What hot sauce should I use for Buffalo wings sauce?

Question

After watching "The Wing and I" in Good Eats and being the one that always ordered Buffalo wings (I no longer live in the US), I decide to give it a try. The recipe for the sauce is:

• butter
• garlic
• hot sauce

I wonder what exactly is hot sauce. Alton Brown said there are dozens of hot sauces. I tried to use plain tabasco but that doesn't work. Can I make my own?

Asked by Julio

Answer

The original Buffalo Wings are made with Frank's RedHot Sauce. The original recipe is simply equal parts melted butter and hot sauce.

However, you truly can use just about whatever hot sauce you want in even greater ratios if you want more kick. There are also some distributors that specialize in spicy wing sauces. I recommend Defcon 2 if you are adventurous and enjoy a very nice kick of heat.

Answered by hobodave

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What common household drink will remove burning from mouth?

Question

Ya, just ate something spicy and my mouth is on fire. I tried drinking water and that didn't help. I also tried orange juice, and that didn't help.

Any ideas?

Answer

You need something with fat or alcohol. The burning is caused by capsaicin, a molecule found in peppers, which is not water-soluble. If you go for the alcohol, you'll need something with higher percentage, not a beer, and it might result in more burning. It is easier to drink whole milk, especially because you might need lots of the drink if it is too strong.

You option beside a drink is eating bread. You want a soft, fluffy bread like a baguette. If you chew it for a longer time, it will absorb some of the capsaicin covering the inside of your mouth, like a sponge cleaning a pot. For best results, you can combine: bread first, milk afterwards.

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How would I add heat to a brine?

Question

I am interested in making roast chicken with a bit of a kick. I'm thinking about adding heat to the brine, but I'm not sure what the best way of doing that would be.

How would brine work with hot peppers?

Answer

Hot peppers won't work with brine, as brine is water-based and capsaicin (the pepper hotness) is not soluble in water. You would need an oil-based marinade to pass the 'heat'.

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Do chile peppers heat vary depending on the season?

Question

I found a great recipe for Chilles Rellenos - the first time I made them - they came out perfect. I used pasilla Peppers and the spice/heat was just right. Since then, I have not been able to duplicate the heat level no matter what type of pepper I use. I'm removing the membranes and seeds - and the skin as I can - it's really hard to do. Other than that, the only difference I can think of is that when I made them the first time it was fall and now it's winter. I tried pasilla, poblano, anaheim - in all cases - they're not just a little hotter - they're excruciating. (to the point where just working with the peppers has my HAND burning a day later - and of course the Rellenos were too hot for anyone to eat, even after roasting and frying them.) All these peppers are listed as being "mild"... What gives?

Answer

Many references indicate that stress on the plant effects the heat rating of the fruits produced. "Good" stress (usually people want to increase heat) is generally a reduction in water supply, carefully and aptly timed, and/or increased outdoor temperatures.

While appearing dated and non-authoritative, this site, also looks very accurate from my experience around growing chiles, and states that (as is common, referring to spice/heat as pungency):

...total pungency amount of the medium and mild chiles increase dramatically when put under stress.

Normally, chile plants like summer weather (sunlight and warmth), and are not nearly productive in winter. What you're obtaining in winter months may be imported from a very different location, probably from a place on Earth where it was summer when harvested. As indicated in the above-cited article, the truly hot peppers don't get much hotter from stress.

Anecdotal addendum: fwiw & ime, chile plants grown in winter (the ones observed are nagas, tabasco, japone, jalapeños) aren't as productive and the peppers are not anywhere near as hot. So, when not grown in the proper conditions that a species expects - mostly enough daily sunlight or a long enough warm season, the heat in produced fruits can drop dramatically.

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Where can I purchase Banquete Chilero Sauce from Costa Rica in the US?

Question

I have been to Costa Rica twice and I fell in love with Banquete brand Chilero Sauce.

It is a hot sauce with a wonderful flavor but it has some fairly unique properties -- specifically that it is very similar in color and consistency / viscosity to asian sweet and sour sauces. This lets the sauce cling in a thick layer on the food to which it is applied.

I have tried looking for this sauce but it is hard to find even by mail order in the US and the price for shipping from Costa Rica costs many times more than the sauce itself. Apparently a lot of places carry Lizano sauce but this brand of Chilero seems to be left out.

Answer

http://costaricasuperstore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=53 this website mig0th be helpful for you.

