Spicy/Cooling combos

[Shalmanese]

I made a cold cucumber salad today tossed with a little homemade chili oil and I accidentally misjudged the heat of the chili oil. As I was eating it, the burn would creep up until it became uncomfortable, at which point, I would grab another chunk of cucumber to temporarily salve the heat, which of course ramped up the heat even further.

The last time I remember the same effect was when I made a strawberry-jalapeno sorbet where the same cycle of pain and relief would happen. I think there's something sadistically pleasurable about dishes that manage to push you past your pain tolerance level and leave you gasping at the end. A good pineapple or mango salsa on tortilla chips does the same thing as does a guacamole. What are some other dishes that share this same characteristic?

FTR, the recipe for the salad is as follows:

Ingredients:

1 English Cucumber

1 Tbsp of Salt

1 Tbsp of Sugar

1/2 cup of Peanut oil

1 Tbsp of Sesame oil

12 Dried Chinese Chilis

2 Tbsp Szechuan Peppercorn

1 Tbsp Black Peppercorn

3 Tbsp Chinese Black Vinegar

2 Cloves of Minced Garlic

1 Handful of Cilantro

1 Big Handful of Roasted Peanuts

Peel and cube 1 english cucumber, sprinkle with some salt and sugar and let stand for 30 minutes.

Heat a pot of peanut oil & sesame oil with chopped, dried chinese chilis, szechuan peppercorn and black peppercorn until bubbly, let sit and steep for 30 minutes

Wash & drain the cucumbers, dry with paper towels, add some of the strained chili oil, chinese black vinegar, minced garlic and cilantro

Let it marinate for a few hours in the fridge, toss with gently crushed, freshly roasted peanuts, serve.

Edited September 29, 2011 by Shalmanese (log)

[Paul Bacino]

Yep..

Did something similar, I used ( 1 )Birds Eye chili/cucumber, seasoned Rice wine and fish sauce, plus a few other things. But one Thai chili was more than my wife liked I actually thought it was spot on for me.

Loved the combo..too

Paul

Edited September 29, 2011 by Paul Bacino (log)

[Athena1963]

Nam sod with much fresh ginger. I kept tasting and getting no heat from the ginger or red pepper but once it sat for a few minutes it got really hot! I was crying as I ate it and my lips were burning but it was sooo good!

[Smitty]

We try to walk that line with the chorizo tacos at our food truck. We aggressively spice the pork and top it with a mole verde of smoked tomatios/onion, queso fresco & cilantro.

The mole and cilantro are sweet & cooling while the fatty/creamy queso coats your mouth. We also finish each one with a few segments of supreme lime to get a burst of acid in there too.

We're proud of them, we all eat them every day and they are a good seller.