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Hmm, reads a bit like “why Indian cuisine is much better than European”. I love them all, no need to poo-poo one with snobbery etc.
> "The real question, then, is why the wealthy, powerful West — with unprecedented access to spices from its colonies — became so fixated on this singular understanding of flavor," Srinivas says.
What I can’t stand is when cuisines that rely primarily on the taste of the main ingredients, say Italian, are defaced with hot sauce and other atrocities. The dish is completely ruined. It does not work.
It seems to work for those who do it. Should recipes not ever evolve into something different?
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> That is not true, Spain has many regions with formidable chefs. But for example the Basque country is one of the areas of the world with most Michelin Stars per square mile, comparable to Tokyo, New York etc. Basque cuisine is almost exclusively based on simple ingredients done well. I never said nothing else existed before him, I just said Spanish cuisine became in vogue because of Ferran. That's undeiable, he put…
> I just said Spanish cuisine became in vogue because of Ferran. Maybe 20 years ago. "In vogue" in cooking changes every 3 years. See the rise of Peruvian cooking, Korean cuisine, or the incremental choice of vegan options on high end restaurants in the past 10 years. > (before the internet no less) Yeah in 1990-2005 the food culture of much parts of the world was under developed. That does not mean that it was the t…
Can you suggest something that goes well with Cinnamon?
It's one of the spices I find the most intriguing! So common for desserts, even in the US, but not for savory food!
In Italy we say: "A lot of spices are to cover the taste of bad ingredients". It means that if you use a lot of spices ( we _usually_ use only black pepper and salt ), you are going to cover the taste of the ingredients you are using, we believe that you need to use good ingredients to have flavourful recipes, if an ingredient tastes bad you shouldn't use it. Also we always search for the balance, there shouldn't be…
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I think you're partly right - Indian food does not yet have the snobbery you would find in other cuisines - yet. But there a few chefs out there, like Gaggan Anand, who are working to make it more palatable in an "upscale" setting. But I wholly disagree with the idea Indian food uses spices to mask poor quality ingredients or preparations. Perhaps you haven't got a chance to try the more elaborate preparations, but there are well documented ways of cooking many dishes in the "right" way with the "right" mix of ingredients and spices, but most restaurants and households end up using their own judgement for convenience and/or novelty.
> They moved on to an aesthetic theory of taste. Rather than infusing food with spice, they said things should taste like themselves. Meat should taste like meat, and anything you add only serves to intensify the existing flavors. That sounds a lot like Japanese cuisine too, so we are not alone.
i still fondly remember the home-cooked meals of my japanese friend's mom. simple yet exquisite.
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Indian food is amazing, specially if you're vegetarian. If someone would ask me to choose a menu for 5 days out of a week, for breakfast, lunch and dinner between a 5* Michelin chef or yellow lentil curry with 2 rotis and a coconut sembal, I would go with the curry. Any day. When you look at vegetarian cuisine outside of india, with very few exceptions in terms of restaurants and few exceptions in terms of dishes, it…
A couple of points :) 1. The yellow lentil dish is not usually called a curry (google the word 'curry', it is a much abused omnibus term for many Indian dishes). It is called a dal, as in "dal fry" or "dal tadka" (and not dhal(l) either :) 2. Coconut (or any) s a mbal is not an Indian dish, it is SE Asian, like Malaysian, although some Indian chutneys may resemble sambals in taste. India has a similar-sounding dish c…
1) yeap, confirmed that's it
2) this was in Sri Lanka, they did also have sambal that is closer to the one with onions done in Malasya/Indonesia but this one was with coconut and no onions, more dry than wet, just fine strands of what seems semi-dry coconut with spices (smashed chillis?) and they served it in many regular places along the dal tadka?
The idea I have is that it was called sambal as well but I might be wrong or be the tourist name? (and india is big and has many different types of different cuisines - one thing is common throughout though, vegetarian food is good and varied anywhere)
Well yes, I actually ate it many times (not for lack of other choices but it was a dish I enjoyed eating repeatedly). There's others I liked a lot but can't remember the names if I'm being honest. I know it when I taste them though ahah.
Thank you for correcting me, I have to go back and do a proper research and take notes of it.
