poll: cures for firemouth?

[silverwhisper]

the other day, the mrs and i were watching mythbusters. it was a repeat apparently but one of the things they talked about is a subject near and dear to my heart: how to handle the heat from eating a chili.

as a chilihead, i've had more than my fair share of spicy food. i love spicy foods: whether the lightning-fast heat of wasabi that burns clean and bright or the slow build of a classic tex-mex chili or the wild cacophany of a thai chili, i love it all.

and accordingly, i've had a few occasions when a chili was too much for me. it's a strange thing to be a chilihead and to make a batch of chili con carne that's too hot even for you to eat!

so all of that leads me to a simple question: what are your favorite cures for firemouth?

ed

p.s.: as always, my answers later, yadda yadda yadda...

 

[sunandshadow]

I tend to douse anything spicier with cayanne with sour cream. This works pretty well for making it taste good and not destroy the lining of my stomach, and pretty much any restaurant which serves sour cream at all will bring you a dish of it if you ask. But then I don't particularly like anything hotter than cayanne or jalapeno, so I don't put hotter peppers in my own cooking and try to avoid them at restaurants.

(Random question: I'm looking for a good salsa verde recipe if anyone has one. The one at a local Mexican restaurant, El Campesino, is perfect but of course the recipe is a secret. I tried 3 different ones from the grocery store and none of them had the same sourness, 1 was just boring and the other 2 were too spicy to eat and did not taste good aside from the spice. I am wondering if some versions of salsa verde contain lime juice, or what else the sourness of the good kind might be coming from.)

 

[done_got_old]

I don't eat as much of the spicy hot foods as I once did. Back then I enjoyed the heat and did nothing.

 

[mjl2010]

A number of years ago, I used to pass this Mexican restaurant that always had the lot filled. One day I went in for lunch. I was the only "gringo" in there. The pretty waitress brought me a basket of chips and three bowls of salsa. One was the usual red tomato, peppers and onion stuff. Very good.

The second was green tomatillo's. Also very good. By then I was pretty bold.

I loaded up a chip with the third one, it looked like a watery guacamole sauce. I popped the chip in and chewed maybe twice. It hit me like a baseball bat in the ribs. It took my breath away. Like an idiot I swallowed and it burned all the way down, lit another fire in my belly and cooked there.

About the time I managed to breath again, I noticed that all conversation had stopped, everyone was staring at me. I waved at the waitress who was also staring at me like I was about to die or something. She came over and I managed to squeak out, "beer". She nodded and ran. I drank most of that in one long pull. She got me another one.

The chuckles started all around me. I just grinned and looked sheepish. By the time my food came, I was on my third beer and I'd noticed that the most anyone did was dip the tip of their chip in that sauce.

I have no idea what was in that sauce or what it was made of. But I never, ever, just load my chip up with anything in a Mexican restaurant without tasting a tiny bit first. A lesson learned.

To answer the question, my favorite fire quencher is beer.

MJL

 

[bobsgirl]

Hmmm. I know I've seen this post somewhere before...

Easy solution: take it easy on the atomic peppers!

 

[mjl2010]

Is it just me, I don't see the poll.

 

[Eilan]

Is it just me, I don't see the poll.

That's often the nature of a silverwhisper "poll."

 

[bobsgirl]

That's often the nature of a silverwhisper "poll."

Heh. On the nature of silverwhisper's polls... Does anybody but me find that mildly amusing?

 

[Eilan]

Heh. On the nature of silverwhisper's poles... Does anybody but me find that mildly amusing?

Fixed yer post.

 

[WGCC87]

any dairy product seems to help, sour cream is good , but i prefer good old whole milk. I used to win a LOT of money in my beach house when people would challenge me to a pepper eating contest..... I work in the veggie industry and have acess to all kinds of crazy stuff, plus i grow about 6 diff varieties in my garden.........

I have a pretty high tolerance for heat, but it can get rediculous when you get up into the "bird peppers", habeneros and some of the ornamental peppers are stupid hot.

i just use good ol moo juice to help the fire in my mouth, if its really bad Ill eat a little buttered bread to help.


K

 

[silverwhisper]

[-smacks eilan & bg]

sun & shadow: i find that sour cream does a nice job of addressing that need, i've always found.

bg: bah, that's no fun!

mjl: seriously, what kinda poll options would you include for such a thing? besides, the lit poll options only go to 10. :>

wgcc: yeah, i've always found good old milk most helpful.

ed

 

[bobsgirl]

Fixed yer post.

