Watching this video got me to thinking about this topic.
Now, I like hot stuff… to a point. I don’t really enjoy pain flavor for the sake of it, but I can tolerate moderate amount of heat, and even like a mild amount.
Recently, I took a trip to Myrtle Beach, SC. ** Janisnevvy #2** went with us, and he and his buddy bought a little pack of scorpion peppers from a local vendor. Now, the scorpion pepper is far from the mild amount of heat that I like. It is, as a matter of fact, supposedly, the second hottest pepper in the world. They use it to stunt the growth of mold and mildew on the bottom of ships. Think about that for a minute… and people will cheerfully put these things in their mouth and eat them… on purpose…less hot peppers that these are used for elephant repellent.
The kids bring the little pack of peppers back to the condo… after having each tried them.
"Your Uncle would probably like to try one of those.* I said. My brother LOVES hot stuff & will willingly inflict all kinds of culinary pain on himself. When he arrived, he agreed to eat one. “Would you like one, Aunt Sissy?” My curiosity got the better of me. “I’ll try a piece of one”. I said. They were dried, so I didn’t know how bad they would be…:smack:
Did you ever get stung by a hornet on the inside of your mouth? Did you ever get stung by a bunch of them? I drooled, I coughed, I sputtered, I swore, I turned red in the face, I ate ice cream out of the carton with a spoon to try to kill the pain…:eek:
Definitely, without question, the hottest thing I have ever eaten.
How about you?
Some home-grown varietal at the pub. It started out tasty but the heat just built and built. Worth it for the massive endorphin rush though, once the tears had stopped flowing.
Eight bhut jolokia peppers (“ghost chili”). The owner of a locksmith shop I worked at brought in a bag of ghost chili peppers he’d grown in his yard and said we could leave an hour early that day for every one we ate. As soon as he said that I immediately stuffed four in my mouth, choked them down, shoved another 4 in, walked straight over to the time clock, clocked out and left. He never made us that offer again.
They were pretty damned hot. It seems like once your mouth is on fire, what difference will another pepper make? But somehow, it’s still worse.
In the raw category - a small jar of habaneros, probably 5 or 6 total in one sitting.
In the prepared meal category - scotch bonnet smoked brisket at East Coast Grill’s penultimate Hell Night. Hottest entree on the menu, but not the “you must sign a waiver before eating” appetizer.
I grow, smoke, and grind habaneros as a hobby (and, hopefully, as a business starting this winter). I can tolerate very spicy food, but I have a *very *healthy respect for this stuff. It gives a lot of flavor, but you really have to be careful when you use it.
If any of you are familiar with Tijuana Flats you might be aware of Endorphin Rush hot sauce. Or rather, *beware *Endorphin Rush. Not tasty, not nuanced, not aromatic. Just . . .Satan’s ejaculate. Doesn’t matter if you spit or swallow, you can’t undo the damage.
I eat curry quite a lot and you practically have to beg them to make it hot enough. One time my then boyfriend and I told the server we wanted it *atomic.*It was the only time I couldn’t finish it. The pair of us had watery eyes and runny noses but we didn’t want to admit defeat. I’ll spare you details on the ring sting:eek:
As far as commercially prepared stuff goes, nothing that compares to the pepper I mentioned above. A local hamburger place had some silly shit hot hamburger they were advertising a few weeks ago that had ghost pepper cheese, Trinidad scorpion sauce, and Carolina reaper relish. Unlike other places that advertise hot peppers and merely wave them in the vicinity of the food, this was pretty legit. The Carolina reaper relish had actualy bits of raw peppers in it. The hottest burger I’ve ever eaten, but I was able to finish it without reaching for the beer, and it honestly was de-fucking-licious. They somehow made all the flavors work and not make it an exercise in machismo. At least not to me. But I have to say, it was exactly at the edge of an enjoyable pain to me. Damn, I want another one now, but it was a one-week offering only.
My sister thought it would be a riot to give me hot dried pepper flakes not telling what it was. I ate a few flakes and broke out in tears b/c my ears started to burn like HELL! My ears are very sensitive and OMG they were hurting like HELL for awhile ! My sister felt like the monster she was for awhile too!
The place I was staying (in Thailand!) made it beautifully with great big, fresh from the ocean, shrimp, Chinese celery, a few little greens, some chopped onions and lots of freshly chopped chilies. The whole lot tossed in a dressing of lime juice and fish sauce, mixed with sugar and lots and lots of finely chopped fresh red chilies.
It was SO good! I could not stop eating it, had it once almost every day. I’m not usually a ‘super’ spicy hot eater. I like me some chilli but it’s usually hubby who wants it smokin’ hot.
He would sit across from me astounded as I ate it, time after time. A couple of times during the meal I would stop, gulp ice cold water and pant for a few seconds, before diving in again.
I’ve had it a few places since, but it was never ever at good at at Ko Mook! I even tried to make it at home, but ‘ocean fresh’ is really, really important for it to come out right. I eventually gave up trying.
If I ever return to that tiny, quiet island (no cars!), it will be for that meal!
Mapo Tofu that my wife made from scratch. She used authentic Szechuan peppers she got in China. I’m not sure if she had a recipe. She badly misjudged how many peppers she needed. It was dreadful. I think I scarfed down two bites. I don’t think she ever tried to use the peppers again.
I went to a “rib fest” here a couple years ago. Blazing hot Saturday afternoon in July. Venue is packed. I stood in line for an hour to get a slab from one of the vendors. I eat a lot of hot stuff. I usually get the hottest sauce and it’s fine. So, I get my ribs and there’s three bottles of sauce and I choose hot. I find a place to sit, take one bite and it’s way, way too hot. Insanely hot. Nauseatingly hot. There wasn’t anywhere sanitary to wash the sauce off and I ended up rinsing it off over a trash can using my 4$ beer.
One time at work this guy brought in some salsa that he ruined with a bottle of Dave’s Insanity sauce. Since this guy had brought in really good salsa many times, made with stuff from his garden, I scooped up a big chip full without reservation. Ruined my whole day.
**What is the hottest (spicy) thing you have ever eaten?
**Habanero pepper. That’s as hot as I need to go. If it’s any hotter than El Yucateco green, then I don’t want to know about it. I use this all the time, and it meets all of my heat requirements, and then some:
** http://www.elyucateco.com/products/salsas-picantes/salsa-verde
**
I like some heat, but I don’t deliberately seek out really hot peppers to eat; I just don’t shy away from hot stuff on menus. However, there was a Chinese noodle place not far from my home that was…challenging. Their beef noodle soup was delicious, but it was not easy to get through a bowl. The first time I had it, the heat just built and built, and I had no bread or alcohol to chase it–only endless amounts of tea. By the time I finished it, my eyes were watering, my lips were swollen, and it felt like my eardrums were sweating.
Chatting with the owner, I learned that they had had to cut the spice from their original recipe in half right after opening, because no one who came in could eat it.
That stuff is awfully hot at something like 180,000 Scoville units*; I didn’t read the label and tossed about 2 teaspoons into about 2-3 quarts worth of chili. It wasn’t quite inedible, but it wasn’t exactly enjoyable either.
*while I know that hot sauces, etc… go up from there, is there really any difference in perceived heat levels?