[CH] Hot is how hot?
Doug Irvine (dougandmarie@shaw.ca)
Wed, 19 Jun 2002 17:01:55 -0700
Long time ago I seem to recall a similar thread, perhaps started when I spoke about the young lady at the grocery check out, who informed me that
those habenero chiles were the hottest thing in the world, and, at my apparent old age, should use extreme caution using them, so I took one and bit
it in half and chewed it up! Sure it was hot,of course, but as I had done this before a few times I knew what to expect. Good thing no one gave me
the finger on the way home...I coulda spit in his eye, and blinded him forever!! That said, there are a number of sauces and ground peppers that I use
all the time. In no particular order, I use Jim Campbell's 100% ground habanero pepper, which Jim has rated 10 HOT!
whenever I wish both heat and smokey. I also use his Smokin Chipotle Sauce on almost everything, from eggs, to a hatched egg, and everything in
between. I also use a lot of Nando's Peri-Peri sauce, the stuff with the nice citrus flavour, as well as heat, but a milder sorta heat. I have El
Yuccies Green sauce(ya there, Green?) when I want the specific heat and flavour that imparts. A new one to me and quite hot is Grace Scotch Bonnet
Sauce.....http://www.gracefoods.com outta Bermuda, and Kingston Jamaica. As we have, here in BC a very significant East Indian population, who have
been here for decades, there is a great variety of hot to be had. IMHO hot is in the taste buds of the person who is partaking of that food, and
should never(well, HARDLY ever!) overwhelm the food itself. eg: tonight I stirfried asparagus, onion, garlic and red pepper, with Thai red curry and
then splashed a very good(50 bucks for 8 ozs)balsamic vinegar over it just before serving....my better half is still singing it's praise! As you may
imagine, I have a section in my fridge for open bottles, and a section in my cupboard for un opened bottles of hot sauces, from various sources, but
the ones I mentioned are the ones we use the most. Cheers, Doug in BC