Discussion
Years ago we had some guys over from French MTV iirc, to do a little piece about Llamasoft and we took them out for a curry. One of them asked for a recommendation and I said if you can take spicy try a vindaloo, and the guy said "Ah, my father was a cook, very used to cajun food, I can handle anything"
come his vindaloo he got redder and redder, eventually admitting defeat, and the next day he was supposed to come back out to the house for more interview but retired hurt, bog roll flapping.
@gilesgoat @llamasoft_ox Indian in France (which can also mean things like Sri Lankan, as is the curry place around the corner from me) is geared to the French concept of “spicy” – i.e. slightly above “not”. Even I, lover of raw jalapeños, wonder if I’d be up for what you eat on the regular for curry.
Aside: I worked for the agency that did MTV France’s first web site (code for silly things). I wonder if it was around the same time? 2001/early 2002, to memory.
@johninparis @llamasoft_ox Just ti give some info usually 'standard chillies' they use in curries here are the "bird's eye" chillies that according to scoville scale are at very least 20x as hot as jalapenos and that is what you could call a "Madras" heat. Then we go up into "Jalfrezi" which is a dish loaded with chillies. Then we go into "Vindaloo" that uses a combination of various spices and can seriously hurt the non-initiated. Then we have "Naga" that uses Naga chillies that are about CONT
@johninparis @llamasoft_ox CONT. 500 .. 600 X stronger than Jalapenos ( according to scoville scale ) still perfectly edible and tasty and "normal". Then there's "a final step" for "special occasions / special people" that many curry houses may refuse to cook unless they really know you. Sometime we had one ( curry ) "split for various people" so each one had a LITTLE taste of it. That's "Phaal" .. "as stupidly hot as it's possible to make" basically "fluorhidric acid for your mouth" red death.
@llamasoft_ox That "My father was a cook" .. and the way he said it was *EPIC* ... as much as later the ".. I underestimated your Vindaloo" .. mind you I think "those were the times the Vindaloo was still Vindaloo". I think in quite a few places now they toned it down a bit, but yes that "My father was a cook" is a story to remember/tell 😂 😂