How spicy is too spicy?

version

Well-known member
I've watched a few of those Hot Ones episodes with the spicy wings and the stuff they're eating is just ridiculous. People with tears streaming down their face, sweating, almost vomiting into a bin. Does anyone actually enjoy that stuff aside from in terms of seeing how far they can go? It's always struck me as like drinking a yard of ale.
 

Leo

Well-known member
for me, it's when the heat obliterates the taste of the food itself. I like a little kick but have a low tolerance to spicy food overall. some people who go for the spiciest thing on the menu actually enjoy it, but for some it's more of a macho thing. I'm not particularly macho (or impressed by it), so I don't give a shit.
 
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version

Well-known member
My brother got hold of some spicy chocolate which was apparently like swallowing fire. Him and his mates had a block or less and were dribbling all over the place, running nose, the works.
 

version

Well-known member
for me, it's what the heat obliterates the taste of the food itself.

Yeah, this is something I've noticed with spicy stuff. There's no actual flavour, just this burning, itching sensation like your tongue's covered in ants.
 

Leo

Well-known member
was in London with a friend many years ago, he ordered a chicken vindaloo and I honestly thought he was going to have a heart attack. the waiter even warned him beforehand. milk or yogurt are the only way to temper the pain, water does nothing.
 

luka

Well-known member
When it's too painful to be enjoyable I guess. Not had many meals like that. One Thai place in Sydney. Another Chinese place (Hunan) in Sydney was borderline but I was drunk enough to get through it. Can't imagine anything in London being too much. Indian food seems like a different, more manageable kind of heat.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
West African food is the thing for just unbelievable amounts of chili. Years ago when I was tutoring a lot, I had this student who lived off Peckham Rye way, and on my way back to the station I stopped in this Nigerian (I think) cafe/takeaway and bought this little wooden skewer with bits of beef on it that were dusted red with chili powder. It didn't look like the kind of place white people went in very often and I seem to recall the girl who served me all but saying "Are you sure about this?". But I was stuffed up with a rotten cold and it seemed like just the right thing. I managed to eat it - fairly slowly - and enjoyed it, but most importantly it completely decongested my nose.
 

luka

Well-known member
I remember Reynolds telling us on here he's a chili masochist. He'd just given himself a stomach ulcer eating some apocalypse taco or something if I remember rightly. The west Africans like their scotch bonnets. My step mum from Cameroon makes a sauce she refused to let me try for years.
 

luka

Well-known member
Nothing it's just a sauce with a lot of chilli in it. I wouldn't do a shot of it but it's not life threatening
 
Szechuan pepper works in a notably different way to capsicin chilli heat.
The active compound pings your Meissner touch receptors 50 times each second until they just give up signalling any longer and numbness sets in.

Researchers discovered this by using vibrating tuning forks to match the sensation of szechuan pepper extract applied to the subjects' lips.

SCIENCE!
 
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Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
I had a curry I'd not heard of before from a really decent Indian in Paignton (no, seriously!) that I was a bit apprehensive about, since it was one of only two dishes on the menu that had a three-chili rating. It turned out to be just about at the top of end of my spiciness tolerance range, and was fucking delicious.

The next morning I did a completely normal shit. No pain at all. I was like, my god, this chef is a legitimate alchemist! Very impressed.
 
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