Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site ucla-cs.ARPA Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!ittvax!dcdwest!sdcsvax!bmcg!cepu!ucla-cs!das From: das@ucla-cs.UUCP Newsgroups: net.cooks Subject: Re: How hot is HOT? Message-ID: <632@ucla-cs.ARPA> Date: Wed, 1-Aug-84 14:54:36 EDT Article-I.D.: ucla-cs.632 Posted: Wed Aug 1 14:54:36 1984 Date-Received: Fri, 3-Aug-84 02:37:07 EDT References: <3920@tekecs.UUCP> <259@hercules.UUCP> Organization: UCLA CS Dept. Lines: 25 ... 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?