What's your heat tolerance level?

[CraigC]

When heat leaves no flavor, the food goes to waste.

 

[Rocklobster]

It comes and goes with me. I used to eat hotter foods but now I am a bit more selective. I love the Habanero peppers, but respect them and any products they are in. I much prefer the taste to other peppers. I would eat more if they weren't so hot. I use them in dishes, and sauces which contain them, quite regularly, but in very small amounts. I have had ghost peppers before out of curiosity, but they are just too hot to actually eat and enjoy. Some of the little red asian type chilies can pack quite a punch, too.

Lately, I have been eating lots of Asian chili paste type sauces. Typically, they are hotter than Jalapeno heat, but not as hot as Habanero heat. It is just where I can enjoy the heat and taste the food also....

One problem with the really hot stuff is that I can tolerate them going in, but not coming out. Sorry for the gory details.

 

[Claire]

I have a pretty high tolerance for heat in my food. That said, I do want to taste the rest of my meal. Zhihara, I, too, lived in Hawaii, and that's where I was introduced to Asian kinds of heat, and mixing hot mustard with soy, and started eating (and making) kimchee. But sometimes people use heat just for the heck of it, without using it as a component. Over the years, I've had acquaintances who just like to add heat for it's own sake rather than a part of the dish.

One hard part of peppers-kind-of-heat is that there is no way of predicting how hot a pepper will be. I've eaten jalapenos that might as well be green bell peppers. I've grown several kinds of hot peppers, save the seeds, and they've cross polinated in one generation. I've picked the same peppers from the same bush and had some way hot, and some incredibly mild. And I always beware, when someone asks me at a restaurant (over the years I've introduced a lot of people to, what was to them, unusual cuisines), "will this be hot?" This is so subjective that it is impossible. I'll answer, to me this is just a little hot. THen it burned their mouths.

The other thing is people continue to use spicy as a synonym for hot. Cinnamon breakfast rolls are spicy. Ham with cloves is spicy. Corned beef is, by it's very nature, spicy. So when people ask me if something is spicy, I ask them do they mean burn your mouth hot. Sometimes I really don't know what people mean when they say "spicy".

 

[Rocklobster]

This is my go-to hot condiment. Just the right level of heat for me. It has a very neutral flavor so it can be used in most any dish to add heat. I also use it to ramp up sweet chili sauce, ketchup for dipping and it is killer straight on eggs.. It is only a couple of bucks for a bottle. Don't get the one with garlic, it can be a bit strong....or, maybe that's the kind of thing you like.

 

[Margi Cintrano]

Heat Tolerance - Piquant verses Weather

Good Post.


Firstly, I detest winter ... so I am quite content, as long as I am on the Sea.

Piquant level: Quite tolerant and a fan of piquant food products ... I love Goa, India regional cuisine, classic Mexican, and Peruvian cuisine ... Wasabi, Basilicata, Italian chili peppers, smoked cayenne Paprika, Mexican chili peppers, Peruvian chili peppers, Galician Padrón Chili Peppers, and Basque chili peppers ...

Have lovely August.
Margi.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

The other thing is people continue to use spicy as a synonym for hot. Cinnamon breakfast rolls are spicy. Ham with cloves is spicy. Corned beef is, by it's very nature, spicy. So when people ask me if something is spicy, I ask them do they mean burn your mouth hot. Sometimes I really don't know what people mean when they say "spicy".

Some people use hot to indicate something has a high temperature. "Would you prefer a hot sandwich or a cold sandwich?" The least ambiguous way to refer to the strong taste of some chilis is "spicy hot."

 

[4meandthem]

I love the Sambal too Rocklobster. I have some dried and ground habeneros that I use sparingly in my pan fried corn. I love the flavor of habenoero and I can really control the heat with it dried and ground.

I also like grilled jalepenos to knosh on but I they can way too hot too eat sometimes. I will get a sweet one and a mind blower in the same batch.I make plenty so i can toss the too hot ones.

I guess I would consider myself a medium hot guy. I want my tastebuds intact to taste the rest of the meal.

 

[taxlady]

I have a pretty high tolerance for heat in my food. That said, I do want to taste the rest of my meal. Zhihara, I, too, lived in Hawaii, and that's where I was introduced to Asian kinds of heat, and mixing hot mustard with soy, and started eating (and making) kimchee. But sometimes people use heat just for the heck of it, without using it as a component. Over the years, I've had acquaintances who just like to add heat for it's own sake rather than a part of the dish.

One hard part of peppers-kind-of-heat is that there is no way of predicting how hot a pepper will be. I've eaten jalapenos that might as well be green bell peppers. I've grown several kinds of hot peppers, save the seeds, and they've cross polinated in one generation. I've picked the same peppers from the same bush and had some way hot, and some incredibly mild. And I always beware, when someone asks me at a restaurant (over the years I've introduced a lot of people to, what was to them, unusual cuisines), "will this be hot?" This is so subjective that it is impossible. I'll answer, to me this is just a little hot. THen it burned their mouths.

The other thing is people continue to use spicy as a synonym for hot. Cinnamon breakfast rolls are spicy. Ham with cloves is spicy. Corned beef is, by it's very nature, spicy. So when people ask me if something is spicy, I ask them do they mean burn your mouth hot. Sometimes I really don't know what people mean when they say "spicy".

Other than growing peppers and living in Hawaii, that's exactly me. Using the word "spicy" to mean hot is one of my pet peeves.

