Ill never understand people like this. Sure, very spicy food is tasty but at some point you have to acknowledge that the actual flavor of pure capsaicin is not very good, you're just destroying the flavor profile of the dish.
This isn't about flavour. It's about sending a message
I keep picturing this comment on other posts & it is doing my head in.
It has an endorphin release and people get addicted.
you are baby
once you leave the state of baby behind, there is a new world of technique available for you to explore, and it's creating spicier and spicier food without destroying flavor. It's an art and few chefs I've seen can do it. Anyone can throw in bhut jolokia and say "it's incredibly spicy now" but it takes skill to carefully balance and blend that flavor into their dish such that it accentuates and enhances the other flavors while still making your nose run and eyes water.
There's a Thai place by me that can do this (not with pad thai, though, with green curries), and I've eaten at an Indian restaurant in St. Louis capable of this, too.
It's a transcendent experience, merging flavor, pain and pleasure into a potent concoction that opens the sinuses and the doors of perception.
Edit: it's also totally okay to be baby, don't force yourself to try things you know only hurt you.
Also, pure capsaicin, using capsaicin extract, that always sucks. You gotta show off the unique flavor of the pepper itself. That's the expertise.
I am baby.
People like you confuse me, but in a way that makes me glad. Like, I think I will always be baby, but I'm happier being a baby when I know that there are people who are happy in their incomprehensible (to me) existence
It can be a bit of a high. Mouth in pain but mind is like woah.
Spicy food + beer makes my head feel all tingly
In my 20s I thought I was a strong chilli eater, then I tried some local spiced food and found my limit, it's not fun when you shudder and get cold sweat from eating.
Now I add chilli until it's a bit hot and I can enjoy the flavour of the pepper fruit, and the food.
I can handle spice.
My issue with most super hot food is that it tastes like absolute shit.
Everything above a habanero starts to taste more and more like eating mace.
I like a drop or two of a hot sauce with Trinidad scorpion, and there you taste both the chilli fruit but still plenty of hotness. The problem is finding that same sauce again.
From the "make him regret being born" instructions, I'm guessing this is someone ordering for some fool who was either bragging about thier spice resistance or talking shit about Thai food not being spicy.
The cenobites from hellraiser lovingly made all of my school lunches growing up, and now mouth-numbing pain makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.
I've been to Thailand. One time I was in a restaurant that catered to tourists, and two of the tourists at a table near me told the waiter they wanted the food to be really spicy, because they weren't like those other tourists who couldn't handle the heat. They told the waiter to prepare it like it was for Thai people.
So, the food arrived and they thought it was a joke. They couldn't manage to down a spoonful of it. So, they called the waiter back and tried to call him on the bullshit by having him try it. The waiter tried it, said "yep, tastes good" or something, and asked if they needed anything else. They sheepishly said no, and he left. I think they just left their food uneaten and left.
Point being, if you really eat spicy food all the time, you develop a certain tolerance. What might seem like incredibly spicy food for someone (even someone who likes spicy food) might seem like nothing to someone else. If you're used to something crazy hot, you need all that capsaicin just to make the dish interesting.
Favorite spice level I’ve seen at a restaurant (posted on the wall, level 9/10):
Turbo Spicy
Pad thai isn’t even that spicy. Who’s ordering a super spicy pad thai?
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