I suppose it starts with my mother’s cooking. She made basic bland Midwest dishes. There was no hotness to them. Lawry’s seasoned salt was the most exotic spice in her repitoire. I found Midwest cooking uninteresting. In the kitchen was a spice rack but it was never used. It’s jars of strange sounding powders and herbs seemed downright magical; tarragon and oregano could have been eye of newt for all I knew.
When I started cooking, I was keen on making things as hot and spicy as possible. No one else had any interest in spice; this reservation was attributed to my father’s dislike for anything exotic. To this day his idea of exotic food is Italian.
I like my dishes hot like my men. I continually try new hot sauces; I seem to want hotter ones every year. I generously pepper almost anything that can stand it. Bring on the curries, the habernaros – more more more I am still not satisfied !
Despite my lust for exotic herbs and spices, they don’t like me. I never learn there is a price for the jalapenos generously scattered across the pizza. My GI tract does a conga whenever I imbibe; it keeps me posted at all times the location of the cayennes. I vow ‘never again’ – or least to cut down the heat – only to do so again with the offer of ‘Thai hot?”.
When you are tired of Tabasco, you are tired of life.
Anyone have a hot sauce they can recommend? My favorite is Melinda’s – complex, tangy, hot but not overpowering the vegetable ingredients.
‘Tis mother’s milk to me!
15 comments
April 2, 2010 at 3:44 AM
Cheryl Fuller
Mmmm, sriracha –the Thai hot sauce.
April 2, 2010 at 4:48 AM
tigeryogiji
While I like some heat, I’m not apt to use hot sauce regularly for similar reasons to yours, so I can’t help you out there, Hon.
Although I do remember years ago, a friend of mind recommending a specialty hot sauce called “Pain is Good”! Alas, I don’t know if they still make it…
April 2, 2010 at 5:03 AM
Shawn
Hot and spicy is yummy,
but Jagermiester is my mother’s milk!
Sounds as if we but have a price to pay after enjoying our MM?
April 2, 2010 at 5:08 AM
Tai
Hot and wet 😛
April 2, 2010 at 5:51 AM
Birdie
My sister is your spice twin. She likes it when it “hurts so good,” and she recommends Scorned Woman hot sauce (because hell hath no fury like…).
April 2, 2010 at 6:29 AM
Raybob
I used to like things hotter than I do now; somehow it’s all caught up with me. I hear Johnny Cash singing “And I sat down on a burning ring of fahr” in my head when I think of hot food. And it burns, burns, BURNS!, that ring of fahr.
April 2, 2010 at 10:43 AM
Robert
I’m moving to the Midwest. I like my food to be extra mild! Hot and spicy? No, thank you. 🙂
April 2, 2010 at 2:34 PM
homer
Our mothers are cooking twins.
April 2, 2010 at 6:06 PM
Doug T
I don’t think that the bland cooking is just a Midwestern thing. It describes my New England mom perfectly. Her favorite spice was bay leaf.
My favorite hot sauce is called Inner Beauty.
April 2, 2010 at 9:20 PM
justjock
http://www.kickasshotsauce.com/hot-sauce.html
April 2, 2010 at 11:19 PM
zeph
Oh me, that seems all too familiar just now. It’s been a while since I’ve had real spices and, boy, how that habanero salsa whizzed through me… and I’m almost certain it wasn’t that hot going in.
You can get your digestive tract used to it. Kinda got to make a bit more of a habit of it, tho.
April 3, 2010 at 3:18 AM
Mike in MI
My Mexican friend used to always ask me how spicy I wanted here to make the enchilada sauce…her standard, according to her is “too hot for white people!”
April 4, 2010 at 3:46 AM
rg
Habanero hot sauce. It’s make your fingernails sweat. LOL
April 7, 2010 at 10:56 AM
the cajun
Being cajun means we love to use all three standard peppers for seasoning our food – white, cayenne, and black. The taste shouldn’t rip your mouth or insides but should make you want to take another bite.
However, if you are into hot sauces and in constant need of new ones here’s a local guy who started in his garage and had gone global. Check him out.
http://www.peppers.com/cube/
Cheers.
April 10, 2010 at 12:30 AM
zeph
Sriracha has its points. A little garlicky, not too hot. The basic Mexican hot sauces tend to have good flavor without much heat or, try Frank’s at the local American market, it’s similar. Flavor with a touch of fire. In the hot hot sauces, there is about an infinite variety, but usually I’d go with actual peppers for that sort of thing.
Experiment with the habenero sauces if you’re looking for more heat but, beware of the ones with names like “thermonuclear death”, they’re probably not kidding. Had to throw one of those out, once, because it could only be used a drop at a time in a family-sized batch of soup, and it was still pretty murderous. And I’m the kind of guy who chews on the chili pods you get in spicy Szechuan cuisine.