I'm afraid I don't know of any stores that you can physically visit to purchase the sauce though

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Is it reasonable to expect “spiciness” to fry off?

Question

I got in a "heated" discussion with my wife this evening about a fried turkey recipe that I want to try for Thanksgiving. It calls for:

• 1 cup of Creole seasoning
• 1/2 cup of black pepper
• 1/2 cup of Cayenne pepper

all mixed with a bottle of a bottle of italian dressing, which I will admit sounds pretty damn spicy. But after readying the reviews it seems like everyone says the heat cooks off and the bird comes out delicious.

It it reasonable to expect that the spiciness will fry off during the cooking process or am I going to ruin (another) Thanksgiving?

Answer

If you are worried: a fast and cheap way to test the mixture is to to try it on a piece of chicken breast.

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What is the world's hottest pepper?

Question

I'm growing some bhut jolokia peppers, and they are almost ready for harvesting.

However, I've since seen that the naga viper pepper has beaten the bhut jolokia as the hottest pepper. I've also seen that a variety of Trinidad Scorpion pepper has beaten out the naga viper.

The store I bought my bhut jolokia from now is selling "the world's hottest pepper" called naga jolokia.

Is the naga jolokia the same as the naga viper? Is it the same as the bhut jolokia?

I understand that the naga viper was an unstable hybrid. Presumably this means that it cannot be reliably sold for home gardeners. Is the Trinidad Scorpion variety stable? If not, how do the stable varieties compare with the naga viper and bhut jolokia?

To summarize the questions:

1. What is a naga jolokia, and where does it stand in comparison to the other "contender" peppers?
2. What is the world's hottest pepper?
3. What is the hottest pepper that the average home gardener can purchase, and then grow at home (local climate permitting)?

Answer

What is the world's hottest pepper?

According to the Scovile Scale the hottest pepper is Bhut Jolokia. The one you are currently growing

Scovile Scale Visualized

What is a naga jolokia, and where does it stand in comparison to the other "contender" peppers?

Bhut Jolokia or Naga Jologia

According to some sources, they indicate that Bhut and Naga are the same pepper. Naga means Ghost.

MSNBC has a great article covering this world record chili:

The pepper is known by any number of names across India’s northeast. It’s the “poison chili” in some areas, the “king of the chilis” in others. Just to the south of Assam is Nagaland, it’s eaten in nearly every meal. As a result, it is often called the Naga mircha — the “Naga chili.”

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What kind of cooling garnish is like ice cream but doesn't melt?

Question

In a related question, I asked about plating with bread for sampling chili. Here I need to find a cooling, as in take the heat off the capsaicin with fats, garnish.

For this question I would like to know how to garnish. I am making a bacon and pulled pork chili, and need a smooth, subtle garnish to take the edge off the peppers. First off, I will be dusting the top with a mixture of nutritional yeast and a smidge of dround coffee and ground, dried orange rind.

Initially I was inspired by the idea of a bacon flavored ice cream, served to the side of the bread with a hal strip of maple-smoked bacon candied in the oven with light brown sugar. The idea of being able to have a whole spoon of chili and then a nibble of the garnish is very appealing.

I pitched the idea at a friend and added, "but I don't want it to be frozen, or to melt." The cold would be impossible with the heavy texture of the chili, and melting would disturb the dusted topping.

We came up with a mixture of sour cream and cream cheese, with a bit of arrow root as a coagulant (since it will be semi-cold, I want it to retain some stiffness on the surface of the chili). Basically, blend it all up with some of the bits of candied bacon and some spices, then chill it over night in the fridge to marry the flavors until competition time.

• What ratio would the above mixture need to be relative to arrow root (I haven't used it before)? By the teaspoon, tablespoon, fraction of a cup per cup of dairy?
  • Is there a better coagulant for the purpose
  • Are there any flavor/textural issues with arrow root that I should be aware of to begin with, and specifically in the context of sour cream / cream cheese?
• Is there a better solution to fit the problem; that is, what other kind of ice cream like garnish could I use that would resist melting for a bit of time and would have a smooth texture and be able to nibble on with little scoops from the spoon?

Answer

I'd avoid a coagulant if you can, it will likely keep this dense on whats already a rather dense sounding dish.

Personally, I'd beat loads of air into your sour cream/cream cheese mixture and serve a small whipped dollop of it. It will keep it light and still offset your spiciness a little. If the pork chili is the star, keep it complimented but not complicated.

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