6 ms·

Beans make you gassy, and other advice from last night's first YC dinner

82 points by jonathanbgood 16y ago

davidw 16y ago
I'd offer to cook up some honest-to-goodness Italian pasta (with something like pesto, amatriciana or ragu` alla bolognese) just to be able to hang out at one of those events, if I were ever in the area.
- pmjordan 16y ago
  I suspect the main challenge is cooking for 100+ people.
  - davidw 16y ago
    Good point. I guess I could get some help or advice from my brother: he's a chef.
    - pmjordan 16y ago
      Tangential: there's probably a difference between preparing food for catering vs restaurants. In catering, and presumably at YC dinners, everyone starts each course at the same time (but eats the same food). I'd imagine this to be a different challenge from providing different meals to an equal number of people, but staggered in time, as you would at a restaurant. In any case, pasta-based meals are probably good candidates for scaling to catering-size dimensions as most of the components aren't overly time-sensitive. I could still see it ending in a disaster if I was doing it for the first time with no professional help.
cperciva 16y ago
Beans make you gassy Much less so if you soak them (ideally in a slightly caustic solution) and cook them at high temperature (i.e., boiling under pressure). The former will leach oligosaccharides, and the later will break them down.
- euroclydon 16y ago
  I have a five gallon container of NaOH that I intend to make soap with one day. Should I use a little of that, or is there a more tame kitchen staple which is caustic?
  - Alex3917 16y ago
    "I have a five gallon container of NaOH that I intend to make soap with one day" Don't use it without checking the MSDS to make sure it's pure. You can also buy food grade KOH from specialty food sites, which is much safer to work with. (It's commonly used to make lutefisk.) Alternatively, you could just use Beano.
  - cperciva 16y ago
    If you throw beans into concentrated NaOH they probably won't be edible any more. A pH of 8.5 is probably good -- try baking soda.
    - tptacek 16y ago
      Check out what happens if you mix a very little bit of baking soda with eggs. Alkalinity speeds up maillard reactions.
- Vivtek 16y ago
  Damn, I came here to post that. We eat beans all the time - soak them overnight and pressure-cook them and you'll have less gas from the beans than you would from a pizza. Rinse them once or twice while they're soaking and it'll work even better. Hadn't heard about the caustic solution, though. What's caustic in the kitchen? Baking soda, I guess? I'm going to try that.
  - gregwebs 16y ago
    According to this article you normally want an acidic solution: http://www.westonaprice.org/food-features/492-putting-the-polish-on-those-humble-beans.html http://www.westonaprice.org/food-features/492-putting-the-po...
techsupporter 16y ago
"At our first meeting with Paul, we showed him a PDF presentation and he sort of freaked out and it was really awkward for about 10 minutes as he tried to digest why we had made a presentation for him." Why is that? I'm genuinely curious to know what would be uncomfortable about having a presentation, especially at a first meeting. It seems like that would be a good way to say "here's where we're at" in a few quick screens.
- tptacek 16y ago
  Wild-assed guess: it's something people working on projects at BigCo's do in lieu of actual work. It's pantomiming execution instead of executing. We have a company all-hands this week, flying everyone in from NYC and SF; we're launching a new product and I have to do an hour on it. I don't think I'm going to do a deck. Why bother?
  - colbyolson 16y ago
    It's something people working on projects at BigCo's do in lieu of actual work. It's pantomiming execution instead of executing. This is, generally, how I feel about ToDo lists.
    - pyre 16y ago
      How so? Some people need todo lists to keep them focused. Otherwise they forget things that they were supposed to get done, or allow themselves to get distracted by other things.
    - wahnfrieden 16y ago
      I use a todo list so I don't forget things. When I'm developing software, the ideas come faster than I can execute them, for one. But the list is only a vim buffer, so it would be hard to waste time micromanaging it like you can with more elaborate todo-list software.
- rudyadler 16y ago
  paul is a casual guy and usually likes to have an informal conversation. looking back, the mockups we showed him were really overdeveloped. i think paul was reacting to an idea 5 steps ahead of where it should have been.
prpon 16y ago
By meeting frequently with the constant push of “have you launched?” and then “can I see your chart?”, PG and Harj helped us focus on making the right trade-off to do what it takes to make a great product but not a perfect one. What chart is he referring to here?
- Bretthuneycutt 16y ago
  For us, it was our page and user growth charts -- the two main charts to show traction.
rcavezza 16y ago
I like the blogpost. Is 1000memories.com down? I got pointed to an "Application Error" page when I tried to access it.
- edanm 16y ago
  Seems to be up now
elai 16y ago
Does having a startup, or being in YC feel like your cramming for exams, not enough time, too much to do, and no time for a good amount of sleep and proper food?

