The Food Topic

[Ginginho 1613]

I've been using a banana, mango and habanero sauce lately which is made in the Cook Islands - real nice...

[GunSmith 2452]

Wouldn't know. Tobasco sauce tastes like vinegar, so I avoid any similar sauce. Not a fan of sriracha (have tried both traditional and Americanized versions) and find its popularity annoying and unjust.

If I want my food spicy, I'll use cayenne, either powdered or fresh and finely sliced.

Chester's Frank's RedHot has less of the stale-testicle-like vinegary taste and more of the chili flavor. I don't like that sriracha is "cool" now, either. My family was using it way before it was cool.

I can't find a powdered cayenne that's not flavorless, and the "fresh" peppers for sale in Ohio are rarely fresh, so circumstance makes me prefer chili sauces.

[Brian 972]

What Gunny said about the powdered Cayenne. With spices it's apparent the powdered kind does not do justice to the whole or fresh ones. Goes for nutmeg, cinnamon, pepper and so on.

[Massacre 7646]

My family was using it way before it was cool.

Hipster.

Also, find a market in an impoverished Hispanic neighborhood. Even if they don't have fresh peppers (I go to a market around here that grows them year-round in a greenhouse), they'll have a higher quality powdered version.

As much as I hate hipsters, their organic places do carry decent spices and other dry goods. Never buy vegetables from an organic place, the suppliers use shady stuff that's borderline spoiled, and the hipsters are too stupid to know the difference.

Junk food, I buy at Wal-Mart. Anything good, I get from a small farmer's market or 'poor' grocery store (I miss Food Lion. They're only down south, I believe). Meat always comes from a butcher, who is supplied by local farmers and hunters. There was a butcher where I used to live that stocked venison, whether it was deer season or not. Deer meat is always lean, and significantly cheaper than lean beef. Excellent stuff, if you can find a butcher who carries it.

Admittedly, I'm no stranger to Wal-Mart's pre-cooked deli chicken when I'm feeling lazy.

[narcolepsy 581]

I don't trust a guy named Frank to excel at anything other than touching children.

Or breaking somebodies legs

[GunSmith 2452]

La Borincana Market in a West Side barrio in the 'Cleve is great for spices. They stock their shit by country, which is cool. For everything else, the famous West Side Market*.

I don't shop at Wally World anymore, but I miss their hot foods section. And their everything French bread.

*

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Side_Market

[gtagrl 4317]

I'm bemused about the excitement over sriracha or hot sauce and the like because they are condiments. It's like someone jizzing all over their plate because they discovered ketchup or mustard or salsa. Your food should be well seasoned and tasty before you start adding small amounts of condiments to accentuate what's already there. Some of the guys at work dump so much Frank's on their lunch every day I'd be shocked if their taste buds still work at all.

[Brian 972]

I'm bemused about the excitement over sriracha or hot sauce and the like because they are condiments. It's like someone jizzing all over their plate because they discovered ketchup or mustard or salsa. Your food should be well seasoned and tasty before you start adding small amounts of condiments to accentuate what's already there. Some of the guys at work dump so much Frank's on their lunch every day I'd be shocked if their taste buds still work at all.

That is one reason why hot sauce has become such a mainstream thing. With baby boomers and adults growing older their taste buds aren't as strong as they used to be, and the hot sauce compensates with that.

Gunny introduced me to Sriracha, and I used it on almost everything for a few days, and quickly because somewhat sick of it. Today was the first time I had it in two months probably. It's good, but not that great, plus it was mixed with Mayo, helping the flavor seem a little different. I rarely use hot sauce anyway.

[GunSmith 2452]

I reckon it's the "exotic" connotation that sriracha and sambal have that make them popular. It's out of the norm for ketchup/mustard eaters, so they're eager to replace their usual condiments with whatever flavor-of-the-month sauce/spice is out there.

[Fido 14 27]

Spicy food sucks.

[GunSmith 2452]

That is one reason why hot sauce has become such a mainstream thing. With baby boomers and adults growing older their taste buds aren't as strong as they used to be, and the hot sauce compensates with that.

Somehow I doubt this.

[Brian 972]

Why is hot so hot? The conventional explanation is that the nation has an increasingly adventurous palate. Immigration and prosperity have made Americans more sophisticated eaters, pushing wasabi peas into the mainstream, along with chili-Thai lime cashews, cayenne chocolate bars, and other high-octane combinations.

But some food scientists and market researchers think there is a more surprising reason for the broad nationwide shift toward bolder flavors: The baby boomers, that huge, youth-chasing, all-important demographic, are getting old. As they age, they are losing their ability to taste - and turning to spicier, higher-flavor foods to overcome their dulled senses.

Chiefly because of degenerating olfactory nerves, most aging people experience a diminished sense of taste, whether they realize it or not. But unlike previous generations, the nation's 80 million boomers have broad appetites, a full set of teeth, and the spending power to shape the entire food market.

"There's no question that as the baby boomers are aging they're losing their taste buds, and as a result they're drawn not only to more spicy foods, but to more flavorful foods of all kinds," said Phil Lempert, a food market analyst who runs SupermarketGuru.com, which tracks consumer trends in supermarkets and restaurants.

[GunSmith 2452]

Post as many articles as you like. I'll still be skeptical of that explanation.

[gtagrl 4317]

Our bodies build up a tolerance for spicy food with repeated exposure. I generally use hot sauces, sriracha, cayenne, jalapenos or other spicy ingredients in combination with other things, like soups, stews and sauces. They taste better as part of the bigger symphony, and in my mind aren't meant to be the featured soloist.

[Brian 972]

Post as many articles as you like. I'll still be skeptical of that explanation.

And why so? What other explanation do you have? I've heard what that article has said in many readings and features on hot sauce.

[GunSmith 2452]

Somewhat-related: plant chilies around your tomatoes and herbs -- it makes deer and squirrels more reluctant to nosh on your shit.

And why so? What other explanation do you have? I've heard what that article has said in many readings and features on hot sauce.

Because Frank's and Tabasco have been used with popularity for a very, very long time. The Boomers have little, if anything to do with it.

[Brian 972]

I'm talking hot sauce as a whole, there were very few selections on the market until the boomers came along, go to any store and you could see half an aisle full of different sauces. It's become so popular as a whole since then.

[GunSmith 2452]

I'm sorry, but I don't believe that the boomers contributed to the popularity of hot sauces. Like Massacre said, you can blame the hipsters for the resurgence of the Buffalo wing and the popularization of sriracha.

[Massacre 7646]

Buffalo wings will be popular for as long as the world possesses beer and professional sports.

[DuPz0r 5361]

When it comes to hot sauce, you can't beat a good Jamaican hot sauce. Sweet, fiery, and not too vinegary. But my favorite "spicy" sauce is piri piri, dem Africans make a damn fine piri!

[GunSmith 2452]

I luv me some Pickapeppa with jerk on an oppressively humid day.

[Rob 1390]

I grow my own chilli's then dry or freeze them until I need them. I have a huge jar of dried and crushed chilli that I use mostly after cooking unfortunately. Kids don't like hot food much, and the tears are distracting.

[GunSmith 2452]

...Lucky Aussie bastard...

[gtagrl 4317]

I have family in the Caribbean, and there's a special bottle of hot sauce from one of my visits there...it has a homemade label. The unit of measurement we've devised for using it is dipping the tip of a butter knife in the hot sauce, like 3 millimeters, and stirring it into chili. Anything more than that and your anus starts charring almost immediately. It's tasty stuff but OOOWEEE.

[Rob 1390]

Sounds like naga's or Jolokia. I have a Bhut Jolokia plant. No fruit yet.