"I would like the mild Italian sausage." "Oh, you don't like spicy." If I didn't like spicy, I wouldn't get Italian sausage! Just because I want the mild one doesn't mean I don't like hot spices. grrr

It depends on my mood. I enjoy up to, and including, food as hot as a vindaloo.

 

[Steve Kroll]

Maybe we should just adopt the word "picante", which comes from the Spanish "picar", meaning "to sting" - and is used as an adjective to describe hot and spicy food.

 

[RPCookin]

When heat leaves no flavor, the food goes to waste.

Not necessarily. Sometimes the dish is inherently flavorful, but still needs a little zip. For that I'd rather not use a hot sauce or jalapeno pepper which adds flavor which might not be desired as well as adding some heat. Something like the conch salad we have here on the island with good flavors from the veggies and citrus, but gets some kick from whatever pepper is in season at the moment. We are using what we call finger peppers here now, but Scotch bonnets are coming into season - picked up a few at the packing house last week, and hoping to find some more tomorrow.

 

[Mel!]

When heat leaves no flavor, the food goes to waste.

I presume you mean heat, as in temperature, rather than spiciness. Temperature wise, I like my hot food to be hot, but not so hot it injures my mouth.

For heat as in spicey, I like just a touch of spicey, so I can still taste the other flavours with it.

 

[Addie]

Hubby #2 and I every Sunday night would eat at least five or six hot baked Italian sausages while we watched Mission Impossible. Sometimes there was more red pepper than meat in them. But since my gastro surgery, no hot foods for me. I do use Coleman's mustard in my Mac and Cheese. And I will add one or two red pepper flakes to my pasta dishes. You wouldn't think so, but those two little flakes can add some heat. My poor little tummy just can't tolerate the heat anymore. I can't even use black pepper. There are times when I see those Italian peppers that have more red flakes than meat in the meat section, I want to buy them. But I know what the consequences would be.

 

[CraigC]

I presume you mean heat, as in temperature, rather than spiciness. Temperature wise, I like my hot food to be hot, but not so hot it injures my mouth.

For heat as in spicey, I like just a touch of spicey, so I can still taste the other flavours with it.

No, I mean the use of so much hot chili(s)/spice, that is the only taste you get.

 

[no mayonnaise]

I love spicy food, I just wish restaurants served it! I can only VERY rarely find a restaurant that will make food actually spicy. It's frustrating going to a Chinese or Thai place and asking for it to be exceptionally hot, and it isn't at all. At my local favorite Thai place, I usually order a 20 though their scale only goes to 10. That's where it starts to get actually spicy IMO.

 

[RPCookin]

I love spicy food, I just wish restaurants served it! I can only VERY rarely find a restaurant that will make food actually spicy. It's frustrating going to a Chinese or Thai place and asking for it to be exceptionally hot, and it isn't at all. At my local favorite Thai place, I usually order a 20 though their scale only goes to 10. That's where it starts to get actually spicy IMO.

And yet, spicy foods in restaurants have gotten much better than they were 30 year ago. When I was growing up in Minnesota in the 50's and 60's, the spiciest food you could find was a pepperoni pizza. The first time I actually had what I'd call spicy was in a local Mexican restaurant in Great Falls, Montana, and that was some 3 years after I graduated from high school.

I lived in the Denver Metro area for 39 years, and they have a mexican restaurant on every other corner. Some are very good, some are just adequate, and most are on the mild side. One that we went to regularly had a good variety of chile sauces, including a smoked jalapeno green chile which had a major kick to it. They did a good job of customizing any dish to suit the tolerance level of any palate.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

Not necessarily. Sometimes the dish is inherently flavorful, but still needs a little zip. For that I'd rather not use a hot sauce or jalapeno pepper which adds flavor which might not be desired as well as adding some heat. Something like the conch salad we have here on the island with good flavors from the veggies and citrus, but gets some kick from whatever pepper is in season at the moment. We are using what we call finger peppers here now, but Scotch bonnets are coming into season - picked up a few at the packing house last week, and hoping to find some more tomorrow.

I agree provided that the heat is provided by fresh chilis rather than some hot sauce that has only Scoville to thank for it's reason to exist (raison d'etre for you French freaks.)

Some recipes need kick and it is best applied with fresh chili peppers, often thinly sliced or minced.

Scoville missed a bet not coming out with a brand name...

 

[Addie]

When I lived in south Texas, I worked in a little hole in the wall Mexican cafe. Mama Lupe owned it. Her customers were Mexicans from Mexico. No one spoke English except Mama Lupe and me. Her food had heat. Oh boy, did it have heat!!! She would give me a tip of the spoon taste of the different dishes she made. I still have tears in my eyes at the thought of it all. She had two bowls of chillies that she served. One for sissies like me, and one for the Mexicans. At that time I could still eat hot food. Occasionally some poor 'gringo' would wander in with his friends and order the real hot chili. He was going to show his friends just what he was made of. After the first bite, everyone would watch and sure enough, he was wanting some dairy drink real fast. I still love chilli, but without the heat, thank you.

 

[Robo410]

6 on a 10 pt scale is great for me. 7 can be with the right sides of yogurt etc in Indian cuisine. I like the sppice/heat to heighten flavor not obscure it or cover it.

 

[chopper]

I like spicy things, but I have this crazy thing called graphic tongue. Now the really hot things are painful to eat.

 

[Kylie1969]

Awww, that is no good Chopper...is there anything that can be done about it?