Just made my fave breakfast, a couple eggs with cilantro, onions, tomatoes and chiles on top, and…
HOLY CRUD!!
Got surprised by a chile, because I didn’t check carefully enough prior to cooking with them, like I told y’all to do! Ten minutes later and I am still sweating profusely…
Before cooking with them, I bit the end off of one and tasted it – Not hot, so off I went – NOT a smart game plan; I love heat, but when it’s so hot you can’t taste or eat comfortably, it’s TOO hot!
So, a couple more points about chiles:
Tasting for heat: The very end is gonna have the least amount of heat; it’s farthest from the membrane and seeds, so, duh, Eben, not a good test. Chopping off the top, wiping a finger over the seeds and touching that to your lip will tell you what you got.
Respect the variety: What I used this am was a Serrano; they ARE generally hot, so I should have expected hot, and not been fooled by a bad test.
Field Strip ’em: Membranes and seeds out, plain and simple!
Sweeten their temper: Soak field stripped chiles in a bath of 2 tblspns sugar dissolved in 2 cups of water; it won’t impact the taste profile much and it does help chill ’em out a tad.
If all else fails: Do what I did, pick the little buggers out, add some sour cream and mild tomato salsa, and let those help cool things off.
Oh, and bring lots of paper towels to the table with ya…
UrbanMonique 