# What's your favorite chili pepper?



## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

I love chili pepper, and I must have tasted about a dozen different varieties, but only seriously used about 4 or 5 varieties in my cooking. I know there are loads of them out there.....Guajillo, Ancho, Arbol, Pequin, Tien Tsin, Habanero, Scotch Bonnet... which ones do you use, for what - and what do you like about them?


----------



## dillonsmimi (Dec 2, 2009)

Chipoltle...hands down. Add it to mayo for a great roast beef sandwich.


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

French Fries,

Good thread.
I was introduced to chiltepins (50,000-100,000 units, not alot compared to some) years ago and I must say it is just about as much hot as my mouth can take and at that ,small doses.
Enjoy serrano peppers for hot sauces and salsa . I have come to like Sciracha alot especially with Thai food. 
My brother finds a reason to eat it with just about everything. He says it gives him a "rush". 
This week I went back to my Thai restaurant and had my soup and added the chili sauce. I realized after the first sip of soup I had put too much. I waited a bit and kept tasting it and within five minutes I did not feel the heat and actually loved it. So to answer your question, the chili pepper. I like it the most without needing a band-aid on my tongue.

There was a very good article that came out this year in the "Smithsonian" magazine , april edition. It speaks about the hottest pepper in the world....good read. I found it on the net for you if you like reading about peppers.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/scienc...i-Peppers.html


----------



## kyheirloomer (Feb 1, 2007)

Can't say as I have a favorite, because it depends on what I'm making.

I'm not interested in heat for its own sake. I want a chili that has an underlying flavor of its own. For instance, take the heat away from the _C. chinense_ (i.e., Habanero, etc.) and you're left with a smoky, tropical-fruit flavor. _Bacatums _(Aji flor, Aji Colorado, etc.)on the other hand, are citrusy. Etc.

I rarely use jalapenos for that reason. If you take the heat out of a jalepeno you're left with a sort of green taste, is all. In recipes calling for jalapenos I usually sub serranos---a case where I'm increasing the heat in order to get better flavor.

If I had to pick one chili as my favorite it would be Sinahuisa, which has about the same SHU level as Serrano, but with more flavor. I also like the Yellow Squash, as much for its historical value as its flavor.


----------



## maryb (Mar 21, 2008)

I agree KY, the chili used depends on what I am using it with. Chipotle is good in bbq sauce etc where the smokey flavor adds to the overall flavor, ancho is my go to for a sweeter flavor with not much heat, etc.


----------



## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

I'm no heat freak so i enjoy the milder ones though i'll use what a dish requires. 

As to favorites, an Anaheim or the New Mexico Green chiles.


----------



## gunnar (Apr 3, 2008)

i like the greens most i guess, ancho, anaheim, banana peppers and jalapenos, fresh or pickled on a sandwich and roasted in my food. the habernero is a fun one for the heat and to surprise people that you can kill it with a little sweet so that it's flavor comes out and doesn't just sear your tongue.


----------



## bughut (Aug 18, 2007)

A timely thread for me, as i am researching suppliers of fresh Kashmiri chillis. Im looking forward to a taste sensation. Both my Indian friends are so enthusiastic about their unique flavour, that i have to try them. I also want to surprise my friends with a wee new years prezzie. 
Problem is, they are very expensive and often faked by unscrupulous spice dealers. 
I'd be happy to buy dried, or powder, so long as i knew for sure it was authentic. So if any of you knows a reputable supplier, do tell.

As far as my preference for chillies...I have to say, for the most part, I am totally ingnorant of the type i use. I buy them at a local Indian or chinese grocer, and they arnt labeled. They're 4" long mostly and medium heat. For Thai food i do buy birds eye tho.

I love using generic dried chilli flakes. Just a sprinkle over roast whole fish or baked chicken legs... Yum


----------



## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

Wow, where to begin? Or more importantly, where to stop!

