[CH] Wash Post articles re fiery foods
Tee (traderbear@thehitchingpost.com)
Thu, 11 Jul 2002 18:04:25 -0400
If interested, here are links to two Washington Post articles about hot
stuff. I liked Chef Van Aken's remark that [tasting hot chiles] is a "way we
test our mortality." Also Bobby Flay's reaction to a curry that he said
tasted as if it was started with 10 lbs of habs: "It was incendiary. It was
incredible. It makes you start to hallucinate. It makes you remember things
from when you were a kid."
No recipe for that curry, tho :-(
Article 1
Some Like It Really Hot!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43423-2002Jul9.html
includes recipes for
1. Norman Van Aken's Havana Bananas (with darkrum, Chili Pepper Jelly and
Chocolate Sauce)
2. Bobby Flay's Seafood Cocktail With Avocado, Coconut, Chilies and Fresh
Lime
3. Jessica B. Harris's Jerked Pork
excerpt from article:
"In Florida, gateway to the sweltering Caribbean, chef Norman Van Aken is a
high priest of pepperdom. He says, "When you're a neophyte, one of the first
ways you'll have chilies is in chips and salsa. You eat some and think, 'Wow,
what did I just put in mouth?'
"But then, you'll go back and try it again. It's a way we test our mortality.
You wave your hand over the flame of a candle. You know it's hot, but you do
it, anyway." His personal pepper epiphany: "A guy turned me on to a puree of
pure Scotch bonnet chilies -- suddenly the brain is reaching for the self-help
section, a swamp in this mixture of pain and pleasure."
Article 2
Feel the Burn by David Leite
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43423-2002Jul9.html
includes David's own piri-piri recipe
excerpt from article:
"I have barely any taste buds left. My poor scorched tongue is screaming out
for water, bread, milk -- anything to extinguish this raging mouth fire. The
reason for my happy tortured state: the five bottles of molho de piri-piri,
Portugal's famously incendiary hot sauce, lined up beside my laptop. In an
attempt to truly understand the appeal of this concoction, I decided to sample
each brand. Ignoring the fact that my own Portuguese mother uses a judicious
hand when cooking with our hot sauces and pastes, I chose to down the stuff by
the teaspoonfuls, naked, without a scrap of food to offset the burn. My
conclusion: I must be a super-taster, one of those rare and exalted persons
with an exquisitely sensitive palate who finds even mildly spicy foods torrid.
That, or I lack the common sense of a second grader."