ChiliPeppers - Articles and Posts from Slashfood

Posts with tag ChiliPeppers

Chiles, Cakes and Confections - The Austin-American Statesman in 60 Seconds

Posted Oct 1st 2009 12:00PM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: In Sixty Seconds

Bushels of chiles.
Photo: alex.lines, Flickr.

In Central Texas, pepper season peaks with spicy bites like poblanos and green chiles -- plus vodka, soup and quick-fix recipes.
Austin Cake Ball is making a splash with their unique round and tasty confections.
Austin winemaker Ross Outon survives the first round of PBS vino-centric reality show, "The Winemakers."
Food Matters looks into chicken-friendly recycling, the Alamo's new diner/bowling alley/karaoke bar, in-season veggies, Cake Wrecks, openings and closings and food/drink briefs.
Bacon is not the only goodness that comes from the wildly diverse pork belly.

Red Chilies - Feast Your Eyes

Posted Sep 22nd 2009 10:00AM by Alexa Weibel
Filed under: Feast Your Eyes

Photo: nicisme, Flickr.

As delicate a fruit as it appears photographed above, the red chili is a fiery ingredient that adds heaps of heat with just a few potent morsels. Domesticated thousands of years ago in South-of-the-Border cooking, the chili is now starting to make an appearance in sweet dishes and drinks in trendy restaurants and bars across the country.

In some of our favorite examples, Mario Batali's Osteria Mozza serves a tequila cocktail with smoked salt and candied chili; the Food Network created a Habanero Lime Cheesecake; and Ice Cream Ireland has posted a recipe for Candied Chili Peppers. We think the pepper is an exciting ingredient for everything from the infusion of spirits to adding kick to salsas, dressings, desserts, etc. Leave us comments letting us know where -- and in what dishes -- you've encountered them!

Become a member of the Slashfood Flickr pool to get a shot at having your photos featured in Feast Your Eyes.

A Trip to Mexico's San Angel Market

Posted Jan 8th 2009 8:00PM by Max Shrem
Filed under: Stores & Shopping, Mexico

On Saturdays, when you enter the bright colored 17th-century colonial town of San Angel, a suburb of Mexico City, there is an outdoor crafts market in the Plaza San Jacinto. Not only can you find a large selection of handicrafts, but you will also see vendors selling rich sweet candied fruits and fresh fruits with chili seasonings. The highlight of any culinary trip to San Angel is the enclosed food market just around the corner from the square.

Upon entering this market, you'll notice the aroma of fresh tacos and the smell of salty pork rinds being fried and seasoned with chili pepper. Taquerias and butchers border the market. The middle is full of poultry stands, produce vendors, and incredible vendors of chilies and moles.

I highly suggest checking out Don Felix for all things related to chilies and moles. If you speak and understand Spanish, I encourage you to talk with Felix about his different products. I purchased two different kinds of chili peppers: arbol and ancho. He explained that chilies arboles are hotter while the ancho are more mild. Finally, he explained how to prepare them in making salsas and other Mexican dishes. His mole almendrado was extremely delicious cooked with chicken. Check out the gallery below and see the market for yourself.

Gallery: San Angel Food Market

Piles of Chiles, Moles, and Seeds at Don Felix

What Are Hot Chilies Adding to our Cuisine?

Posted Dec 22nd 2008 11:00AM by Max Shrem
Filed under: Vegetables, Trends

Apparently the world is consuming more chilies. A recent article from the Economist explains that "bland diets of Europe and the Anglosphere" have spent the past 50 years becoming more tolerant towards hotter chilies with the popularity of curries, salsa, and tabasco sauce.

The Economist article mentions the increasing popularity of chilies in nearly every dish from rice and jelly to chocolate. Tesco, Britain's largest supermarket chain, now sells Dorset naga which rates 1.6m units on the Scoville scale, measurement of hotness. Pepper spray used in riot control scores 2m.

Despite this obsession with the heat of the chili, many connoisseurs argue that the level of heat does not define the flavor profile. For them, it's like judging wine based on its alcohol content rather than its quality. These gourmets are more struck by the presence of chili in many more foods than in the past. It could be due to the fact that chilies have a chemical called capsaicin which causes the release of endorphins that create a natural high. In fact, the more chilies you consume, the better this high gets. Also, the Economist explains that capasaicin excites a nerve that makes us more receptive to other flavors.

