Chicago have translated and published them). It might be possible to order things "Thai style" in any good Thai restaurant and get a different, better dish.

Re: Launch HN: The Buttermilk Company (YC S18) – Homemade Indian Food in 5 Minutes

#273

Post by ghaff »

fusiongyro wrote: post #261
ghaff wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I went to school in New Mexico I generally think of myself as liking spicy food. I tend to favor Szechuan Chinese and I lived in New Orleans for a few years. When I was in the Santa Fe area last summer, I came to the realization after the first night's dinner that I really needed to order the Hatch chile [corrected] sauce on the side or it was going to be completely overwhelming.

> Hatch chili sauce It's just called chile.

There is often a red sauce option :-) But I wanted to get the Hatch chiles while I had an opportunity to as you don't really see them most other places.

Re: Launch HN: The Buttermilk Company (YC S18) – Homemade Indian Food in 5 Minutes

#274

Post by vram22 »

spunker540 wrote: post #250
sarchertech wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience non-westerners tend to underestimate the level of spiciness that westerners can handle (particularly westerners who are culinarily adventurous), and overestimate the average spiciness of their cuisine. If it's too spicy for me, it's too spicy for 99% of the population of any country, but it's damn near impossible to convince servers of that.

It seems many cultures think their culture is the spiciest! I've heard similar boasts from friends of mine who are Mexican, Chinese, Korean, and Indian among others.

I've been reading about cuisines and it seems that Korean can be pretty spicy. Not got a chance to try it, except a dish or two (bibimbap, IIRC, and that was not hot). I like the fact that they use a fair amount of sesame seeds and sesame oil, based on what I've read. Got to try it more some day.

Re: Launch HN: The Buttermilk Company (YC S18) – Homemade Indian Food in 5 Minutes

#275

Post by fouc »

monocasa wrote: post #252
sarchertech wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience non-westerners tend to underestimate the level of spiciness that westerners can handle (particularly westerners who are culinarily adventurous), and overestimate the average spiciness of their cuisine. If it's too spicy for me, it's too spicy for 99% of the population of any country, but it's damn near impossible to convince servers of that.

Seriously, I've been to an Indian restraunt where I've ordered something spicy, and the server asks "are you sure". After responding yes, he asked "are you really sure". This whole thing goes on a third time before he finally goes back into the kitchen. About five minutes later his manager comes out "so I heard you ordered it spicy, now I'm not sure you know what that means". I went to school in New Mexico, we used t…

Might make sense to have a card or phone app that basically says "This user has a tolerance of blahblah, and is fully qualified to eat spicy food"

Re: Launch HN: The Buttermilk Company (YC S18) – Homemade Indian Food in 5 Minutes

#276

Post by ttcbj »

I don't think I'm exactly in your target market, but I have a related problem: We cook a lot of healthy foods at home (e.g. skinnytaste), and Indian recipes are the only ones that never come out.

I suspect it is because we never get the spices right. We went to an indian cooking class many years ago, and the woman who taught it hand ground all the spices herself. The results were amazing, but who has the time?

If you had a service that coupled premixed spices with recipes that use them, that would have been really exciting to me.

We can already buy various pre-made pastes/mixes at the grocery store, but they are really unhealthy.

If we could get the spices, then have control of all the fresh ingredients (meats, veggies) and also all the unhealthy ingredients (salt, anything with fat, etc), that would be attractive to me.

I know that is not what you are doing, but just for the future (a) spices are cheaper to mail and shelf-stable (b) the spice mix is probably the secret sauce of what makes it taste good, and it is difficult to duplicate in my experience (c) leaving the other ingredients out would allow home users to follow either a healthy recipe (fat free yogurt) or special occasion recipe (heavy cream!)

Anyway, FWIW, when I read the first lines of your description, that is what I was hoping for.

Re: Launch HN: The Buttermilk Company (YC S18) – Homemade Indian Food in 5 Minutes

#279

Post by awad »

sarchertech wrote: post #242
t1o5 wrote: post #200

You will have a hard time balancing the spice levels. You can't satisfy both Indian and non-Indian demographic or you will have to have a spicy, less spicy type of each item. As an Indian, I cant stand the westernized non spicy versions of the supposedly authentic Indian foods. So I wouldn't buy them nor eat in those type of Indian restaurants. Its the same case vice versa. Non Indians may not like the spicy versions…

In my experience non-westerners tend to underestimate the level of spiciness that westerners can handle (particularly westerners who are culinarily adventurous), and overestimate the average spiciness of their cuisine. If it's too spicy for me, it's too spicy for 99% of the population of any country, but it's damn near impossible to convince servers of that.

I’d take that to the extreme and say that many cultures view their cuisine as the ultimate in spiciness while assuming others don’t come close. My anecdote is three South Asian/Indian men being refused the “spiciest” option at a Sichuan restaurant in Palo Alto. Of course, we took this as a challenge and definitely could see why some people might not enjoy it but it wasn’t exactly sign-a-waiver level spice.

Re: Launch HN: The Buttermilk Company (YC S18) – Homemade Indian Food in 5 Minutes

#280

Post by RayDonnelly »

opportune wrote: post #43
J_cst wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you mind to share what you eat for 20usd/week and, more importantly, in which region you achieve that? I am in Italy, and I believe that budget would suffice for maximum one day. Thank you

I have lived on that before in the US and it’s not that hard. You just need to buy macro-nutritionally dense food at super markets - rice, chicken, beans, cooking oil, butter, oatmeal, noodles, etc. Of course the problem is that you don’t get a super varied diet which can be problematic both mentally and nutritionally. It can also become a bit harder to incorporate fruits and veggies into your diet when they’re not o…

> I’m not sure how you spent so much

There are 7 days in each week.

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