Re: [CH] A new experience

Bruce (blacksheep@awwwsome.com)
Fri, 20 Jul 2001 08:47:27 -0700 

  The problem I have with ordering food and having it arrive at the
table too mild is that if I add hot sauce, peppers or other heat source
to a curry or other complicated dish, the heat isn't well blended into
the food.  At a local Indian restaurant, (the only one in town) they
have a lunch buffet that's very tasty but only has a hint of heat to it.
They always bring some very hot condiments to add to the food
but it's just not the same as if the food was cooked with the fiery
ingredients to begin with.  When ordering off of the menu there my
wife and I just tell them that we want it as hot as the chef would
eat it.  Then it comes out pretty hot.  Sometimes very hot.
  I was a chef for about 10 years or so and for a while worked in
a place that had a lot of Cajun/Creole dishes on the menu.  We made
our own habanero sauce that was pretty good stuff.  Whenever
someone wanted the food very hot it was easy to fire it up for them.
One time this guy ordered a plate of jambalaya and told us to make
it "really hot".  No problem, it went out really hot.  But apparently
not hot enough for him.  He sent it back saying he wanted it "As hot
as we could make it".  Heh, heh, heh...Ok!  Nothing that a couple
of minced habaneros and a healthy dose of habanero sauce couldn't
fix.  The waitress said he was an arrogant jerk trying to impress his
girl friend so I didn't feel too bad when she reported his progress,
or lack of progress in eating his extremely hot jambalaya.  He was
gasping and had fluids coming out of pretty much every hole in his
head.  He barely was able to eat any of his food but because he
was so embarrassed he wouldn't ask for anything else or ask for
us not to charge him.  He *did* tell me to make it "As hot as we
could make it" and I could've made it hotter.  I didn't eat it that
hot all the time but I did some of the time so it wasn't like it
was inedible.  He just didn't know what hot was.
  That's one reason why many restaurants won't make a dish so hot.
 Idiots like that guy think that a jalapeno is hot and don't comprehend
what seriously hot food is.  They get in way over their head and then
want their money back.  It doesn't help the restaurant's bottom line or
their
reputation if food keeps getting sent back because it's too hot for
the ill-informed customers.  On the other hand, if the food isn't hot
enough for some people and they either have to send it back or,
worse yet, stop coming, that isn't good either.  What can you do?
A friend of mine thinks pepperoncini are hot.  I think he represents
a large percentage of the population.

Bruce

----- Original Message -----
From: RisaG <radiorlg@home.com>
To: Michael Sporrong <hotchili@hotchili.st>; <chile-heads@globalgarden.com>
Sent: Friday, July 20, 2001 5:49 AM
Subject: Re: [CH] A new experience


> I have that problem all the time. Mexican and Chinese restaurants offer
HOT
> food but it isn't quite hot at all. I always add chinese chile paste
(always
> ask for it) in chinese restaurants and always ask for hot sauce or
jalapenos
> or something at Mexican places.
>
> Don't have any Thai places around here, in the middle of nowhere NJ, USA.
> The closest Mexican is over the border in PA.
>
> I was glad I brought a small travel size bottle of hot sauce to FL. I
used
> it many times - from Orlando to Sarasota.
>
> So, yes, I have that problem all the time. Plus they don't believe you
that
> you want more chiles for your food. They think that you can't handle it.
I
> just display my Chile-Heads card and then I have no problem.
>
> RisaG, Zone 6, NJ