Re: [CH] History

Tina Brooks (shoestring_louise@yahoo.com)
Fri, 20 Jun 2008 15:19:10 -0700 (PDT) 

I suppose at some point I should tell my how I got hot story...

My Dad is a chilihead and I haven't the slightest clue how he got into the chillies, and my Mom is a Newfie, and I've yet to meet a Newfie who doesn't go wild for chillies, but we didn't grow up with anything more than a jar of tabasco or Frank's in the fridge. I had no idea until I first went to Mexico and tasted real salsa... There's a Guacamole story here, but I'll leave that for another email.

When I moved to Montreal, my University roommates were from Trini. Mitra was a total freak with his kitchen so nobody was allowed to cook anything more dish intense than toast, so I had to eat out a lot, eat toast (you can only eat so much toast, ok) or eat what Mitra cooked.

Well, Mitra was a little heavy-handed with the scotch bonnets and although he only pierced them to let the savoury juices into whatever sauce/stew/soup he happened to be making, he'd use a few of them... He found most of them before serving, but inevitably, (like fish bones), If they're in there, I'll end up with them in my mouth; and I am sure he left them in there on purpose. After a little while you start to get used to the pain... After a little while longer, you start to really like it. Then after a little while longer, food just isn't the same without 'em.

It didn't hurt that my first husband was a chilihead and my second husband turns out to be a Bahamian chef... well you can see where this is going... I have a penchant for great food and I have a pretty high tolerance level, until you get into the high end of the hab field. Then the tastebuds just go numb... I can smell the great flavour of a Naga, but danged if I can taste it.

They say the way to a person's heart is through their stomach, mine is via my heat sensors... And contrary to what Mr. Alton Brown thinks... I don't have any tastebuds in my eyeballs or in any of the other painful places that are easily affected by pepper juice. I don't get into the super hots and I really can't handle the taste of extracts, even in the mildest of sauces, but boy I like when I finish eating and my whole head is aglow and my nose is running just ever so slightly. I even like it when my ears ring sometimes... Ask CaJohn about my ear ringing... If I could take the pain! I tasted his Habanero Fataali and my ears felt like 

You know, it's five years now that I've been in the professional chilihead ranks, and I keep running into people who say such silly things to me as "I used to be able to eat hot food, but now I can't it just..." enter disgusting not necessary to recount story here... And I can't help but wonder... Just what are these people eating?

I don't know if I could go back to not eating chillies, I like 'em too much.

Sign me...

CH# Unassigned, Mata Habi of the Moderate Corps.

 Tina Brooks
VP Marketing, Peppermaster(TM) Hot Sauces
http://www.peppermaster.com
Brooks Pepperfire Foods Inc.
http://www.pepperfire.ca


Phone: (514) 393-3430
26 St. Jean Baptiste, East
Rigaud, Quebec, Canada
J0P 1P0


Network with me on http://www.gourmetbusinessforum.com/


"Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose. Helen Keller"


----- Original Message ----
From: JohnT <Love2Troll@kc.rr.com>
To: chile-heads@globalgarden.com
Sent: Friday, June 20, 2008 3:34:37 PM
Subject: Re: [CH] History

I'm enjoying this thread!

On Thu, Jun 19, 2008 at 11:44:25AM -0500, Sandy Olson wrote:

> It's fun to hear how people got hooked on the pod.

On Thursday, June 19, 2008 2:16 PM, Jim Graham wrote:

> Ok, here's my story.  It started when I was a little kid (about
> 12 years old).  My mom worked at Brooke Army Medical Center
> at Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio, TX

I was stationed at BAMC for nearly a year (mid-60s) while attending x-ray 
school (army medic) and took my OJT there.  Not even remotely a chile-head 
then, but sure fell in love with the pecan trees at the house I rented. 
DaveA might relate. <G>  I love pecans and pecan wood (thanks Beth!) is what 
I mostly use for smoking pods and meats.  I think I posted a recipe for hot 
pecans some time back, but maybe wasn't here.

Grew up a typical Norse in MN & loved chile con carne, but can't think of 
anything else with any heat.  And trust me, my mom's ccc was not very hot. 
Uff da!  I have at least one vintage cookbook from that era.  (local 
churches (usually Lutheran) used to publish cookbooks now and then featuring 
recipes from local church people.  Any talk radio fans here of Garrison 
Keillor might relate.  Loved lefse, but let's not talk about lutefisk.

For me it was when stationed in Germany that I got my first taste of heat. 
Street vendors sold shaslik with a hot sauce.  One of my best friends was 
engaged to an English 'bird' and we drove to London several times and 
crashed at the house she and several other roommates rented.  Did the usual 
fish & chips thing, but for me it was the restaurants that served Indian 
curries that was my conversion point (so to speak) to eating the heat.

Never looked back.

JohnT