For basic general use I like poblanos. They have a bit of bite, not too much. Being fairly thick walled they are best when the skin is blistered off with high heat. Anaheims are a bit too bland for my tastes, though I do use them sometimes for dishes my wife, she of tender palate, is going to eat.

Red Fresno and green jalapenos are nice in salsas, diced up in burritos and enchiladas. A jalapeno plucked right off the bush and thrown on the grill for a minute or two is quite a treat.

Dried chile de arbol is always on hand. Chipotles are a favorite with their smokey heat. Habaneros have quite a distinctive, tropical fruity flavor but it is so easy to go overboard on the heat I don't use them that often. It is about time for a batch of my habenero chicken chili, though.

Speaking of heat I do use Thai bird chilies, sparingly, in some stir fry dishes. My heat tolerance has diminished a bit as the years go by.

Mouth on fire? Butter and vodka. Or gin. The hot stuff is not water soluble - swilling down water will only make the burn worse, spreading it around to brutalize more of your taste buds. But fat or alcohol will absorb the active ingredient and diminish the pain suffered by fools who rush in. I've heard sugar helps as well. And keep in mind that entry and exit can both be interesting experiences.

mjb.


----------



## dc sunshine (Feb 26, 2007)

Jalapeno generally for me, seeds in. I'm not fussy on chillis, what I'm making dictates how many go in. We don't get a great variety here. There is a pale green chilli about 4 to 5 inches long, very mild, which I use for flavour, not heat. If I can find the name I'll post it. They're not always available. But jalapenos do for me, or chilli powder. Cayenne is a decent substitute if I run out of chilli powder. Really don't like the texture of dried chilli flakes - that's just me.


----------



## sodium girl (Jan 6, 2010)

I love using dried tien tsin. One package has seriously already lasted me a year and a half (you really can't use more than 2 or 3 per recipe). I put it in everything from soup stock, to fried rice, to pickling liquid. You can get a lot of heat from these little guys without directly eating it. If you throw a few into your sauté pan with the rest of your ingredients, you will pick up some nice residual spice.


----------



## dc sunshine (Feb 26, 2007)

Sodium girl - why not make yourself some chilli oil? Great to have on hand for those times you haven't got the fresh chillis  Lots of recipes, Google it.


----------



## mrsbushaxe (Jan 8, 2010)

I prefer the Thai Dragon pepper because it works best for me. 

I live in Ohio and this pepper can be started in the house in March, put outside in a bucket once the nights are over 50 degrees, and harvested until cold weather hits. They dry easily in a home food dehydrator or on a screen in the sun. 

One plant will grow about 2 ft tall and produce at least 200 3-inch long peppers if you keep picking. This is enough for my family of 3 to make it through the winter.

They are hot around 75K on the heat scale, but not as hot as a habanero.


----------



## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

Well thanks to all for sharing your insight! What's surprising is that even though when I go to the markets around here and discover dozens of new chili peppers I've never tasted or used, you guys still come up with even more that are not the same as the ones I find around here. 

So definitely there are a LOT of varieties out there, and I will have to just go ahead and try a few. 

Chipotle I've used a lot - I used to alway rub my rib eye steaks with crushed chipotle before grilling them to get that chili - smoked flavor. Love it - once in a while. 

DC Sunshine, I see that big pale green pepper everywhere around here. Don't know the name either. I've never tried it. Does it taste kinda like a sweet bell pepper? Or does it have a little bit of heat to it? I love the texture of dried chili flakes - I often use a bit while heating the olive oil at the beginning of many dishes (risotto, pasta sauce, etc..) just to give it a slight kick. 

I think maybe I should start experimenting with making chili - just as an excuse to experiment with different chili peppers!


----------



## thegardenguru (Dec 4, 2009)

So many peppers, so little time.

As pretty much everyone else, my preferred pepper depends on the planned purpose and plate. In order of heat:

I like paprika peppers -- sweet (technically not a "chili" culinarily), semi-sweet, zippy-do and smoked. Seasoning all kinds of Mediterranean things.

