London's Thai Cottage put the pow in nam prik pao on Wednesday when fumes from a huge pot of dry cooking bird's eye chilies sparked a terror alert that led police to break down the restaurant's door. Firefighters emerged from the eatery with a pot containing nine pounds of smoking peppers.Soho residents had complained of a chemical burning their throats and the London Fire Brigade quickly dispatched a chemical response team. When I was a kid my chilihead father had the brilliant idea of making his own hot oil in the house by frying peppers in oil. So I can attest to the fact that vapors from smoking chilies do indeed take one's breath away. Thank god dear old Dad didn't use anywhere near nine pounds.
I will say however that smoking peppers do not smell at all like a chemical. Chef Chalemchai Tangjariyapoon agrees, "I was making a spicy dip with extra-hot chillies that are deliberately burnt. To us, it smells like burnt chili and it is slightly unusual."
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-05-2007 @ 3:44PM
jsmylie said...
They could base an advertising campaign around this. "Our chili sauce is so hot, it nearly got us arrested!"
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10-05-2007 @ 8:35PM
druchyun said...
Haha, yes, our chili sauce is waging jihad on your senses!
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10-06-2007 @ 8:23PM
Pim said...
Where did you get the reference to bird's eye chillies? I hadn't seen it in any news report until this blog post. It's inaccurate. The chilli we use in this recipe is dried large chilli pods. Prik Chi Fah, not fresh bird's eye chilli (Prik Kee Noo.)
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10-06-2007 @ 8:27PM
Joe D. said...
Pim,
That's how the AP report had it, guess the bureau needs a more culinary savvy copy desk.
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