> In some ways they are more nutritious
This is one of the things that I think separates vegetarian cuisine well done from others. You never feel like the dishes are lacking in taste, texture, or that you haven't got enough "food" to keep you well fed while still being usually light on the body.
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> I just said Spanish cuisine became in vogue because of Ferran. Maybe 20 years ago. "In vogue" in cooking changes every 3 years. See the rise of Peruvian cooking, Korean cuisine, or the incremental choice of vegan options on high end restaurants in the past 10 years. > (before the internet no less) Yeah in 1990-2005 the food culture of much parts of the world was under developed. That does not mean that it was the t…
> In europe cinammon is mostly used in desserts so some dishes that use it in India can seem a bit off putting at first, but the truth is, that it has a great pairing with many dishes. Being unused to something and calling it bad are two very different things. Can you suggest something that goes well with Cinnamon? It's one of the spices I find the most intriguing! So common for desserts, even in the US, but not for…
Sure! I have to admit is not a spice I use too much. (Brings back nostalgia of rice puddings etc). But it is quite an autumnal spice, so think of it like something that would go well with those flavours.
For example pork loins with apple can use a little clove or cinammon if you want to have it enhance the sweetness of the apple.
It also works well with nice autumn soups, butternut squash, pumpkin, carrot. All of those can have some cinammon and round the flavours of it.
It is also heavily used in some Indian dishes. Very flavourful sauces with gram masala, can again have cloves and/or cinammon added. I think it's quite varied the spices that different regions use but anything from butter chicken, to Korma to a more European style tikka masala can work with cinammon in certain combinations. But because the sauces are quite rich, you will notice it less.
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This is such an amusing take. I upvoted just because I think this just falls within acceptable level of discourse on HN (not inflammatory etc.), and I bet there are quite a few folks out there who feel the same way as you do. I think you're partly right - Indian food does not yet have the snobbery you would find in other cuisines - yet. But there a few chefs out there, like Gaggan Anand, who are working to make it mo…
Here's how I see this. I'm not Indian but my parents loved making curry. To them, the point about curry is not about complementing the flavor of the meat or the vegetables. The curry itself is the actual true dish, the flavor you want to consume. It is the primary ingredient. You can really have curry without anything else. Any addons were simply added nutrition, nothing to do with masking poor quality.
The simple fact is, some people appreciate the taste of meat, and some people appreciate the taste of spices. You can enjoy a lightly seasoned ribeye if you're looking for a pure beefy taste or have a good meal of curry, having either is not the end all be all of flavor.
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> In europe cinammon is mostly used in desserts so some dishes that use it in India can seem a bit off putting at first, but the truth is, that it has a great pairing with many dishes. Being unused to something and calling it bad are two very different things. Can you suggest something that goes well with Cinnamon? It's one of the spices I find the most intriguing! So common for desserts, even in the US, but not for…
> Can you suggest something that goes well with Cinnamon? Sure! I have to admit is not a spice I use too much. (Brings back nostalgia of rice puddings etc). But it is quite an autumnal spice, so think of it like something that would go well with those flavours. For example pork loins with apple can use a little clove or cinammon if you want to have it enhance the sweetness of the apple. It also works well with nice a…
Cinnamon is also added to chicken or mutton, such as in varuval (Malaysian dish adapted from a South Indian one).
Over in China (and also in Chinese communities in Southeast Asia): There's the Chinese five-spices, used a lot in BBQ pork. It typically has cinnamon and cloves along with star anises and two other spices.
If you have more questions about any of this, let me know!
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> In europe cinammon is mostly used in desserts so some dishes that use it in India can seem a bit off putting at first, but the truth is, that it has a great pairing with many dishes. Being unused to something and calling it bad are two very different things. Can you suggest something that goes well with Cinnamon? It's one of the spices I find the most intriguing! So common for desserts, even in the US, but not for…
> Can you suggest something that goes well with Cinnamon? Sure! I have to admit is not a spice I use too much. (Brings back nostalgia of rice puddings etc). But it is quite an autumnal spice, so think of it like something that would go well with those flavours. For example pork loins with apple can use a little clove or cinammon if you want to have it enhance the sweetness of the apple. It also works well with nice a…