LOL Nice...

Ed, Ain't I a stinker?

 

[Denae]

any dairy product seems to help, sour cream is good , but i prefer good old whole milk. I used to win a LOT of money in my beach house when people would challenge me to a pepper eating contest..... I work in the veggie industry and have acess to all kinds of crazy stuff, plus i grow about 6 diff varieties in my garden.........

I have a pretty high tolerance for heat, but it can get rediculous when you get up into the "bird peppers", habeneros and some of the ornamental peppers are stupid hot.

i just use good ol moo juice to help the fire in my mouth, if its really bad Ill eat a little buttered bread to help.


K

Milk is also my saviour. On a side note, whenever I have anything spicy-hot, I must have chocolate afterwards. It's an intense craving that must be filled.

 

[done_got_old]

Milk is also my saviour. On a side note, whenever I have anything spicy-hot, I must have chocolate afterwards. It's an intense craving that must be filled.

hehehehehe

 

[midwestyankee]

I usually just reach for the next spoonful of chili.

 

[popcorn2721]

I don't eat as much of the spicy hot foods as I once did. Back then I enjoyed the heat and did nothing.

Its funny how the bodies chemistry changes as you get older...I'm finding out now, that there are a few things I just cannot eat any more (crab, lobster, beans, etc). I am able to eat spicy foods now though. I loved them when I was younger but for a while in my early twenties I had to give them up (too much partying and too much indigestion from stress). Its funny now that after avoiding them for around 10 years I can now indulge myself in things I purposefully avoided.

 

[mjl2010]

mjl: seriously, what kinda poll options would you include for such a thing? besides, the lit poll options only go to 10. :>

Oh I dunno. I'd have listed nine things I could think of, then for the tenth I'd have put "Other". Everyone would answer anyway I guess.

I just saw poll and then wondered what happened to it.

I'm with it.

MJL

 

[Nightbird]

Milk is a good cure for hot spicy stuff because it coats and soothes.. Water and pretty much anything else just makes it worse.

By the way did you know the really hot part of any Hot Pepper is the seeds?

 

[cantdog]

I tend to douse anything spicier with cayanne with sour cream. This works pretty well for making it taste good and not destroy the lining of my stomach, and pretty much any restaurant which serves sour cream at all will bring you a dish of it if you ask. But then I don't particularly like anything hotter than cayanne or jalapeno, so I don't put hotter peppers in my own cooking and try to avoid them at restaurants.

(Random question: I'm looking for a good salsa verde recipe if anyone has one. The one at a local Mexican restaurant, El Campesino, is perfect but of course the recipe is a secret. I tried 3 different ones from the grocery store and none of them had the same sourness, 1 was just boring and the other 2 were too spicy to eat and did not taste good aside from the spice. I am wondering if some versions of salsa verde contain lime juice, or what else the sourness of the good kind might be coming from.)

Sourness is the tomatillos. About a third of salsa verde is roasted tomatillos.

 

[elib257]

By the way did you know the really hot part of any Hot Pepper is the seeds?

I heard somewhere it's not the seeds it's the bits that surround it. I can't remember whether that's the actual membrane around the seed or the bit that attaches it to the pepper.

I also read somewhere (possibly in the same place...) that the most effective 'cures' for firemouth are those which would occur most commonly in the countries where the food is eaten. I always think of India for that and that makes me think of milk and beer...

When eating a really hot curry I always have cucumber and natural yogurt, it really works.

 

[Nightbird]

When I think India I dont think Beer..

But I think the food people from India eat does have yougurt in it so that makes sense..

 

[skitzoid]

Milk is fine and will work. But I have found that tomato juice works now, like right now.
Took a big spoonful of horseradish, burnt like hell. One taste of tomato juice and it was gone.
Well, that's just me. try it yourself.

 

[Nightbird]

Horseradish doesn't burn me.. I find it to be quite mild..

 

[elib257]

When I think India I dont think Beer..

But I think the food people from India eat does have yougurt in it so that makes sense..

I was thinking sort of Indian beers lol, like cobra?

 

[wicked woman]

I'm not one for hot spicy foods but I've heard that bread is good. Any one tried that?