How do you know? Szechuan spices are like nothing else - they don’t call it “numbing hot” for nothing. It’s not that it’s super mad crazy hot, it’s just actually NUMBING.
Not saying you won’t like it, but saying, “I like hot food, therefore I MUST love Szechuan” is like saying “I like tofu, so I must like Natto.” 
I wish I could remember the name of the stuff - it was in a Publix in their “ethnic” foods section. The outside labeling was all “Beware the heat! XXX-tra Hot! Prepare to sweat!” and I thought, “Wow, this is the perfect way to express my self-inflicted pain loving madness!”
I have never been more disappointed. Pace Medium Salsa is hotter. My weenie friend who sweats eating Old El Paso Mild was able to eat it.
Utter lameness.
On the crazy hot level, another vote for Dave’s. That was some crazy stuff.
Well, yes and no. Szechuan cuisine can be sizzingly spicy. Hunanese is probably a bit spicier, but it’s close. What you’re referring to is ma la, which loosely translates to “numbing and spicy,” The Sichuan peppercorn provides the numbing flavor (which is not hot spicy at all–just a unique sensation reminiscent perhaps of the tingle of a very light application of novocaine), and the Sichuan peppers provide the spicy heat. The tingle of the Sichuan peppercorn does not take away from the heat of the peppers, at least not in my estimation. The spicier Szechuan dishes can be scorching.
I’ve often wondered why hot sauces don’t just list their Scoville rating on the bottle-- That way, everyone could get the spice they want. These hyperbolized sauces that turn out to be mild might actually appeal to people who don’t like spicy stuff, but they’ll still never buy any because they’re turned off by the label: Putting hot hype on a mild bottle doesn’t do anyone any good.
I love hot sauce. I mean, seriously- I’ll put it on damn near everything, the hotter the better. However, last year we picked up a couple of bottles of this stuff: Zombie Apocalypse sauce. It’s a ghost pepper sauce, and it’s seriously the hottest sauce I’ve ever had.
I’m actually a little scared of it.
When I was growing up, I played Little League baseball. Our 3rd baseman’s father owned a Mexican restaurant and we would go eat there at least once or twice a month. And when they saw us come in, they brought out the chips and bowls of the family’s private recipe salsa. The chips would curl, turn black and start smoking when you dipped them in the salsa.
Man, that was good stuff. You’d have to cut it with Tabasco if you wanted it any milder.
I remember some thai food I had in Ottawa, designated as 5 star heat, which lived up to its rating.
After a few bites, I bolted upright and said “My food! It’s full of stars!”
Then I passed through the doors of perception and the gates of delirium (and delicium?)
Kinda busy here.
But I figure you hot sauce nerds out there aren’t hitting the bars tonight so I thought I’d throw out something for you to read.
This is a seed company that mostly does hot peppers. Some interesting reading and hot pepper porn for people into that sorta thing. And some interesting reading on various types of peppers…one being a plant that gets the size of a hedge and produces many hundreds of POUNDS of peppers each year!
I gotta say their info on how to grow pepper seeds was spot on. I followed their instructions carefully this spring and probably had a 90 percent plus germination rate, whereas in the past I just winged it and did miserably. I found it interesting that there seems to be a general trend of the hotter the pepper the harder it is to get the seeds to germinate, the plants to grow, and the fruit to produce.
I am now the proud parent of about a dozen different varieties of pepper plants (and about a hundred plants give or take). This year will be the summer of peppers and homemade hot sauce galore 
cloves also have a topical anesthetic effect.
Not necessarily. Sichuan food’s special ingredient is Sichuan peppercorn. Some people like it but I think it is just nasty. It not only makes my mouth go numb, but I also drool like the villiage idiot.
The provinces/cuisines around Sichuan like Hubei, Hunan or Guizhou can be just as hot (or hotter) but without the peppercorn nastiness.
When I first visited Sichuan in the 1980s it was unbelieveable. Standard appetizer was a big ol plate of deep fried red hot chili peppers. They would eat peppers for breakfast. One really memorable meal was hot pot. Started out with a bright red chili water base, to which they dumped in about 5 different kinds of red hot chili peppers, ground red hot chili pepers, etc. Every time the water level fell, they would add more of the lava water and another round of the different peppers. By the end the hot pot was basically paste. I ate a ton of rice and a few bites of the hot pot and felt like I had been maced. And lets just say those kind of meals burn going in and coming out.
Thai food in Thailand is about 100x hotter than your basic place in the US. They have these little tiny green peppers that are pretty ubiquitous. We called ‘em "rat shit’ peppers. Man, if one of those snuck into your mouth, it was pretty dang hot.
I don’t claim to be Habanero Honcho but definately can handle more than white bread no crust.
I used to go to a wonderful duck-and-bamboo hotpot place that would basically get you high off of the endorphins from the pain. Add an endless supply of weak beer, and you have the makings of a great night (and a terrible morning). Even your basic hot pot is going to have a thick layer of dried red peppers floating on the surface.
