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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

#441

Post by foobar1962 »

YeGoblynQueenne wrote: post #424
foobar1962 wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Warning customers that your food is spicy is one thing. Refusing to accept that your culture isn't the only one on the planet that enjoys spicy food is something else entirely. When I was waiting in a Thai restaurant (in Australia) I too started do the "are you really sure" thing after a couple of customers ordered the hottest dishes on the menu, then complained they couldn't eat them and wanted a refund. People wo…

Well, why can't you just make the food less spicy, but advertise it as more? I don't mean you should lie- just slide your spiciness scale down a bit so that what you call "hot" is actually mild and what you call extra super hot is just sorta-hot, for you , but not for the customers. I don't reckon anyone has ever requested a refund because they could actually eat what they ordered. As to those customers who only orde…

> Well, why can't you just make the food less spicy, but advertise it as more? I don't mean you should lie- just slide your spiciness scale down a bit so that what you call "hot" is actually mild and what you call extra super hot is just sorta-hot, for you, but not for the customers.

Some dishes like Thai Green Curry are based on green chillies (and Red curry on red chillies). Adding less chilli just dilutes the flavour an makes it weak (but still hot). You cannot really substitute the chilli with another milder ingredient like capsicum (bell pepper) because the flavour will change completely.

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

#442

Post by learc83 »

ForrestN wrote: post #440
learc83 wrote: post #438

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>In your example, you were so agitated about the spiciness that you even got their boss involved I don't think you're really interested in a debate here. First you confused me with someone else, I never said anything about anyone's boss. Second you altered the story to make the person who did tell that story look bad. They didn't say anything about being agitated or getting the boss involved. They said the waiter ask…

Apologies for confusing you with the other person. I don't know if reading between the lines is the same as changing the story—maybe it's "cultural" but I would never push a server about a food preference to such a strong degree that there need to be multiple conversations about it. I tend to be more deferential in cases like this. I'm sure you're right that I shouldn't assume the person was agitated. I think I'm rea…

Stereotypes exist, and people have irrational confidence in the relative spiciness of their culture's cuisine. Unless you have some kind of spice challenge, your food isn't that hot. Just about every wing place in America sells wings that you can order that are just as hot as food you can find at your average Indian restaurant, or Jamaican restaurant, or Sichuan restaurant.

Every job has folk wisdom and heuristics. I worked retail and then retail tech support for years. I've had to deal with plenty of employees who wouldn't listen to customer's preferences because that preference didnt match some heuristic they were using.

They had the same justifications--"They don't really want it, they'll just end up returning it."

Those employees who insited on treating all of their customers like children because of a few bad experiences were consistently poor performers.

Their heuristics were detrimental, but they kept using them because people are very vulnerable to confirmation bias. No mass hysteria required.

Listen to your customer. Give them advice, warn them if necessary, but don't treat them like a child because you once interacted with an asshole who looked a bit like them.

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

#443

Post by ForrestN »

learc83 wrote: post #442
ForrestN wrote: post #440

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apologies for confusing you with the other person. I don't know if reading between the lines is the same as changing the story—maybe it's "cultural" but I would never push a server about a food preference to such a strong degree that there need to be multiple conversations about it. I tend to be more deferential in cases like this. I'm sure you're right that I shouldn't assume the person was agitated. I think I'm rea…

Stereotypes exist, and people have irrational confidence in the relative spiciness of their culture's cuisine. Unless you have some kind of spice challenge, your food isn't that hot. Just about every wing place in America sells wings that you can order that are just as hot as food you can find at your average Indian restaurant, or Jamaican restaurant, or Sichuan restaurant. Every job has folk wisdom and heuristics. I…

The key is in your last sentence—you're extrapolating outward from "once interacted," but I think if you actually spoke to people who work in these restaurants, you'd learn that, in fact, the situation is "constantly interacted," albeit maybe "asshole" isn't as accurate as "person who overestimated their own tolerance."

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

#445

Post by ttcbj »

justfor1comment wrote: post #286
ttcbj wrote: post #276

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…

You just defined the concept of a masala. A masala is a mixture of dry spices in the correct ratio for a recipe. You can find them at an Indian store. I have also seen them at Target or on Amazon. The recipe for cooking is on the back side of a masala packet. Here is a link to a popular brand of masalas: http://www.everestspices.com/products

Thanks a lot! You are right, a masala was just what I was looking for. The Shan products mentioned below seem to have a ton of sodium, but the everest products you mention let you add your own sodium and sugar to taste. I just ordered some to try out.