Thai chilies spark terror alert in London

Posted Oct 5th 2007 2:02PM by Joe DiStefano
Filed under: British Isles, Food Oddities, Spices

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."

Is Naga Snake Bite the world's hottest hot sauce?

Posted May 4th 2007 2:12PM by Joe DiStefano
Filed under: British Isles, Food Oddities, Did you know?, Condiments, Spices

Masochists and chile-heads have a British stockbroker to thank for unleashing Naga Snake Bite Sauce on the world. The fiery brew is made from what some claim is the world's hottest pepper. According to the sauce's creator, Mark McMullan, the naga morich chili clocks in at a breathtaking 1,598,227 Scoville Heat Units, beating out the bhut jolokia chili. In any case the dorset naga hasn't been certified by Guinness, while the bhut jolokia has.

The finer points of world records aside, one thing's for sure McMullan has created one blisteringly hot sauce. To give an idea, the dorset naga is 300 times hotter than a jalapeno. The pepper's name derives from the naga, a snakelike creature from Indian mythology. This may explain why the label claims the sauce is "Like drinking cobra venom." I don't think cobra venom is spicy, but it's certainly deadly.

Continue reading Is Naga Snake Bite the world's hottest hot sauce?

Woman attempts to break Guinness record by eating ghost chilis

Posted Feb 28th 2007 10:03AM by Joe DiStefano
Filed under: Asia, Food Oddities, Spices

An Indian woman has set her sights and taste buds on breaking the Guinness record for eating the most hot peppers. And not just any hot peppers. Anandita Dutta Tamuly plans to eat as many Bhut Jolokia, or ghost chilis, as she can.

Tamuly hails from the state of Assam, where the pepper occurs as a natural hybrid. She seems pretty confident that she can scarf a record-smashing amount of what Guinness recently named the world's hottest chili pepper. On Indian television she recently chowed down on 60 of the fiery peppers in two minutes. Tamuly became a fan of the ghost chili when her mother smeared some chili paste on her tongue to cure a childhood infection.

The current record is held by Anita Crafford who consumed eight peppers in a minute. They weren't ghost peppers though, far from it. They were jalapeños, which are about one one-hundreth as hot as the dreaded Bhut Jolokia. Sheesh, what a wimp!

#	Blogger	Posts	Cmts
1	Slashfood Editor	47	0
2	Alexa Weibel	36	2
3	Sarah LeTrent	34	1
4	Monika Bartyzel	22	0
5	Hanna Raskin	22	0
6	Sara Bonisteel	16	0
7	Emily Farris	11	0
8	Jennifer Lawinski	11	0
9	Lisa Schweitzer	9	0
10	Jennifer Iserloh	9	0
11	Kat Kinsman	8	2
12	Michael Thomas Hastings	8	0
13	Mike Pomranz	5	0
14	Joshua M. Bernstein	4	2
15	Erin Meister	4	0
16	Jose Ralat Maldonado	4	1
17	Max Shrem	4	0
18	LeNell Smothers	3	0
19	John Devore	3	0
20	Brent Ridge	2	0

Reviews: What's New This Week Jim Carrey's "A Christmas Carol" Creepy in a Good Way Twitter Follow Friday on ParentDish!	Jon Gosselin Hits the Yoga Mat World Run Day 2009 is This Sunday! Mariah Carey Flaunts A Fuller Figure
Getting Purse-onal: Handbag Style - New York City vs. Los Angeles DIY Design: Go With the Grain Cameron Diaz Pulls a Janice Dickinson	Can 2022 be the 'Year of the Tiger' if the Tigers are all Gone? Eco-Beat, 11/5 Does Humane Veal Exist?
Ellen Degeneres Dances Her Way to Real Estate Riches Get the Look for Less: House Beautiful Foyer Paint Trends: Predicting Next Year's Hottest Colors	Freaky Ferrets; Bionic Bowser The Penguin and the Zoo-Keeper: A Love Story Dog Bone Recipes

Chiles, Cakes and Confections - The Austin-American Statesman in 60 Seconds

Red Chilies - Feast Your Eyes

A Trip to Mexico's San Angel Market

What Are Hot Chilies Adding to our Cuisine?

Thai chilies spark terror alert in London

Is Naga Snake Bite the world's hottest hot sauce?

Woman attempts to break Guinness record by eating ghost chilis

Tip of the Day

Slashfood Features

RESOURCES

Featured Stories

Slashfood bloggers (30 days)

Most Commented On (60 days)

Updates From

Sites We Love