2022
As a kid, I was a very picky eater. I would only eat plain pasta, chicken nuggets, baked potatoes, and, weirdly, broccoli. I hated seasoning of any kind and would refuse all sauces. Fast forward a decade or so and out of nowhere a switch flipped: I was done with plain, I wanted my food to actually taste like something.
Since then, I’ve spent a lot of time catching up on all the flavors I’d missed out on, but there was one that continued to defeat me even in small doses: spice. I was sick of the embarrassment of barely being able to handle mild salsa, though, so I stuck with it, forcing myself through increasingly spicy dishes until my tolerance to chile peppers got higher. Eventually, I got to understand why people love spicy food and I couldn’t get enough.
Then I went to Mission Chinese in New York and ordered the Chongqing Chicken Wings with the confidence of a professional chile pepper eater (is that a thing?). After just one bite, I was certain the spice level was causing burns on the inside of my mouth. And what was with the numbing/tingling sensation? I gulped water and it got worse; a rookie mistake.
I remarked to my dining companion, sweating slightly and breathless from the heat, that it must be the Sichuan peppercorns that were getting to me. I had never had them before and hadn’t built up my tolerance to them like I did with chiles. That had to explain it!
Since today is International Spicy Food Day, I decided to look into my theory and it turns out I had no idea what I was talking about. Sichuan peppercorns aren’t even spicy, nor are they peppercorns; they are actually dried berries from prickly ash trees. And while they weren’t responsible for the five-alarm fire inside my mouth, they were the culprits behind the tingling, which when combined with chile peppers, creates a unique numbing-spicy sensation called mala.
So these had to be a special Sichuan version of chile peppers that were super-spicy, right?
In researching what exactly the deal was with these chicken wings, I was shocked to learn that chiles, which I associate so heavily with Sichuan cuisine, didn’t even make it over to China until about the 16th century (though their popularity took off over the next century). Of course that makes sense considering trade routes at the time and that chile peppers are only native to South America, but what did that mean for my peppers?
For the chicken wings, the first pepper in question is cayenne. But that I can do! I have had tons of cayenne pepper, so it couldn’t be that. The second pepper, I found out, is the Tianjin chile, which is popular throughout Asia. I wasn’t able to find a ton of reliable information on it (chile pepper family trees aren’t a big thing, I guess), but it is cultivated in China and popular in Sichuan and Hunan dishes. Did this explain my Carolina Reaper-like reaction? No. Apparently it’s only medium-hot at 50,000–75,000 Scoville heat units.
Ultimately the answer to my Chongqing Chicken Wing problem was simply that I hadn’t built up my spice tolerance as much as I thought I did. I was too confident. So, if you’re like me and need help with spice, these tips might be able to help you in time for the next International Spicy Foods Day.
Do you love spicy foods? What’s the spiciest dish you’ve ever had? Tell us in the comments below!
Hi @kmajewski
This plate is interesting...
I don't like spicy dishes...
I spiciest dish I ever had is a dish from southwest part of Nigeria called "Asun"
It's made from goat meat very very chilly.
Kind regards
Sagir
Hi @kmajewski,
Thank you for sharing this spicy dish with us. I'm a person who loves to cook and eat very spicy food. I can share some photos from these spicy Thai meals.
Hey @kmajewski! It was nice to read your story.
I also used to be a picky eater and didn't eat spicy food, but as I grew up I started trying new foods. Being a Local Guide also helped, as I started trying to eat in different places or trying new options in places I had already been.
The spiciest food I've ever tried weirdly was nachos with sauce, it was on my first time in a Taco Bell in the US and we ordered the mildest sauce but I was too confident and tried them first putting too much on my first nacho... big mistake. I drank all my water and my family's drinks, which of course didn't help. We got our main dishes not too much later thankfully and I didn't feel the spice as much after that.
After that experience I did order spicy food here with no problems, but they were barely spicy because restaurants tune down the spice so Argentines can handle it. It's a bit hard to find actual spicy food here..
Thank you @kmajewski for sharing your experience with us. I enjoyed reading your detailed post with photo.