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

#446

Post by learc83 »

ForrestN wrote: post #443
learc83 wrote: post #442

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stereotypes exist, and people have irrational confidence in the relative spiciness of their culture's cuisine. Unless you have some kind of spice challenge, your food isn't that hot. Just about every wing place in America sells wings that you can order that are just as hot as food you can find at your average Indian restaurant, or Jamaican restaurant, or Sichuan restaurant. Every job has folk wisdom and heuristics. I…

The key is in your last sentence—you're extrapolating outward from "once interacted," but I think if you actually spoke to people who work in these restaurants, you'd learn that, in fact, the situation is "constantly interacted," albeit maybe "asshole" isn't as accurate as "person who overestimated their own tolerance."

If it was "constantly" happening, given the thousands of times I've eaten at restaurants that serve spicy foods over my lifetime, I should have seen this fairly regularly.

My theory is that servers are the same as retail employees--a small difference in behaviors between groups reinforces preconceived stereotypes, which causes them to overestimate the differences between groups.

Also, you're saying things like "in fact" based on what you think that other people think the frequency is.

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

#447

Post by learc83 »

setr wrote: post #341
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.

I think it has more to do with how the westeners behave when things are too spicy; I've had a russian girl break down crying from a mildly spicy dish (lost half a gallon of milk and a ton of sugar for that one...), and while others are less extreme, whenever they can't handle their spice, they'll surely let you know it. I know maybe 2 people who both can't handle a high level of spices, and will behave themselves whe…

Your experience is not universal or even typical. I have never seen anything like this in the thousands of times I've eaten spicy foods with hundreds of family members, friends, and business associates. I have literally never seen someone insist that they can handle spicy food, and then start behaving like a child. In my experience, they try to hide it because they are embarrassed they can't handle it.

The only thing that even came close was someone who was challenged to do a shot of Carolina Reaper sauce and he started hiccuping then had to excuse himself to go to the bathroom.

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

#448

Post by setr »

enno_au wrote: post #362
MPSimmons wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only two times in my life have I been brought to weep because of how spicy something was, and both times , it was the F'ing Cajuns. I have no idea what they did, but oh my god. They showed up one time at an Octoberfest (!!!) with their damned salsa. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get something that will cut heat at a German festival ? I had to eat a cream puff the size of my head to stop the pain. And yes, ev…

One word of advice, capsaicin is an oil. Trying to dull the pain with milk, etc is a waste of time. You need to dissolve the oil off your tongue and for that alcohol is the best solution (no pun intended). Pure spirits work well to remove the capsaicin and then you can follow up with something that will soothe your raw nerve endings. So, German beer may have been the right answer for you at the time.

Beer consistently raises the pain temporarily, and does nothing longer-term, in my experience. Milk and sugar soothe for the short term, but nothing long term. Haven’t tried spirits, but given how beer goes, I dont have much hopes

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

#449

Post by vram22 »

apatters wrote: post #398
vram22 wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. Could be because it is somewhat stale, maybe. (Was it bought from stores, what you tried?) Same happens in India. Fresh home-made buttermilk tastes good, from just after being made up to say 24 hours or so. After that it does get more acidic, particularly in warmer weather or if not kept in the fridge, although I might call it sour instead. Not found it tasting bitter though, as I remember. Could be you…

A quick cooking hack when you're out of buttermilk at home is to add a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice to a cup of milk. So I always assumed the sourness/acidity was the defining feature of buttermilk. It would be interesting if there were types of buttermilk (and recipes requiring them) where this was not the case.

Interesting, must try that out sometime. In India paneer (a sort of Indian cottage cheese) is made that way, by putting lemon juice in hot milk, which makes it curdle. Then the curds are put into a cloth and hung up for a few hours to drain off the whey. What's left is paneer, which can be eaten raw, or used in dishes like palak paneer (spinach with paneer), mutter paneer (green peas with paneer), some Indian sweets, etc.

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

#450

Post by GFischer »

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.

If by "westerner" you mean U.S. American or Mexican, you might be right.

However, here down in South America, we can't handle spicy at all (our food is considered bland by people from spicy countries). I almost died eating Mexican food that was rated a 3 on the 1 to 10 scale.

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