Re: [CH] Taste Buds

ChefChile@aol.com
Thu, 17 Dec 1998 15:24:29 EST 

In a message dated 12/16/98 12:34:33 PM Pacific Standard Time,
kristofer@blennow.se writes:

<< Can you still appreciate subtle food, like a mild fish dish?>>

I can appreciate the various flavors and since coming into the enlightenment
of El Grande I can pick out the actual ingredients more readily even if they
are very subtle.

<<snip snip>> 

<< I think Tabasco is quite mild, and the few times I wish I could pour it.>>

Tabasco is mild compared to many others so feel free to pour it on, but I urge
you to explore the world of sauces that awaits you.  So many flavors that must
be tasted in order to be appreciated.  I keep about 40 bottles of different
hot sauces in the refrigerator at home, just to suit my particular tastes at
the moment.

<< I don't keep a pocket container with chile. I do pour hot sauce if
available on boring restaurant lunches, but I never "destroy" good subtle food
with chile.>>

Once you find a sauce or powder that you like then you might want to start
carrying some.  As far as boring restaurant lunches, I assume you are
indicating your dislike of the fast food versions, because if you are dining
in a restaurant with boring meals then you need to change restaurants.
Destroy is an appropriate word.  I have accidentally destroyed many dishes
with the addition of too much chile.  On the other hand I have created many
more dishes by this experimentation.  So keep at it and have fun with it.
Just remember that you can always add more chile to the dish, but you cannot
remove it once its there, so go sparingly until you reach the desired flavor.


<<It seems to me that eating hot food regularly almost makes me even 
 more sensitive to the subtleties of mild food.>>

This has been true with my senses also.  I can discern the various flavors of
separate ingredients more easily than I could before, but this may also be
from the fact that I work around food all day and am constantly tasting and
smelling food.  One strange thing that I have noticed is that my sense of
smell is vary acute.  I can smell the different items in the walk-in cooler
better than others.  My sense of smell is also working overtime trying to
discern the various perfumes the women around me wear.  The guys don't wear
any cologne that I can tell, but the ladies are wearing just enough to set off
my nose, and they don't seem to mind if I walk up to them and sniff (no
knuckle dragging please).  They actually are happy to see that someone has
noticed them.  

But I digress.

Also remember that being a ChileHead is not always about going for the extreme
heat.  It is about the use of our favorite fruit to enhance the flavor of the
foods we consume, not always to over power it with nuclear heat.  I for one
like to taste my food.  I like to pick out the flavor.  I like to find the
addition of toasted cumin, in a melange of roasted corn and marinated chicken.
I like food and flavor.

And thats just the way I am.

I am a ChileHead and I admit it freely.

John "ChefChile" Whalen