82 points by jonathanbgood 16y ago

I'd offer to cook up some honest-to-goodness Italian pasta (with something like pesto, amatriciana or ragu` alla bolognese) just to be able to hang out at one of those events, if I were ever in the area.

pmjordan 16y ago
I suspect the main challenge is cooking for 100+ people.
- davidw 16y ago
  Good point. I guess I could get some help or advice from my brother: he's a chef.
  - pmjordan 16y ago
    Tangential: there's probably a difference between preparing food for catering vs restaurants. In catering, and presumably at YC dinners, everyone starts each course at the same time (but eats the same food). I'd imagine this to be a different challenge from providing different meals to an equal number of people, but staggered in time, as you would at a restaurant. In any case, pasta-based meals are probably good candidates for scaling to catering-size dimensions as most of the components aren't overly time-sensitive. I could still see it ending in a disaster if I was doing it for the first time with no professional help.

cperciva 16y ago

Beans make you gassy Much less so if you soak them (ideally in a slightly caustic solution) and cook them at high temperature (i.e., boiling under pressure). The former will leach oligosaccharides, and the later will break them down.

euroclydon 16y ago
I have a five gallon container of NaOH that I intend to make soap with one day. Should I use a little of that, or is there a more tame kitchen staple which is caustic?
- Alex3917 16y ago
  "I have a five gallon container of NaOH that I intend to make soap with one day" Don't use it without checking the MSDS to make sure it's pure. You can also buy food grade KOH from specialty food sites, which is much safer to work with. (It's commonly used to make lutefisk.) Alternatively, you could just use Beano.
- cperciva 16y ago
  If you throw beans into concentrated NaOH they probably won't be edible any more. A pH of 8.5 is probably good -- try baking soda.
  - tptacek 16y ago
    Check out what happens if you mix a very little bit of baking soda with eggs. Alkalinity speeds up maillard reactions.
Vivtek 16y ago
Damn, I came here to post that. We eat beans all the time - soak them overnight and pressure-cook them and you'll have less gas from the beans than you would from a pizza. Rinse them once or twice while they're soaking and it'll work even better. Hadn't heard about the caustic solution, though. What's caustic in the kitchen? Baking soda, I guess? I'm going to try that.
- gregwebs 16y ago
  According to this article you normally want an acidic solution: http://www.westonaprice.org/food-features/492-putting-the-polish-on-those-humble-beans.html http://www.westonaprice.org/food-features/492-putting-the-po...

techsupporter 16y ago

"At our first meeting with Paul, we showed him a PDF presentation and he sort of freaked out and it was really awkward for about 10 minutes as he tried to digest why we had made a presentation for him." Why is that? I'm genuinely curious to know what would be uncomfortable about having a presentation, especially at a first meeting. It seems like that would be a good way to say "here's where we're at" in a few quick screens.

tptacek 16y ago
Wild-assed guess: it's something people working on projects at BigCo's do in lieu of actual work. It's pantomiming execution instead of executing. We have a company all-hands this week, flying everyone in from NYC and SF; we're launching a new product and I have to do an hour on it. I don't think I'm going to do a deck. Why bother?
- colbyolson 16y ago
  It's something people working on projects at BigCo's do in lieu of actual work. It's pantomiming execution instead of executing. This is, generally, how I feel about ToDo lists.
  - pyre 16y ago
    How so? Some people need todo lists to keep them focused. Otherwise they forget things that they were supposed to get done, or allow themselves to get distracted by other things.
  - wahnfrieden 16y ago
    I use a todo list so I don't forget things. When I'm developing software, the ideas come faster than I can execute them, for one. But the list is only a vim buffer, so it would be hard to waste time micromanaging it like you can with more elaborate todo-list software.
rudyadler 16y ago
paul is a casual guy and usually likes to have an informal conversation. looking back, the mockups we showed him were really overdeveloped. i think paul was reacting to an idea 5 steps ahead of where it should have been.

prpon 16y ago

By meeting frequently with the constant push of “have you launched?” and then “can I see your chart?”, PG and Harj helped us focus on making the right trade-off to do what it takes to make a great product but not a perfect one. What chart is he referring to here?

Bretthuneycutt 16y ago
For us, it was our page and user growth charts -- the two main charts to show traction.

rcavezza 16y ago

I like the blogpost. Is 1000memories.com down? I got pointed to an "Application Error" page when I tried to access it.

edanm 16y ago
Seems to be up now

elai 16y ago

Does having a startup, or being in YC feel like your cramming for exams, not enough time, too much to do, and no time for a good amount of sleep and proper food?