Who eats hot peppers and how do you fix them or whatever do you do with them?

aja8888

aja8888

Moderator Emeritus
Joined
Apr 22, 2011
Messages
23,534
Location
Conroe, Texas
As a relocated Connecticut Yankee in Texas I just fell in love with Jalapeno peppers here in The Great State of Texas. :oops:

I know they are not nearly as hot as some other varieties, but I put them on/in most everything! That includes raw, pickled, sliced and diced! I love them stuffed with cream cheese too! Everything from scrambled eggs to chili, and on sandwiches. Even on pizza and in salads. When my wife was alive, she did not like them and thought I was a nut case. My new GF has similar opinions about my pepper fantasy.

My Wednesday night friends (see avatar) will not eat them (one native Texan in there too) and give me theirs if they order Nachos with them on the side. They think I'm a bit off too.

So, what's your favorite hot pepper and how do you fix/add it to your food? ❓
 
I'll be making another slow cooker batch of Pork Chili Verde soon and will dice up a few fresh Jalapeno and Serrano peppers to punch up the heat level.

And when making Sichuan Chicken or similar, I'll toss in a handful of dried Thai red chilies to infuse a bit of spiciness...
PXL_20260119_190712735.MP.jpg
 
Will eat the Jalapenos with nachos. Also love hot Thai chilies with certain Chinese food. From time to time, we go to a Chile tasting event and I try a few of them.
The hottest one I have ever tasted was the Carolina Reaper. It was off the charts and my mouth was on fire for about 10 minutes with tears coming down.
 
We grow jalapeno and serrano peppers every year and usually end up with a lot of them. Mostly, we slice them and put them on tacos (which we eat several times a week). But we also add them to a variety of other meals we eat including mac & cheese, frittatas, and even sandwiches.
 
I just finished a bowl of red pozole for lunch, and it contained guajillo and ancho chiles in the base, while ground piquin chile was on the table as a condiment. I love all chiles.

Yes, favorite chile pepper is like favorite child--I can't name one I love more than the others. That said, the ones that are bred to win Scoville level contests are just silly, in my opinion, and those are the only kind I avoid: Ghost pepper, Carolina Reaper, etc. I cook a lot of Mexican food, and salsa made with one chile or another is usually an accompaniment. I probably have four or five different varieties in my pantry at any given time. Guajillos and Anchos are pretty utilitarian, but I have come to believe Puyas make a nice generic salsa with just the right heat level. When I make chili con carne (or is it really carne con chile?) I throw in several different varieties for the heck of it, using both whole dried chiles and powdered/crushed. I appreciate the arbol chile that is also super common in Mexican salsas, but it's just too hot for me to use more than one or two. I'm not a real Mexican--maybe someday an honorary one.

Fresh green chiles like jalapenos and serranos make good salsa, too. I like green salsa for pork, and red for chicken or beef. I have come to believe the genuine Hatch chile from New Mexico really is superior to generic Anaheims for green salsa and chili. To my palate, the poblano has a sort of unique depth, and I sometimes substitute it for green bell peppers in recipes that call for that. And then there is the poor green (or red) bell pepper that gets no respect from chile connoisseurs. I like them raw as snacks.

I grew Thai chiles in the garden last year, and the abundance prompted me to find myriad ways to use them. Just about any Asian-y dish received a dose of those peppers.
 
I make Jalepeno Poppers with the peppers I grow. Sometimes I stick a Jalepeno on a skewer, blacken it on my stove, slice it and add it to many Mexican dishes.
 
I have an array of hot pepper SAUCES, some habanero based, which I use more frequently than whole peppers...
 
Dtail said:
The hottest one I have ever tasted was the Carolina Reaper. It was off the charts and my mouth was on fire for about 10 minutes with tears coming down.
Click to expand...
Whoa! I just looked that up and the Carolina Reaper was the hottest chili pepper (according to Guinness World Records) from 2013 to 2023. It was then surpassed by Pepper X.

Once year I grew Caribbean Red habanero peppers out of curiousity. Just one plant, but it was prolific. I had a co-worker who was interested so I brought one in for us to test out together. We sliced it open and could feel the heat (our eyes were burning) already. I don't think either of us actually ate a piece, but we touched it to our lips and said "No". Hours later we could both still feel the burning - I felt like I had a fever blister forming (I didn't) and he said his forehead was burning where he had touched his face after touching the pepper.
 
ksr said:
Whoa! I just looked that up and the Carolina Reaper was the hottest chili pepper (according to Guinness World Records) from 2013 to 2023. It was then surpassed by Pepper X.

Once year I grew Caribbean Red habanero peppers out of curiousity. Just one plant, but it was prolific. I had a co-worker who was interested so I brought one in for us to test out together. We sliced it open and could feel the heat (our eyes were burning) already. I don't think either of us actually ate a piece, but we touched it to our lips and said "No". Hours later we could both still feel the burning - I felt like I had a fever blister forming (I didn't) and he said his forehead was burning where he had touched his face after touching the pepper.
Click to expand...
When prepping fresh hot peppers, you really want to be wearing thin disposable plastic gloves of some sort...
 
ksr said:
Whoa! I just looked that up and the Carolina Reaper was the hottest chili pepper (according to Guinness World Records) from 2013 to 2023. It was then surpassed by Pepper X.

