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Comment by le-mark | Hacker News Reader

It’s interesting to read this. I grew up eating a pretty limited diet in retrospect. The seasoning was salt and black pepper mostly. The first time I tried Indian food I was about 30 years old. I’ll never forget it. My mouth exploded with the flavor and a glow spread over me. It’s not that it was spicy as in hot, it was simply remarkable. I’ve often thought since that I must have been missing some sort of basic nutrient in the food that my body was deprived of. It was a very strong feeling.

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> The first time I tried Indian food I was about 30 years old. I’ll never forget it. My mouth exploded with the flavor and a glow spread over me.

That's funny, I grew up eating very spicy Indian food, and I had the same experience the first time I ate lox ;)

Yes to the Indian food! I got a second, even more powerful gut punch about 10 years ago when I discovered spicy Szechuan food. My wife "jokes" that I must have been a Szechuan farmer in a previous life. The weird thing is I stopped being able to eat spicy food in my late 40s because it destroyed my sleep, then in my late 50s Szechuan just turned me around somehow.

Capsaicin (Chili) is a chemical cousin to Caffein and Theobromin (Cocoa), Methylxanthines. I once ate some Cheeköfte with loads of Jalapeños at 9PM, could not sleep till 4AM.

Looking at the structures, I don't see the similarity. Capsaicin is a vanilloid, chemically related to the flavor chemicals found in vanilla, not a methylxanthine.

TIL. Thanks for the correction.

I'm going to guess you're Western European (French, Belgian, German, that neighbourhood) based on this. Because I had pretty much the same experience, although I was about ~24'ish I'd say.

I can guarantee you that eastern Europe during cold war, or any other heavily oppressed / enslaved region by russia/CCCP never experienced anything from world cuisine, curries including. Even travelling within ruskies sphere of influence was forbidden for most population, you had to 'earn' it as viewed by regime.

Sure, we had 'curry' mix in shops, exactly 1 same mixture, but nobody apart from few lucky mountaineers and diplomats had any clue what curry actually means. And taste of it had nothing to do with anything that can be eaten in Indian subcontinent, just yellow bland bleh.

Not even during the cold war, I've grown up on bland diet, and I've been born in 1993 in Poland.

I've found certain happiness in Indian, Thaic, Mexican, Lebanese cuisine.

Once spent an evening eating at an Iranian place. At some point I had to stop eating, simply because the food had put too much / too many spices in me. It was a really odd sensation. Just could not eat any more. The only time this has happened. Not hotness/chili, nothing like that. Just a full-body sensation of too much spice.

You will love this quote from a Chef making Tikka Marsala :

"Here is a french Chef making an Indian dish which was invented in Scotland"

I think its this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwUCo0imYVM

Beware that masala and marsala are very different (though both are delicious).

Yeah, things like this can be quite funny when you look into them.

One of my favourite staples of chinese food (in the UK) is crispy duck. A dish which consists of duck which has been roasted and then often flash fried to get crispy skin and tender meat, then is shredded and served with fresh cucumber and shredded scallions, hoi sin and/or plum sauce and rice pancakes to wrap it in. A little like Fajitas, it's an interactive meal and you build the pancakes yourself at the table.

I failed trying to find it here in Western Australia, so I did some internet digging and figured out it was quite possibly invented in a hotel London.

(Various forms of chinese roast duck exist everywhere, I just haven't seen this specific setup outside of the UK, where every chinese place serves it pretty much. Note it is quite different to standard Peking duck, it's cooked more like pulled-pork with all the fat rendered through.

I realise this is the internet, and won't be at all surprised to be told not only that I'm wrong, but also where to buy it in Perth ... here's hoping I guess)

It's probably not quite the same as you describe but have you tried Good Fortune Roast Duck House? It used to be so good and melt in your mouth.

You know just after I wrote that comment, I stuck "crispy duck" into google and that place came up.

You're right I don't think they have exactly what I describe, but it did look good and with a recommendation as well it's probably worth a punt. Thanks :)

> duck which has been roasted and then often flash fried to get crispy skin and tender meat, then is shredded and served with fresh cucumber and shredded scallions, hoi sin and/or plum sauce and rice pancakes to wrap it in

Peking duck [1]?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peking_duck

Not quite, though it appears it may be a subcategory of Peking Duck :)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peking_duck#Crispy_aromatic_du...

And in fact that page backs me up, Crispy Aromatic Duck was indeed created in the UK, if a little more recently than I thought.

So, its the SubDucktion Zone? Seems like Turkey falls into that category.

I’m in Melbourne, most places that do duck pancakes smash it through with the cleaver so it’s presented in slices like people expect with Peking duck. There’s a few though where you get the whole or half duck relatively intact and are expected to shred it yourself like London. I think the clue is usually when you order by quantity of duck (ie, half vs whole) rather than just an entree or number of pancakes. Though Melbourne is spoiled by a reasonable Chinatown and similar suburban setups. Hopefully Perth has enough options that you can build an itinerary of indulgent discovery one weekend.

yes, i've always thought that about asian food. luckily, my parents were pretty cosmopolitan in this regard. to anyone that wants to explore it i can strongly recommend madhur jaffery's cook books - mostly simple recipes for great dishes.

madhur jaffrey

There's a Thai place near me that sells a pri king with a delicious, delicious hot sauce that makes me feel the same way. The flavor is just unbelievably good. It's an essence.

Had some Chicken Tandoori the other day. Didn't feel hungry for two days after. Just one serving.

My spouse and I eat spicy foods. I’ve got a 6-year-old that’s tried it but chooses not to because he doesn’t like the sensation. It goes both ways!

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