What can you expect in the Food Thread on PF?

[hyde2042]

Evo, Ms Music,

I took a screen grab of the tree in your link for everybody to see.
This is proof positive that the Nagaland reference I found and posted the other day is true.
This "ghost tree" has to be at least 8 feet tall maybe more, and the number of peppers on the section shown is phenomenal. If that is a window frame on a house that has to be at least 4 feet off the ground to begin with.

Here is what the website owner had to say:

I would be willing to bet that ghost tree is in a big pot and is indoors and coddled in the winter. Ms Music said he uses a grow lamp, must be a big one if he does !
I say let's try collectively to grown one at least 12 feet, I like a challenge. Is anyone with me on this ?
Evo, you already said you would be in. Just grow it as big as your Apartment allows.

http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/3424/ghosttree.jpg

Borek,

Here is a flash picture dead on looking down image adjusted using Windows Live Photo Gallery. Better in some ways than the last non flash version, but the 640x480 conversion definitely loses some of the detail.

http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/1922/ghostflash.jpg

Now that leaves us with the subject of peppers, WhoWee and Evo, I will put some in the mail after work on Friday. BTW, I haven't heard is Astronuc got his seeds or not, everyone else is accounted for I believe.

One story before I finish this. I gave peppers to a friend and warned him about using gloves. He didn't use them when he separated and put the seeds aside, and brushed his nose. He was in pain, and washed with soap and water three times, still there, checks on the internet and is recommended to use olive oil which he does followed by vinegar. He then washed his hands with soap and water a couple times more, and was eventually clear. He is getting gloves like I recommended and had a nice chuckle about it, but at the time, it wasn't funny. If you do get the oil on your sniff your hands carefully you can't miss it, the smell is sweet.

Rhody...

Dem peppers... 0.0.

I'm a big fan of spicy cooking, but it's hard to find any non-standard peppers (Jalapeno, anaheim, serrano). I used to live near a Korean owned asian market that sold these peppers that were very spicy. They were long and thin and three of them (the first time) destroyed me , but they were great after getting used to them.

 

[rhody]

I regularly use cap-based topical arthritis treatments on my knees, feet, etc, and fingers. If a cop wanted to bring me down with pepper-spray, (s)he'd probably have to score a direct hit on my eyes. Otherwise, they would just make me feel better and I'd be more of a handful.

Uh, uh, no pepper spray for you my friend a taser is the only thing that will bring you down I am afraid, or some stinky fragrance thing to close your airway suddenly.

Rhody...

 

[rhody]

Dem peppers... 0.0.

they were great after getting used to them .

You hit the nail on the head my friend... I am finding what you said to be true, you brain is adapting to the sympathetic nervous system JOLT. Amazing, huh ?

Rhody...

 

[hyde2042]

You hit the nail on the head my friend... I am finding what you said to be true, you brain is adapting to the sympathetic nervous system JOLT. Amazing, huh ?

Rhody...

Indeed it is. I kept going back... and they kept getting better. Crushed red pepper does nothing for me anymore unless it's from a thai chili.

 

[rhody]

If my cat ever got a hold of one of these peppers, I would end up with:

Ghost Cat:

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/6711/ghostcat.jpg

Rhody...

 

[HeLiXe]

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/6711/ghostcat.jpg

Ohhhh micromass :D where are you?

 

[Borek]

Ghost Cat:

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/6711/ghostcat.jpg

This is the best worst picture I have ever seen

 

[Jay Ssj]

pani puri!
its the best!
its a complex recipi but its D best!

 

[rhody]

Turbo, and everyone else who has or is getting peppers,

I just discovered the full ripe shelf life is about one week or so, after that the start to rot in different places, my advice take the fully ripe ones, put in zip lock bags and throw them in the fridge or freezer, I am going to be taking the seeds from a bunch of ripe ones tomorrow. I still have a bunch of new buds and I picked a dozen and a half smaller peppers. I have to laugh, the last few people I gave them to I warned them to use gloves. Well they all didn't and in some way shape or form have suffered. This pepper demands respect. Live and learn I guess.

Any new recipes to report on, Turbo ?

Rhody...

 

[turbo]

Any new recipes to report on, Turbo ?

Rhody...

Nothing new yet, though I do have all the fixins' for another batch of hot grilled shrimp and might have time for that this weekend. Today, I pulled all my sauce-tomato plants and put the wire baskets away, and looked my chilies over. I have more chilies than I had hoped for, but I'm afraid I won't get enough of the nice ripe ones and will have to process and freeze them while green or orange. There is just not enough season left to ripen them.

 

[rhody]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/craig-goldwyn/physicist-cracks-bbq-mystery_b_987719.html"

Ever wonder why you get "a stall" when smoking meat, trying to get it to that final temperature where it is perfect ? It has long vexed grillers of BBQ, read the article, here is a short summary.

The conclusion was inescapable: "Since there was a deep, glistening pool of melted fat in the smoker, the rendering fat hypothesis is busted. The barbecue stall is a simple consequence of evaporative cooling by the meat's own moisture slowly released over hours from within it's pores and cells. As the temperature of cold meat rises, the evaporation rate increases until the cooling effect balances the heat input. Then it stalls, until the last drop of available moisture is gone."

I am sure Turbo can testify to this. They say the stall drives griller's nuts because you think it is done, and it really isn't because of the evaporative cooling, and the finally slow rise to the proper serving temperature.

Rhody...

 

[turbo]

I am sure Turbo can testify to this. They say the stall drives griller's nuts because you think it is done, and it really isn't because of the evaporative cooling, and the finally slow rise to the proper serving temperature.

Rhody...

Oh, yeah. I learned that the hard way, and brought a really nice cut of pork back into the house to finish cooking it in the oven. I had been smoking that meat all day for pulled-pork sandwiches with the neighbors that evening and the internal temperature just wasn't going anywhere. First time making pulled pork with the new Char-Griller.

I never had (knowingly) had that problem before, but I fooled myself with a nice new digital thermometer. Even though the smoking chamber was hot and smoking nicely, and the temperature in the hood of the charcoal section of the grill was high enough, the meat just wasn't heating up internally, so I panicked.

All the smoking that I had done previously had been in a Brinkman with no thermometer, no draft control, no damper, etc, and things came out great. It wasn't until I got my fancy Char-Griller with the smoking/indirect-cooking features, draft control, chimney damper, etc that I got fooled this way. With the primitive equipment, my method for whole turkeys and for pulled pork was to start smoking in the morning and keep the smoker running all day. Ah, the bliss of ignorance.

 

[WhoWee]

Oh, yeah. I learned that the hard way, and brought a really nice cut of pork back into the house to finish cooking it in the oven. I had been smoking that meat all day for pulled-pork sandwiches with the neighbors that evening and the internal temperature just wasn't going anywhere. First time making pulled pork with the new Char-Griller.

I never had (knowingly) had that problem before, but I fooled myself with a nice new digital thermometer. Even though the smoking chamber was hot and smoking nicely, and the temperature in the hood of the charcoal section of the grill was high enough, the meat just wasn't heating up internally, so I panicked.

All the smoking that I had done previously had been in a Brinkman with no thermometer, no draft control, no damper, etc, and things came out great. It wasn't until I got my fancy Char-Griller with the smoking/indirect-cooking features, draft control, chimney damper, etc that I got fooled this way. With the primitive equipment, my method for whole turkeys and for pulled pork was to start smoking in the morning and keep the smoker running all day. Ah, the bliss of ignorance.

There are 2 quick fixes you might want to try. First, if the meat has adequate smoke exposure - wrap in foil to hold the juices and return to smoker. For thick boneless cuts - if you don't want to slice - try inserting metal skewers through the center for heat transfer - cook from the inside.

 

[rhody]

(sorry Rhody - it was a tease, mostly because shellacking the peppers is about the only thing I would know to do with a ghost plant, I didn't actually expect a response)

But since you guys are still talking ghosts here, I will post this here. I was looking for recipes for hot sauce, as I might attempt that with one of my brother's dried ghosts... And I stumbled on this website. Go to the bottom of the page to see a picture of his tree! He grows it inside under grow lights, I guess he is from my neck of the woods.

http://ghostpeppers.com/

Also, if I do make hot sauce this weekend, have any of you ever used vodka instead of vinegar? Or in addition to vinegar? If made with a ghost pepper, it probably wouldn't matter, but that is what bugs me about hot sauce is that you taste the vinegar.

Turbo, Ms Music,

I just went to his website and ordered his How To book for 10 $. I will let you know how it works out, it looks like one of those on-line books with a password. If he can grow them 8 feet or more in Texas, I can try from here as well. He claims he is making about 2,000 $ a month from his products. Good for him. There is a market out there I tell you, he is proof positive there is.

Rhody...

P.S. Nice warm day here, almost 80 and dry, plants on the deck, and being warmed by the trek decking. It's weird, you have to basically torture the plants for them to produce hotter peppers, it is a fine line, dancing with the devil, too much abuse, and they die and you are back to square one. In an odd way, it reminds me of riding my bike near or at the limit, same result if you push too far.

 

[Ms Music]

If he can grow them 8 feet or more in Texas,
.

Try Seattle! Texas wouldn't be surprising, but he is in Seattle. The land of no summer... (well at least the last two summers have sucked royally) I read through that page again, and he mentions he got some smoked ghosts from India that tasted nasty. Now I wonder again if that is what I have.

Update on my hot sauce, I let my brother try it and he liked the smoky flavor, so it didn't go down the drain. He says every time he tries it it is even hotter, so I guess one week later it is still ripening. And I didn't put any of the pepper in it at all! Only the infused vodka. I can't wait until I have the time to make it again. This time with a fresh habanero. That I will harvest the seeds from... :D

it reminds me of riding my bike near or at the limit, same result if you push too far.

Please don't!

Enjoy the book!

Last minute thought... If it IS a smoked ghost, do you think the seeds would still be viable?

 

[turbo]

The weather is supposed to be nice again tomorrow, so my wife and I are inviting my father down for a cook-out. I'm going to make some more marinated grilled shrimp, this time with 2-3 ghost peppers instead of 1. We're also going to have grilled stuffed chilies. Stuffed with cream cheese and bacon, and topped with Monterey Jack.

 

[Evo]

I'm watching in horror as a guest on the Paula Deen show is filling cupcakes with chocolate ganache, dipping the cakes in batter, then deep frying them. OMG. WHY?

Oh wait, you have to put powdered sugar on them then serve them with ice cream.

 

[rhody]

Enjoy the book!

Last minute thought... If it IS a smoked ghost, do you think the seeds would still be viable?

I doubt it, especially, if the smoking process included a fair amount of heat, I don't think the seeds could handle it. I can throw some in the mail to you, no problem, say the word, and they are yours.

Rhody...

 

[HeLiXe]

I'm watching in horror as a guest on the Paula Deen show is filling cupcakes with chocolate ganache, dipping the cakes in batter, then deep frying them. OMG. WHY?

Oh wait, you have to put powdered sugar on them then serve them with ice cream.

Did Paula put some butter on it after everything?

 

[Evo]

Evo child dropped by tonight as I was beginning to eat the last of my shephard's pie. She grabbed the plate and started eating and screaming at me for not inviting her over to eat. I have been commanded to make her a sheppard's pie of her own tomorrow. I will have to buy a foil casserole dish. My cookware seems to go to her place, but never comes back.

 

[turbo]

She cannot make something as simple as shepherd's pie? Why has she not starved to death already? Does she buy all of her food from take-out joints? At some point, you should practice tough love and insist that she spend time with you and learn to cook some basic dishes. The time together would be good for you both, and passing on the minimal skill-set to make a few comfort foods would be a bit of assurance to any guy that marries her.