I like frigitelli -- what Americans call "peperoncini". Chopped in sandwiches mostly but great in pasta sauces.

I like piquillos, pickled or stuffed.

I like pasillas/poblanos for rellenos. I use "Anaheim" types (those paler green long peppers that have a hint of zip) for casseroles and ****** rellenos. I use "Fresno" and "New Mexico" types for medium rellenos (although some NM's are fiery).

I like freshly minced chili serrano for spicing up anything Latin. Could be my most-used pepper.

I never did care for Jalapenos of any type (the underlying flavor is, as KYH said, no more than "green") nor "Chipotle" (which isn't a kind of pepper; it's a smoked Jalapeno, or, in Mexico, any smoked pepper -- and I don't like Adobo sauce, which is about the only way you can find "chipotle").

For Asian cuisine, I like the little Chinese red peppers (such as tien tsin) and the long Thai types, dried, for flavoring my wok oil.

Joe


----------



## kyheirloomer (Feb 1, 2007)

_and I don't like Adobo sauce, which is about the only way you can find "chipotle")._

At least not in most regular markets, Joe. But they are available. My local health-food co-op carries them in bulk, for instance. And Mejiers (a midwestern supermarket chain) has them prepackaged with their other dried chilies.

_which isn't a kind of pepper; it's a smoked Jalapeno_

With the growing interest in bolder flavors, you'd think the confusion over chilies would be getting less. But such doesn't seem to be the case.

Referring to them as chipotle peppers is, at best, redundent. And, as you note, confuses people who think they're a separate variety. But you hear it all the time.

Even more widespread is the misuse of the words "ancho" and "poblano." As you know, these are not synonyms. Anchos are the dried form of the poblano. Yet you see "ancho pepper plants" on sale all the time.

Another source of confusion is color. I've all but given up trying to explain to people that green bell peppers and red ones are not (necessarily) different varieties. And that red and green jalapenos come from the same plant.

Aji Flor is one of several chilies that ripen from green to flame to scarlet. I sometimes wonder if they were put in separate baskets how many people would insist they were three different chilies?


----------



## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

Actually I've never tried chipotle in Adobo sauce. I've used crushed dried chipotle. Here in socal you can find the full dried chipotle, or flaked dried chipotle, in pretty much any supermarket. I've also seen places where they sell powdered dried chipotle.


----------



## gonefishin (Nov 6, 2004)

Hi French Fries 

I don't eat chili's like I used to. Which is why I don't have much of a heat tolerance anymore. This is excluding the fact that I have...well...I have some "other" problems that could be associated with hot peppers :blush:. Ouch!

There's alot of different peppers I like and cook with. But over the years I can appreciate the balance of heat in a dish than going for the raw heat like I used to like. Jalapeños I usually reserve for salsa type dishes. But their heat is so unreliable I often opt for serrano peppers.

Even with the reliability factor that I have with jalapeños, I prefer the habanero type heat better. To my buds the jalapeño type heat is a cumulative effect that builds and builds while your eating it. Never really stepping aside until you take a small break. While the habanero type heat smacks you upside the head as hard as it can and then steps aside and let's the flavors of the food bloom (so to speak) behind the heat. 

(for me) The right flavors with the right heat can almost be a bit euphoric. Now, if you want to talk about something more sadistic you would be talking about horseradish. I've got no idea why I like it like I do, but I do. But I do.

I thank you


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

What is it about horseradish (or wasabi) that it is so ......well, it makes your eyes tear up, you gasp, clutch the table, beads of perspiration, say words you would not normally say, swear never again , then all of a sudden you hear those words coming out of your mouth, " Well maybe this last time".