Once year I grew Caribbean Red habanero peppers out of curiousity. Just one plant, but it was prolific. I had a co-worker who was interested so I brought one in for us to test out together. We sliced it open and could feel the heat (our eyes were burning) already. I don't think either of us actually ate a piece, but we touched it to our lips and said "No". Hours later we could both still feel the burning - I felt like I had a fever blister forming (I didn't) and he said his forehead was burning where he had touched his face after touching the pepper.
Click to expand...
Let me clarify further. I just had one drop from a bottle and it was still that crazy effect. There were warnings not to touch one's eyes. Milk appears to be the best counter.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ksr
I love Thai and Indian food, and have collected some recipes from both cuisines. All but one of my recipes can be made with just crushed red (cayenne) pepper or the powdered version. A good thing since I'm kind of a lazy cook.

The only recipe in which I use fresh hot peppers from the produce section is Thai basil chicken, which calls for both crushed red pepper and minced or sliced Serrano peppers.

I did make chiles rellenos, twice, but boy was that messy. Like I said, I'm lazy, and the kitchen cleanup was a [family forum]!
 
Capsaicin is addictive! Seriously.

Eating capsaicin releases endorphins and dopamine, creating a bit of a high.

As soon as my family moved to TX we had to have salsa or hot sauce with our eggs at breakfast. At first the rest of the country thought we were nuts, but it’s commonplace now.

I make plenty of spicy food, predominantly Thai and Mexican.

The pickled jalapeños on nachos are a wonderful thing. I use the pickled jalapeños often but don’t eat nachos.

A favorite use of pickled jalapeños is Huachinango a la Veracruzana, a famous red snapper dish from Veracruz Mexico. It’s an interesting blend of traditional Spanish and Mexican cooking with a tomato sauce that includes olives, capers, pickled jalapeños, onions, garlic, and olive oil. The red snapper is covered by the sauce and baked.

IMG_8981.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Ever since the first batch of covid my taste isn't there. I find adding spice, particularly peppers to help me remember tasting food. I'm the guy who orders "Thai hot", or level 5 Chinese food. A few times ago they forgot the peppers. The waitress brought me out a bowl full of chill oil.
 
Dtail said:
Will eat the Jalapenos with nachos. Also love hot Thai chilies with certain Chinese food. From time to time, we go to a Chile tasting event and I try a few of them.
The hottest one I have ever tasted was the Carolina Reaper. It was off the charts and my mouth was on fire for about 10 minutes with tears coming down.
Click to expand...
If we make Cochinita Pibil at home, we always use the orange El Yucateco habanero hot sauce. It only takes 3 or 4 drops on the taco, but is so good!
 
MRG said:
I'm the guy who orders "Thai hot", or level 5 Chinese food. A few times ago they forgot the peppers. The waitress brought me out a bowl full of chill oil.
Click to expand...
I am/was "that guy," too, but I have met my match--twice.

One time was at that famous hot fried chicken place in Memphis, Prince's Hot Chicken. I ordered the second-to-hottest level, thinking that was about right, but later that night I found myself with a case molten lava diarrhea.

The other time was in Thailand, where I had proudly learned the Thai term for what we would call "very hot." I ate the cauldron of hellfire noodle soup and survived without the aforementioned digestive issues, but I have come to realize I do have a limit as to what I find pleasant.
 
Having lived in Texas my entire life, jalapeños are a staple. Probably why Whataburger is the only burger joint (fast food anyway) that I’ll even consider, as they offer burgers with jalapeños. But while I can tolerate lots of heat, I prefer flavor. We love Hatch chile peppers on just about everything. Before they were available in local grocery stores, my wife and I would make a special trip to New Mexico every year and return home with grocery sacks full of them. We once flew in/out the same day, so we didn’t have any luggage. Carried on 4 large bags on the return trip. :)
 
audreyh1 said:
Capsaicin is addictive! Seriously.

Eating capsaicin releases endorphins and dopamine, creating a bit of a high.

As soon as my family moved to TX we had to have salsa or hot sauce with our eggs at breakfast. At first the rest of the country thought we were nuts, but it’s commonplace now.

I make plenty of spicy food, predominantly Thai and Mexican.

The pickled jalapeños on nachos are a wonderful thing. I use the pickled jalapeños often but don’t eat nachos.

A favorite use of pickled jalapeños is Huachinango a la Veracruzana, a famous red snapper dish from Veracruz Mexico. It’s a blend of traditional Spanish and Mexican cooking with a tomato sauce that includes olives, capers, pickled jalapeños, onions, garlic, and olive oil. The red snapper is covered by the sauce and baked.

View attachment 61161
Click to expand...
That looks really good.
 
TheWizard said:
I'll be making another slow cooker batch of Pork Chili Verde soon and will dice up a few fresh Jalapeno and Serrano peppers to punch up the heat level.

And when making Sichuan Chicken or similar, I'll toss in a handful of dried Thai red chilies to infuse a bit of spiciness...
Click to expand...
Love Pork Chile Verde. Do you have a recipe to share?
 
1768856977958.png

These just arrived this morning. I'll use them on everything. Pizza, sandwiches, hot dogs, burgers, Philly cheesesteaks, baked tuna/cheese sandwiches, salsa, nachos.... I hope they are as good as I expect them to be!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

P
Diaries, Journals, Logs - do you keep them, and why and how?
2 3
2017ish
2017ish
G
Buckle Up and Enjoy the FIRE Journey
2
gl.hf
G
Katsmeow
A1C and carbs and me
2
RonBoyd
RonBoyd
MichaelB
How to share a hot dog?
martyb
martyb
cute fuzzy bunny
Stupid diet tricks
9 10 11
Chuckanut
Chuckanut

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom