Spicy Hot Food? Yes? No? How Hot?

[Nostalgiascape]

Ive been watching the celebrity interview show Hot Ones. It's been on for some time but if you've never heard of it, it's a show where the host and the guest have a discussion about anything and everything while eating 10 different degrees of hot wings, from level 1 to level 10. Most celebrities dont make it to 10. I can honestly say this. Stone Cold Steve Austin isn't just a bad *** in character, he's a bad *** period. He made it to and through level ten while keeping his composure.

So do you like Spicy Hot foods? If you do, how Hot can you go? Which hit sauce is your favorite?

[Murfreesboro]

I love spices, but I absolutely cannot take the hot peppers. I can take black pepper, a touch of cayenne, and sometimes the types of peppers used in Mexican food, as long as they don't have seeds, are cooked, and are used sparingly. Not a big fan of jalapenos, but sometimes take them or poblanos under the conditions specified. I do like a big pot of chili, either red or white.

Nashville (my sphere) has become famous for its hot chicken, but that is a recent phenomenon. Not to rain on anyone's parade, but I don't get the appeal.

[Andybev01]

I'm with you, Murf.

I think a lot of food began as a 'dare', especially peppers.

That being said there can never be enough ground black pepper on my plate, or hot paprika.

[Pumpkin_Head]

I still like a little black pepper on some of my foods, but for the most part, I just can't abide any of those really hot spices any more. I liked them when I was a young man, but my stomach, gastric bypass and all, just can't abide it any more.

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

They say Nashville hot chicken began as a punishment. A wife was angry with her husband and, to get even with him, cooked fried chicken so peppery she didn't believe he could or would eat it. To her astonishment, he did like it. I guess he owned a restaurant, and Nashville hot chicken was born. People do dare each other to eat it.

I've read that peppers in general are healthful, especially for those living in hot climates. They thin the blood and help people keep cooler. Cultures that evolved in cold places generally have bland, fatty diets, because people need that for energy in the cold.

[Pumpkin_Head]

That makes sense, Murf. Hot and spicy foods, however, are becoming very popular in my neck of the woods where temps can get pretty darn cold in the Winter time.

Mike

[MauEvig]

I know I've had stuff with...get this...VERY Halloweeny names here...Carolina Reaper and Ghost Pepper in them, either in the form of sauce or powder. (Although I think the scorpion pepper tops those now perhaps? It seems like there's always something new coming out that tops the scoville heat index, which is used to measure how hot something is.)
But most of the time if I eat those, I'll be reaching for a glass of milk.
I once learned the hard way that you should wear gloves when handling certain kinds of peppers. I do like occasionally making a spicy batch of chili.
I've had the "hot ones" before, the only sauce I could handle was the mild and even that was pretty hot for my taste.
Sometimes I've been surprised by just how hot some peppers were, like these cherry peppers I used one time. I think I put them in a batch of chicken fajitas. Those were some spicy fajitas!
I don't eat hot stuff all the time though.
But I will say carolina reaper sauce is great for when you have a cold. Clears you right out!
I do think there's some truth to the more fattening stuff up North I mean...donuts are New York's fried chicken.
Now if you like sushi...try some wasabi with it. It's got a horseradish taste to it, which is a different kind of heat taste entirely.

[Murfreesboro]

Oh, I am a pantywaist about peppers. I cannot take anything beyond anaheims or poblanos.

I think peppers thin the blood, so they are popular in the cuisines of hot climates. I have lived my whole life in the hot Southern states, so you'd think I'd go for them, but I like the rich, creamy foods instead. I guess my north European ancestry is showing.

[NeverMore]

One of my favorite, not only pumpkin beers, but beers period! Has habanero and Saigon cinnamon in it. I call it a spicy beer. It was much better back in the day when it came in bottles. Was waaay hotter, you could feel the burn going down your throat and settling in your stomach. Then after the burn dissipated, you would get that pumpkin flavor. It is still good, but not what I remember. Just bought 4 cases of it!

[Murfreesboro]

Why is it that beer tastes better in bottles? My favorite beer is made by a local brewery called Yazoo. It is called Dos Perros and tastes a little like chocolate. It used to come in bottles, but now it is canned. And I swear it was better in the bottles.

[NeverMore]

Is it in our minds? I mean, cans come with plastic liners now, so you don't get that can taste. Maybe we're tasting the plastic? In my mind, best tasting beer is straight from the tap, I often fill my growlers at the local breweries even though it costs more for the same amount of beer. Even beer in bottles don't taste as good as from the growler. Because they sit on the shelf? Thing is, you have to drink the growler in the first couple days or it starts losing it's flavor. I went back to Ohio a couple years ago and Finally got some Pumking straight from the tap. Sooooo much better! Even tried the barrel aged Pumking. Knocked me on my <deleted>! Like 17% alcohol!!!!

[Murfreesboro]

Lol. I've never had beer from the tap, because, back when I was going to bars, I wasn't a beer drinker. Now I just get it at the grocery store. Idk. I don't think it's in my head. Something about the taste is different in the can.

[Andybev01]

If I buy beer in a can I poured it into a glass.

I think it's the chemical reaction between the mouth and the aluminum, like that terrible taste if you drink orange juice right after you brush your teeth.

[Murfreesboro]

Maybe you're right! Next time I'll try that.

[MauEvig]

You know, I feel like the odd one out here but I really don't like the taste of beer all that much.
And the odd part is...I actually like soda in a can. For some reason it tastes good in a can to me.
It's not that I never drink or anything, and I haven't in a few years. But if I did, I'd probably reach for wine, wine coolers or hard apple cider.
Although one time I did go to a fourth of July thing at the camp ground and the ONLY thing to drink was beer. And...I was pretty thirsty so it was either beer or nothing. It was the best beer I'd ever had, and only because I was parched. XD