----------



## ovkriss (Jan 7, 2010)

chilli masala garavy cheken


----------



## oregonyeti (Jun 16, 2007)

As much as I love chili peppers, I'm just learning about the variety of them. I grew up in India and the chiles most used there were pretty hot, long skinny ones. Great flavor. We almost always used them fresh. I also love them dried and then roasted a bit over a flame before nibbling with a rice dish.

I've experimented with different chiles here in the USA but I am a beginner in exploring the varieties. I definitely agree with the observation that jalapenos are hot but otherwise taste like grass. When I want hot, I'll take jalapenos over no hot, but I like serranos better (agreeing again with a previous poster). 

For a lot of chile flavor and not a lot of heat, I love anchos. I tried several times to make collard greens like I had in an Ethiopan restaurant in Portland. When I tried ancho chile powder from Penzey's in the dish, I came really close. Super good. I love those anchos with greens and with a lot of other things.

For "pretty hot" and lots of flavor including smoke flavor, I choose chipotles. Yeah, they are jalapenos, but not the same as the plain green fresh ones. I get really good chipotle peppers from Penzey's, plain ground ones. 

I also like the canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, but to me some brands are a lot better than others. Of those I've tried, I like the Herdez brand. For a bottled chipotle sauce, I like Bufalo brand. The canned and bottled ones are one of my favorite things to eat with fried eggs (over easy) and toast.

Habaneros have such a great flavor. I use them at times. I just wish I could get that flavor with a little less heat.


----------



## kyheirloomer (Feb 1, 2007)

_I just wish I could get that flavor with a little less heat. _

As a matter of fact, Yeti, you can. There are several varieties of "heatless" habaneros. Some of them are recent hybrids, but others, such as the Tobago Seasoning, are heirlooms. There's even a sweet Scotch Bonnet.

Very few of these are available commercially, except at farmers markets. Indeed, other than the heatless jalapenos (and boy, do I not understand the need for those), you would have to grow your own. But they're out there.


----------



## gunnar (Apr 3, 2008)

also adding a little sugar or honey to the dish takes some heat away from the habenero. not a lot but enough.


----------



## chlychef (Jan 9, 2010)

Pasilla de Oaxaca is my all time favorite. It can be exspensive.....around 21.50 per pound right now. Worth every penny if you are a chile head. Only grown in the Oaxacan region of Mexico. Smoky and fruity with tobacco tones.
After that it varies from day to day. We use around 12 or more types of chilies here in the restaurant.


----------



## kyheirloomer (Feb 1, 2007)

One way of reducing the heat in any chili is to strip away all or part of the ribs. The ribs are actually the plant's placenta, and about 90% of the capsaicin is found there. 
Contrary to conventional wisdom (and the words of FN celebrities) there is no heat in the seeds. 

Although not universally true, the smaller the chili, in general, the hotter it will be; and the riper the chili the closer it comes to reaching its SHU rating. 

Within a dish, dairy products go a long way towards reducing the perceived heat. That's one of the reasons so many dishes from chili cultures include yogurt and similar products either as an ingredient or recommended side.


----------



## dc sunshine (Feb 26, 2007)

Gotta love that confusion with the colours.

What, out of curiousity, is supposed to be the world's hottest chilli?


----------



## kyheirloomer (Feb 1, 2007)

They keep changing it, DC, with new discoveries and more up-to-date measuring. Taken as a whole, very few chilies have actually been measured.

We tend to think of the really hot chilies as being from the Carribean. But most of the blow-the-roof-of-your-mouth types actually come from India.

The last word I had was an Indian chili with a supposed 800,000 SKUs. I forget what name they've given it.

To put that in perspective, here are some typical SHU measurements:

Poblano: 1,000-1,500 SKUs
De Arbol: 15,000-30,000 SKUs
Jalapeno: 2,500-10,000 SKUs
Serrano: 10,000-20,000 SKUs
Aji Colorado: 30,000-50,000 SKUs
Tabasco: 30,000-50,000 SKUs
Habanero: 150,000-300,000 SKUs*
Savina Red: 500,000 SKUs

* The word "habenero" is Yuccatanian in origin, and refers to a specific group of pods. However, in the U.S. it has become a synonym for all of the _C. chinense, _explaining the wide range in heat levels. Actual habeneros average about 180,000 SKUs

Keep in mind, too, that there are several heat scales used by various people, and some of the claims of world's hottest are based on them. For instance, Redwood City Seeds uses it's own measuring system.

