Hot Stuff!

[stagis]

I know this topic comes up regularly, but it's still fun. What are your experiences with spicy food? I'm talking peppers here, not wasabi or other wannabes. Let's see...

I'm able to grow, in a good season, habaneros. I'm in Connecticut, US in Zone 6. One year, I planted Red Savinas and got a bumper crop. They were excellent! Very large and thick-fleshed - but what to do with them? You can only eat so many, right? I pickled some, ate as many as I could, then dried and powdered the rest. The result was frighteningly hot powder - I think habanero powder is generically rated at 400,000 Scoville units, and mine was right up there. Remember - never ever ever ever blend dried habaneros inside....We're gasping, choking - I had to carry the blender outside - finished them on the picnic table.

Habanero Mustard - a recipe out of Chile Magazine (is it still out there?). At a picnic, as much as I warned them, one guy came to a gasping halt right in the middle of a hot dog. Huh - maybe should've used less of mine than Grey Poupon ;)

Habanero Powder - Be careful! :) Mine was good for only about a month or so, though, then started cooling off rapidly.

Adult do-gooder party...a local, to be unnamed organization. We had a Christmas party which degenerated, after the right-thinkers left, into a drunken frenzy - and of course, around 11:00 PM, the hot sauces come out. Drunks never listen, eh? "I can eat anything! Watch this!" Suuuurrre, buddy..... poor guy.

Another mid-afternoon party in the summer. I clearly labeled my sauces with skulls and crossbones, warned everybody verbally, and was still almost assaulted by a thoroughly drunken party-denizen..."You a**hole!!! Why didn't say they were that hot?!!!!" I did...poor guy.

Get a friend to help you piddle after cutting peppers.....you'll need someone to hold if you cut 'em without gloves, as I always do.

After pickling those habaneros, by the way, I used the vinegar to pickle some eggs. *swoon* Too good! I'm trying to figure out how to replicate that vinegar. Any ideas?

By the way - I've finally outgrown the need to kill myself with hot sauces. Maybe my macho is slipping? But - I love it when some kid challenges people.......

[nightscotsman]

Adult do-gooder party...a local, to be unnamed organization. We had a Christmas party which degenerated, after the right-thinkers left, into a drunken frenzy - and of course, around 11:00 PM, the hot sauces come out. Drunks never listen, eh? "I can eat anything! Watch this!" Suuuurrre, buddy..... poor guy.

Seems you don't have to be drunk to be stupid. See The Tabasco Challenge for blow-by-blow descriptions and photos. Be sure to check out all the other Challenges, especially the original Cinnamon Challenge.

[stagis]

Excellent link!! Of course, since Web access is supposed to be limited at work, I got some strange looks while laughing out loud at what appeared to be a terminal screen..... I was watching Food TV the other night - Follow That Food - as they traced buffalo wings back to the source: The Anchor Bar in Buffalo, NY. And of course, with hormones spewing everywhere you watch guys drink shots of the stuff.....why?

There's a good hotsauce store in Danbury Mall (Connecticut) and while on a spicerun with a Texan buddy, this young 20-something came in looking for the 'hottest sauce you've got - my buddy says that he can use anything'... This was very early in the chemical-burn-hot craze, and the lady sold him a small bottle with a skull on it - and made him sign a legal release! Turns out, after talking to the kid, that he and his buddies must've been hot-sauce dense. After eating buffalo wings (and presumably drinking way too much beer) his buddy made that statement. Glad I wasn't around to view the results.

[Suzanne F]

Remember - never ever ever ever blend dried habaneros inside....We're gasping, choking - I had to carry the blender outside - finished them on the picnic table.

Oh, YEAH!!! At Match Uptown, we made our own powdered guajillos and chipotles from toasted, dried ones. No one was allowed to make it in the regular kitchen -- had to go downstairs to the prep/pastry area. When I did it, I'd tell the prep guys to go take a break, and tie a napkin over my nose and mouth. Even so ...

But you could always get the other cooks by making the peanut dipping sauce without warning them -- a big dollop of house-made panang curry paste in a little hot oil -- Ah, those were the days.

[Huevos del Toro]

I did a "pepper" search and this is the closest thread I found.

I love stuffed jalapeño peppers. I began with cheese (natch),

then graduated to peanut butter (don’t chuckle, it’s good),

tuna salad, or battered and deep fried with a sausage stuffing.

It seems to me that the fat in the stuffing moderates the heat

and compliments the flavor of the pepper.

I automatically discounted seafood because I think the

delicate flavors would be overwhelmed.

What do you stuff yours with? Looking for ideas, particularly

unconventional!

[guajolote]

Cut a jalapeno in half and stuff with cream cheese. Place on grill and cook until the pepper is charred. Yum.

[jeniac42]

I love growing habaneros. In Ohio they keep producing until they're coated in a layer of ice. Gardening is not my forte, no matter how hard I try, so agreeable plants are A-OK by me.

The problem is that lately spicy foods have been causing me, well, problems. I never used to have this issue, and I'm pretty cross about having it now. Maybe I'll just have to eat them more often and see if I just got un-used to them.

[Jinmyo]

I like stuffing poblanos or very large jalapenos with shredded smoked chicken, scallions, and queso blanco.

[fifi]

This isn't unconventional but has become addictive to my family and friends. When I have made a particularly good batch of pickled or escabeche jalapeno halves, I sometimes can't wait to get home and make this. (You said tuna salad so I am going to assume this is different.) Stuff with 1/2 good tuna (preferably oil pack if you can find it) and 1/2 grated SHARP cheddar with just enough mayonaise to hold it together. It is one of those more-than-the-sum-of-its-parts things.

Look at some of the escabeche recipes for your peppers in some of the more authentic Mexican cook books. They can be quite complex and flavorful with a mix of spices, garlic, onion, etc. You can control the heat by careful seeding and deveining. I, too, have grown beyond wanting the screaming hot sensation. I now look for pleasant warmth and flavor. I love the way haberneros start out slow and spread.