Beautiful, beautiful chiles! Given to me by a friend of my dad’s, probably the best part about this particular Thanksgiving. And I only know the bookends: the far left chile is a pequin, a tiny sucker about 5 times spicier than a japaleño; the far right chile is a bhut jolokia, aka the spiciest mofuckin’ chile on the planet. As for the insides, I’m not sure – the long skinny one is some kind of bird’s eye, whether it’s Thai or African I have no idea. And the more bulbous chile, I’m completely unsure. All I know at this point is that it’s probably very spicy. Any ideas?
As for how to use these – I have no clue. I’m sure the three on the left will work well in the food I make normally, albeit in much smaller portions than I would normally use with, say, jalapeños or serranos. I’d love some suggestions about how to use the bhut jolokia in particular, though of course I’m always up for food suggestions in general.
To be honest, I can’t wait to try making something with them. Chiles are one of my favorite things ever. It can be such a cathartic experience to consume massive quantities of capsaicin, to the point of inducing a sort of spiritual experience. One of the first times I made salsa was a catastrophic culinary failure but caused such intense pain that all I could do was sit down and accept it, think about it, feel it moving through my head and indeed entire body. On another occasion I ate a piece of habanero, mostly to prove something to my father-in-law, and was quite surprised to feel the pain move very (even painfully) slowly from my mouth to my throat and finally into my ears. It was an amazing experience of my own body, in a way that other foods don’t normally induce. I just hope I can have many more such experiences before the capsaicin finally tears a whole in my stomach lining and gives me a horrible ulcer.
Yay chiles!
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