Most of those other methods do not correlate to SHUs, so have little recognition or credibility.

One reason for the non-credibility is that they are almost all subjective in nature (as was the original SHU index). But SHUs, nowadays, are established using laboratory equipment, and are objective measurements.


----------



## dc sunshine (Feb 26, 2007)

Crikey....800,000?!? That's blow the top of your skull of, forget the mouth. Standardised, objective measurements need to be had to make a true comparison, otherwise as you say, its just too subjective, my word against his etc.

I think my limit is at the Tabasco stage, anything more, not going there 

It's fascinating how chillis affect the brain too. I forget the exact chemistry, but I think the brain views it as a toxin, so the body releases endorphins in response, and gives you that high. Explains why many are addicted to them.


----------



## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

This is all fascinating. I'm learning so much - I'm glad I started this thread! Thanks guys for sharing all the information.


----------



## oregonyeti (Jun 16, 2007)

I'll be on the lookout for those "heatless" habaneros and others. I do like some heat, so I'd use some hot along with them.


----------



## oregonyeti (Jun 16, 2007)

I'll also try taking out the ribs, or some of them.

Petals, I read that article in my Smithsonian. I love that magazine.:thumb:


----------



## kyheirloomer (Feb 1, 2007)

DC, endorphins are released in response to pain. That's why chiliheads love the burn; it leads to an endorphin rush.

And they do love it. I once jokingly suggested to a chilihead friend that I was gonna make him a capsaicin tincture that would come in at about 1-million SKUs. Rather than shying away, his eyes lit up in anticipation, and he actually wanted me to make up such a witches brew. Mama having not raised any fools, I declined.

One reason to learn about heat levels and flavor profiles is so you can make realistic substitutions.

For instance, Chinchi Uchu is a _C. chinense _with a fair amount of heat. It's also very small; takes about five of them to cover your thumbnail. In terms of culinary heat, however, each of them is about equal to a Serrano. So, if you wanted that smoky, tropical heat flavor in a dish normally calling for a Serrano, you could use one Chinchi Uchu instead.

There's aother clue in there for controlling heat. Nobody says you have to use an entire pod. Just the tip of a Habanero might give you the heat/flavor profile you're looking for, whereas the entire pod might provide too much.

Same goes for removing the pods. Cut a slice or two in a Habenero pod, let it cook in the dish for X amount of time, and remove it. That, too, cuts down on the blistering heat.

You can see this syndrome in Thai and Setchuan foods. If you push the chilies aside, a particular dish might be very palatable to you. Actually bite into one of those little devils, though, and your mouth is exploding.

Note that I keep using the terms "culinary heat" and "perceived heat" in this discussion. That's because the heat you get in a dish has only a proportionate relationship to SHUs, which, themselves, are a measure of relative heat, not absolute measurements. That's why we call it an index.

FWIW, the SHUs were originally derived thusly. One ounce of the chili was ground up and mixed with sugar water. The sweetener continued to be added until test subjects could no longer discern the heat. The responses from 100 testers were averaged to arrive at the figure.

So, if it took, say, ten ounces of sugar water before the heat disappeared, that particular pepper had an SHU number of ten. If it took 150,000 ounces, that was the assigned SHU number. Etc.

Today we do the measurements with a chromowhatchmacallitograph. But it's keyed to replicate the original proceedure---which, it turns out, was surprisingly accurate.


