Comments on: Some Like It (Ridiculously) Hot

By: Salmonella

Salmonella — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 20:24:37 +0000

Gotta watch out for salmonella if you’re eating peppers nowadays. Supposedly it’s spread via.

By: priya

priya — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 20:22:37 +0000

i was at a desi dinner party once when i was a kid. they served a spinach dish which looked like it had small round red berries in it. once i bit into one of those berries it was painfully obvious that they were in fact very potent chillies. i havent seen any chillies like that since.

By: Manoshi Bhattacharya

Manoshi Bhattacharya — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 07:31:07 +0000

We Indians have grabbed onto the chillie in way that we cannot remember a time without it. Before the Portuguese came we depended on pepper alone. But the Portuguese brought not just the chillie but also the potato which has now become a part of most dishes in India. The Bengali has taken the slicing of a potato into an art form…these skills often formed a series of tests used in selecting a bride!!! The history of the evolution of cuisines makes as interesting a reading.

By: bharat aunti

bharat aunti — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:44:43 +0000

25 Â· my_dog_jagat said

chachaji said:
The Caramel Custard may well be the British gastronomic legacy to the subcontinent, spread to all regions - in this sense the 'dual' of the 'Indian curry' to Britain, and interestingly, carried by the subcontinental diaspora into North America.
Here are some others: trifle pudding, bread pudding, P.G. Wodehouse. Ok, the last is not food though some probably think it is. Back in college, I was the only one who correctly identified the mystery dessert one evening--a very foul bread pudding, which in America is sometimes passed off as gourmet food.

me too: I was the only dehati in a gang of Middle aged Brits who identified a Bakewell tart at the race course in kenya! ugh.

By: Fuerza Dulce

Fuerza Dulce — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 05:06:53 +0000

Accidental - that was exactly what I was thinking of.

I love spiciness, but my tolerance doesn't match my love, so there's no way I'm giving that curry a chance.

By: Accidental Enlightenment

Accidental Enlightenment — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:40:32 +0000

Fuerza Dulce - were you thinking of the Brick Lane Curry House in the LES? (The Phaal Challenge at Brick Lane Curry House: Spiciest Curry Ever?)They also have a disclaimer. I've been to the joint twice but always too darpok (scared) to try it

By: narayan

narayan — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:40:18 +0000

If you want to read an engaging book on ‘hot’, look for “Peppers” by Amal Naj. It’s far better than just-the-facts-ma’am Wikipedia. You can get it for a penny through Amazon. It sold well in ’93. I also enjoyed the Scientific American program on chiles, especially the part where Alan Alda eats a whole habanero and complains of a tingling on his tongue.

By: pingpong

pingpong — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:09:50 +0000

Candadai Tirumalai:

If you have ever been in Andhra Pradesh and possessed the spirit of culinary adventure (or hardihood) you may have encountered "gonkura pacchadi", a seasoning which I believe is widely used in Andhra cooking. It is probably unwise to step right up to it without a good deal of gradual preparation. I could not really handle it successfully in the past, and would not be able to do so at all now.

Someone asking for an gradual introduction to gongura? Here you go.

By: Amita

Amita — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 02:45:26 +0000

I judge myself for not being able to take the heat, although i'm trying. You don't really know your limits until you've gone past them.

Hottest.place.ever was Annapurna in Los Angeles. So good, but even the aunties were crying by the end.

By: priya

priya — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:47:40 +0000

going south in india doesn’t lead to spicier food