Posted on 07/31/2007 12:19:41 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
NEW DELHI - I know people who regularly eat bhut jolokias — the "ghost chili" now rated as the world's hottest pepper. They're nice people. I like them. They don't seem crazy.
Appearances are deceiving.
I ate an entire bhut jolokia the other night, sitting at my dining room table with an open beer and — on the advice of the experienced — a bowl of yogurt and a few slices of bread at the ready.
I had the strange fear that nothing would happen, that I had traveled halfway across India in search of a chili that would be no hotter than an apple. I thought I was prepared.
What followed was a gastronomic mugging.
I know, I know. You probably think I'm exaggerating, or maybe just inexperienced in the ways of chilis.
"I like hot peppers," you're saying to yourself, thinking of those times — you were probably in college, maybe your early 20s — when you'd had too much to drink and challenged a friend to a chili-pepper-eating contest. You slopped down one jalapeno after another, enjoying the way it battered your system.
I used to think like that too. But that was before my encounter the other night, when I took the first nibble from the end of a red vegetable barely two inches long and weighing little more than a sheet of paper.
"Not too bad," I said aloud to the empty room. My ignorance lasted about three seconds.
It was hot. Hotter than anything I'd ever eaten. My tongue burned, I began to cough.
I knew I'd have to eat quickly, or I wouldn't be able to finish it. So I took another bite, and chewed. Then another. I ate down to the stem. I swallowed.
It's not how bhut jolokias are normally eaten — most locals use them in sauces, or chew off tiny pieces between bites of their main course — but I figured I should get the full experience (Plus, let me add, one of my editors suggested this exercise in masochism: Thank you, Ken).
The full experience?
It was awful. My eyes watered uncontrollably and my nose ran. I felt like I was gargling with acid. My hands quivered. As the minutes passed, the pain grew worse.
I shoveled in yogurt: No relief. I chewed bread: Nothing. My head felt like it was expanding. My ears felt as if hot liquid was draining from them. Picture one of those old Tom and Jerry cartoons, with steam blasting from Tom's ears as a train whistle blows. That was me.
The experts say beer and water do no good at such times. Maybe that's true, but gulps of very cold beer were the only things that helped me — washing away the pain for a few blessed seconds.
Twenty minutes later, I had recovered enough to speak clearly. So I called my wife in New York, where she is on vacation with our children. She laughed at me.
A day later, my tongue felt as if it had been scrubbed with a wire brush.
And a day after that, a friend made me a lunch flavored with bhut jolokias.
It was a traditional meal from Nagaland, the northeastern state along the Myanmar border where my friend was born, and where super-hot chilis are a part of life. There was diced chicken and hunks of pork and a cold stew of fermented tofu beans, all spiced with the chilis.
The food was simple, delicious. It was mild by the standards of Nagaland, just one bhut jolokia or so for each dish. I loved it.
I just hope she couldn't see that my eyes were again watering.
ping
I once complained to the wifey that the buffalo wings were never hot enough.
Dear wifey went to the local farmer’s market and purchased a Jamaican concoction with scotch bonnet mash as the main ingredient, not out of guile mind you.
I’m reclining in the ole’ recliner, wifey dear brings the wings and some golden fries and a cold libation.
I took one bite of dear wifey’s buffalo wings and was paralyzed, lapsed into an altered state, and had to fetch my weapon of choice, hold the gun to my head to finish the rest.
Later, I read the label. Simply stated, “add one drop per gallon of chili.”
I no longer complain about hot wings.
Hot Chili pepper ping
I just bookmarked the site! I’ll have to look and see if they’ll take personal checks. Mr. Great Horned Owl is sitting busting his gut over this thread :) 163 hot sauce selections on that site!!!
LOL! You wouldn’t believe what my bf does to Hamburger Helper, or Top Ramen. My son is getting there. He made deep fried potato wedges, and had to make a seperate batch for me. He and my bf wolfed down the diabolical batch, and sucking down Natty Ice.
No kidding. Those peppers are straight from the bowels of hell. We are growing sweet banana peppers. They’re very good, and I can handle eating them. We had his little boy here for a month, and the kid was eating the hot peppers straight off the plant. No wonder we went through so much TP....
Actually, I was just informed that they are habaneros, not Scotch Bonnets. I’ll stick to Herdez Salsa Casera.
habaneros...
When Professional Engineer and I met, our first date, we went to eat at Abuelos. The garnish on our dinner plates was habanero peppers. I don’t think either of us has had one of those peppers since that night. We have been married since 2003.
I know what you mean. I can’t eat anything hotter than a jalapeno. I don’t know how these critters can eat all that hot stuff. Okay, I used to try and keep up with the guys and eat all that hot stuff, but stick the the mild stuff these days.
I got to try this one, Da Bomb Ground Zero, about a month ago:
http://peppers.com/itemdetails.cfm?ID=1786
234,000 Scovilles. It felt like my brain was on fire!
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