----------



## maryb (Mar 21, 2008)

Ghost chili from India, measured scoville of 855,000 and I heard another measurement over 1 million. Bhut Jolokia pepper - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


----------



## dc sunshine (Feb 26, 2007)

Great info KYH....I've heard of the concentrates that chilliheads love. Dunno how they can take that sort of heat. It doesn't surprise me that the original method was pretty accurate. One works to the devices and technologies of the times. A wheel has always been round  (ok there's probably some *very early exceptions) but they are still round.

Mary B....it's no wonder that it's called a ghost chili at that level of heat. Whew!

KYH - your Momma certainly raised no fools


----------



## petemccracken (Sep 18, 2008)

Here's an interesting list of "heat" The Scoville Heat Scale for Chilli Peppers and Hot Sauces from ChilliWorld. Compare relative heats all the way to Blair's 6 A.M. - pure capsaicin.


----------



## vohrtex (Apr 21, 2009)

My favorite is a Poblano, smoky, versatile, flavorful, and easily sped up or slowed down as the basis of a dish.

For fry up, I've been refining my Jalapeno popper recipe. It would have bacon bits but the wife is vegetarian. Boo-Hoo.

Recently we ate habanero poppers at Chino Latino in Minneapolis over the holidays. Easily the hottest thing I have ever eaten. they weree served with an ice shot glass filled with lime sorbet. The wife was eating it with her fingers. And it was the first time i experienced that cold chill after spicy food. Awesome.


----------



## chefray (Sep 29, 2009)

If I have to nail down a favorite, it's going to be the Scotch Bonnet. The heat dies quickly and there's a nice flavor there that I can't quite nail down but, to quote my dad, "It's like being punched by a super model, but then she kisses you."


----------



## oregonyeti (Jun 16, 2007)

Sambal oelek, an Indonesian chili sauce, is so good. What I've had is in a class by itself, to my taste. The ingredients are chili, vinegar and salt, which hardly give a clue. It's kind of sweet but plenty hot at the same time, and has a flavor that is not like any other hot sauce that I've had.


----------



## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

I've had Sambal Oelek since I was a little kid. That's always been a staple in my fridge. I eat it with rice, pasta, couscous etc... when we were kids we used to take several full tablespoons of the stuff. 

I love it. I only discovered its name years later. To me it was always known as the "spicy sauce".


----------



## oregonyeti (Jun 16, 2007)

I looked around the internet for an idea of what makes sambal oelek taste the way it does, and I found a reference to using "lombok", a certain type of chile. Maybe that's it. I use Huy Fong brand.


----------



## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

I've been a bit disappointed by the versions I've found in the US. I used to buy a tiny little jar from Suzi Wan - haven't found it in the US though.


----------



## shelta (Sep 16, 2009)

Like and use all that are available for what dish they best suit. Because of my enjoyment of chilis en nogadas, if I had to choose one, it would be the poblano.


----------



## dc sunshine (Feb 26, 2007)

Great Picture ...I gotta say I like sambal oelek to as a favorite "go to" for heat. Sweet chilli sauce is nice but pretty tame, still useful in many dishes though.


----------



## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

I love sweet chili sauce too! But to me that's something new, I just recently discovered it. Goes wonderful with thai corn fritters... or seemingly anything deep fried. 

Sambal Oelek... now that's my entire childhood. :thumb:


----------



## derric (Jan 22, 2010)

Man no one has mentioned my all-time favorite; hot cherry peppers (red). I love those things! I was introduced to them in a Todd English restaurant I worked in where they came in jars pickled in vinegar and I ate them on everything, Nicoise, pizza, sandwiches, burgers, calamari, sauteed with olive oil, parsley, s&p and served as a side, absolutely scrumptious. I was able to find them fresh on occasion from local organic grocers. They're not too hot either, about the same as a red jalapeno, which is my second favorite. Why no one gets these or uses them is beyond me. The commercial jalapeno these days is a joke, mass produced and sheltered from sunlight before ripening, its a shame. Death to industrialized food!! :laser:


----------