My favorite Sichuan dish is hu pi qing jiao, or “tiger skin peppers.” This is basically just a big plate of lightly charred hot peppers. I once tried to order fried eggplant in my town, and ended up with a dish that was a ten to one ratio dried red peppers to bits of eggplant. And it’s not just one kind of spicy- there are dried peppers, dark dried peppers, pickled peppers, fresh peppers, spicy sauces and various other concoctions. So yes, while the numbing pepper is important to some dishes, that doesn’t stop the over all flavor of 90% of Sichuan dishes from being spicy, spicy, spicy. A good Sichuan meal is a full body experience- your lips are numb and quivering and feel faintly like they are vibrating from the numbing pepper, you are crying and sniffling and flushed from the hot peppers, and you’ve hopefully drank yourself into a stupor. The best part is after a good banquet, the most popular thing is to go out and get hot pot or BBQ.
I’ve been to places in the world that have food that is technically spicier. But nobody beats Sichuan for the sheer dedication to spicy food. Breakfast is spicy. Lunch is spicy. Dinner is spicy. Snacks are spicy. You can go through a half pound of red peppers a day on your own. You end up crying three times a day just getting through your meals. The tables are stacked with napkins, and the floors are covered in discarded ones.
I literally just had Sichuan Chinese food ten minutes ago, and now I want it again! I honestly think you do get mildly addicted to the endorphins, and non-spicy meals always kind of feel like a disappointment to me these days.
That’s interesting. I don’t ever recall getting a sensation similar to Szechuan peppercorns with cloves. It’s weird. Like I said, there’s a certain Novocaine-y tingle to it, but as in China Guy’s experience, they also ramp up my saliva production. The first time I had the peppercorns, I thought I was having an allergic reaction to them, as the sensation was so unfamiliar and odd. That said, I love them. They got a great citrussy and herbal flavor to them. I have a jar of Szechuan dried/fried chilis in oil that’s mixed with Szechuan peppercorns and peanuts, and I could (and do occasionally), just eat it straight out of the jar.
Now, Szechuan chiles aren’t habanero hot. Those Szechuan peppers (like Thai peppers) can get pretty fiesty, but they’re not quite up in the Scovilles like habanero or Scotch bonnet. (Though they get somewhat close.) Thing is, you can get a lot of those peppers in a single dish (like the charred hot pepper appetizer), whereas, you usually don’t get a bowl of habaneros in cuisines that incorporate them. (Well, you might get it in a bowl of sauce, but not expected to eat them straight out of the bowl.) So, the heat really builds.
I’m pretty excited. This is the first year I’m doing peppers from seed, and I got a bunch from Seed Savers in Decorah, Iowa. Fatalii, mustard habanero, Hungarian alma, rooster spur, and Portugal red. I also ordered a packet of Trinidad Scorpion peppers (the current “hottest pepper in the world”) and only one germinated, but it seems to be holding up pretty well.
You’re right, it seems that the hotter peppers, or specifically the ones that come from the Capsicum chinense species of the Capsicum genus (the ones that have a lantern-like shape to them) are a pain to germinate, especially in a cool climate like we have here in Chicago. (Seems peppers like warm soil, especially those.) My fataliis and mustard habs are well behind in growth to the other peppers, but they actually germinated fine, although maybe a week behind the other plants.
I’ll have to check out the website you linked to for a few more tips. I plan on keeping them under lights and a fan for at least three more weeks before transplanting them outside. Here’s to hoping for a bumper crop for both of us!
Most recipes I’ve encountered which call for clove (e.g. pies, curries, etc.) don’t use enough to evoke that sensation. put a whole clove in your mouth or dab a bit of ground/powdered on your tongue and you’ll feel it.
I’ve not experienced Szechuan peppercorns yet, so I can’t compare. Hmm, I have to go up to Penzey’s later today.
When I had my wisdom teeth removed (as a kid), they packed the wounds with clove oil-soaked gauze. Makes sense, since it apparently has both antiseptic and analgesic properties.
Just remember, peppers do not like to have their roots disturbed, so transplanting the seedlings can be problematic. I had a Serrano plant once that refused to get any bigger for about 2 months. Just as I was about to give up on it, it gave me a ridiculous crop of peppers in late September.
Exactly. Melinda’s XXXX Habanero sauce is my all-time favorite. Hot as hell, and yet you can still taste the carrots. Don’t make the mistake of getting the meagerly hot “extra” hot version.
I transplanted the seedlings once already, about a month in, from their little germination pods to 12 oz Solo cups. They seemed to do okay. When I take them outside, I’ll be careful to do it as gently as possible. I’ve grown peppers from the nursery, so getting them from their container to the ground has never been problematic for me–it’s just the actually getting the seeds started that was a whole new experience. I’ve never tried indoors under lights before. I’m surprised at how relatively easy it’s been so far. I ended up with 41 plants, and had to toss another 50 or so peppers that sprouted, as I had no need for that many.
I have to say the the phrase “and yet you can still taste the carrots” in regards to hot sauce is a new one for me.