If it's steak, it's overcooked if it doesn't moo when i jab a fork into it. If it's veg, it's overcooked if it's not crisp. If it's spicy, it's not hot enough unless it requires a pre-emptive strike of putting the bog roll in the fridge overnight ready for morning. This is, of course, just me
rep for that. I'm not entirely sure, but surely alot of spicy food and indeed the ingredients themselves have a taste all to themselves, maybe they don't and I've been eating it all just for the hell of it, who knows i.e I could drink a gallon of hot pepper sauce, I would agree with anyone that told me it was very hot and could cause mild discomfort at least, but for some reason I just love it!
I don't like spicy for the sake of spicy, there has to be flavor. There are a couple Indian and Thai places local that do it very very right and I go to them every chance I get. Yeah, I might be sweating/runny nose by the time I'm done but not losing the flavor is great. There are others that are very wrong and just throw extra chili powder/red peppers in.
Seeing as my wife is from Southern China, basically every single meal I eat (apart from breakfast) has a substantial amount of chillies in it. I think there must be some kind of addictive compound in spicey food (like in bacon) that keeps you coming back for more. Also, once you get the fire going in your mouth, continuing to eat more spicey food helps abate it (until you stop eating again, at which point it burns 10 fold).
edit That's very true, I don't think it's really pain as we know it, just an alien effect on our tastebuds that causes us to perspire.
sichuan cuisine probably (my personal fave of the regional cuisines of china) though many dishes don't use chillies at all. the compound you're referring to is capsaicin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsaicin and ingesting it releases endorphins. hence the food euphoria experienced from some sichuan chinese, thai and latin dishes. rarely should a dish be so hot as to mask the complexities/subtleties of the spices, or individual flavors of the ingredients, else you might as well just douse whatever you're eating in tabasco.
F**k yes! Every now and again I make myself steak tartare *drools*. Ha ha! I can't stand anything remotely spicy. I'm the guy who orders the korma and then gets looked at in disgust by everyone; later on I'm the one actually enjoying my meal whilst everyone else is sweating and ordering their fifth drink.
Seem to be quite a few people here who haven't been shown the wonder of properly cooked spicy food. Food being spicy shouldn't detract from or overpower it's flavour, if it does then it's been cooked wrong. Properly prepared spicy food is fantastic, heat and flavour = win.
No, I don't like hot spices. I do enjoy some flavor spices on occasion , but not many. I like my food bland, so olive oil and very little salt is about as exotic as I normally get. After a lifetime of chain smoking, my coworker has almost no taste left. He can't eat anything unless it's drenched in Tabasco and served with a side of jalapenos. He added Tabasco to the coffee grounds the other day. Needless to say I now brew my own at my desk.
It depends, sometimes I do but most of the time I don't like hot spices. Like supermonkey said the right spices to add flavor are more my style
I LOVE spicy food. Not to an extent where I eat habaneros, but I have my own little chili plantation, and I regularly taste them. Mind, I have friends where I mam sure they start sweating when they drink milk... so I don't make hot food all that much... but when it's just me (or I make a chili), then it's gametime.
Faugusztin I have never heard of that, but it sounds like something I need to try. Anyone ever watch epic meal time of Youtube? They say one of my favorite things ever: "Miss Vicky's Jalapeno chips. Spicy: If you're a p***y!"
http://hortobagyshop.co.uk/shop/art...zálanként).html?shop_param=cid=4&aid=HS01004& 1kg of Csabai or Gyulai kolbasz has the price around ~10GBP - in Hungary . That is about twice of the price of generic "no-name kolbasz". They are not incredibly spicy, but they have a nice flavour thanks to a little bit of red hungarian paprika (that must be in everything hungarian, right ). See wiki : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_sausages
I have to agree with Supermonkey here. There is spicy food, hot food, and spicy hot food. I like all 3. My wife's family comes from the American south-west, and they have very spicy foods and a strong history of hot food. Curiously enough, if you were to graph where the hottest food come from you would find an interesting distribution. You'd find that places that have high temperatures often have very hot food. And you'll also find that those places are also often ones with a history of poverty. Hot foods (especially with chillies) thin the blood, encourage perspiration, and tends to give the impression of being full. So if you are in a hot poor place, it cools you while filling you up cheaply. Also, chilli plants love sunlight which goes hand in hand with the temperature. And to help with the heat, try very strong black tea. The tannins break down the oils that burn the mouth and lips, helping you eat a hot meal and enjoy it. Milk does little to help, and cold water makes it worse.
I love spicy food so very much. All spices, textures, flavours etc. I will try at least once. We have neighbours who will only eat dry meat and consider even ketchup to be 'too exotic' for them. Does not compute.
Agreed. The whole "spice ruins flavour" thing is so horrifically misinformed, it's just badly cooked food. Many hot chillies available in supermarkets are often pretty poor examples, IMO. Very hot chillies have some of the most compelling flavours in the world, and I spent 2 years or so gradually eating hotter things once I realised this and certainly do not regret it. The only real downside about loving hot food is that it can be a bloody nightmare when you are cooking something you want to eat really hot but the rest of your guests don't like the odd scotch bonnet or dorset naga in their soup.....
i love spicy food (don't eat it that often though). but i really dislike tabasco sauce (and other similar products) as these consist mostly of vinegar (check ingredients), sure it "amplifies" (enriches) the hotness a little, but mostly it is the vinegar itself which is responsible for the heat. any good curry contains stupid amounts of taste compared to heat. at indian restaurants i tend to go for vindaloo. that sh't makes you high. really. recently i ordered some bhut jolokias. those things are insane. ... man, now i'm hungry