When I was in college, I could not afford to eat out (except rarely), and if I did not know how to make pea soup, baked beans, biscuits, spaghetti, bread, real mac 'n cheese (expensive, because I loved real sharp aged cheddar), soups and stews, New England boiled dinners, etc, I would have been up a creek.

If I could stand the exposure to peoples' cosmetics, I could run a food-basics boot camp. Send the clueless here (for a price) and I'll send them back with some basic kitchen know-how. If they are hungry, they will learn how to cook with my help. If they want to take the easy way out, they can walk the ~6miles round-trip to the nearest store to buy junk food or sandwiches. An old friend of mine married an Italian guy (long dead), and it was a "mixed" marriage in that she is an Irish Catholic and her husband was Italian Catholic. She got her mother-in-law's blessing only after she spent about a month living with the mother-in-law and learning how to make her husband-to-be's favorite Italian dishes. Tough love.

 

[rhody]

I just made enchilada's and put bits of ghost in it, very good, just enough heat.
Two thumbs up !

Rhody...

 

[Evo]

She cannot make something as simple as shepherd's pie? Why has she not starved to death already? Does she buy all of her food from take-out joints? At some point, you should practice tough love and insist that she spend time with you and learn to cook some basic dishes. The time together would be good for you both, and passing on the minimal skill-set to make a few comfort foods would be a bit of assurance to any guy that marries her.

While she was living with me last year she decided to learn to cook. She got a couple of great cookbooks that taught everything form how to shop for fresh veggies and meat to boiling water, and she started cranking out the most delicious gourmet meals.

The problem is she doesn't have time. She *starts* work at 6am, goes to school full time, holds 2 part time jobs and a research position. She gets home usually around 10:30PM and then she can start doing homework. She's exhausted, she does get some time off during the week when she can get out of work, but it's usually spent running errands.

 

[rhody]

Evo expressed some concerns about the heat of ghost chili's awhile back.

As luck would have it, a friend IM'd me this: http://science.slashdot.org/story/1...lashdot+(Slashdot)&utm_content=Google+Reader"

Paul Bosland, professor of horticulture at New Mexico State University and director of the Chile Pepper Institute, says that chili peppers can indeed cause death — but most people's bodies would falter long before they reached that point. 'Theoretically, one could eat enough really hot chiles to kill you,' says Bosland adding that a research study in 1980 calculated that three pounds of the hottest peppers in the world — something like the Bhut Jolokia — eaten all at once could kill a 150-pound person.

Here is evidence from a link in the article above what Astronuc says is true, it addition, low hanging peppers are hotter than higher hanging ones.

One ASTA pungency unit is equivalent to about 15 SHUs. Out of tradition, the Scoville scale remains, so ASTA pungency units are multiplied by 15 and the results are given in SHUs. Yet even with precise tools, determining which strain of pepper is consistently the hottest is tricky. “The pungency in chili peppers is 50 percent genetic and 50 percent environmental,” DeWitt says. “Pods that grow lower down on the plant are hotter. Stress on the plants, if water is withheld perhaps, makes them hotter.”

Who would pay almost 600 bucks for this stuff, apparently some would, or they wouldn't be selling it.

For example, Blair’s Reserve 16 Million Crystals hot sauce claims an SHU of 16 million and retails for $595 a bottle.

Several university studies have suggested that capsaicin consumption can aid in weight loss and inhibit tumor growth. When it is applied topically, nerves can be overwhelmed and the skin goes numb. There’s even a capsaicin patch for joint pain. But the scientists at the Indian Defence Research and Development Organisation have a more nefarious plan for the Bhut Jolokia--pepper-bomb hand grenades.

Rhody...

 

[WhoWee]

Evo expressed some concerns about the heat of ghost chili's awhile back.

As luck would have it, a friend IM'd me this: http://science.slashdot.org/story/1...lashdot+(Slashdot)&utm_content=Google+Reader"

Here is evidence from a link in the article above what Astronuc says is true, it addition, low hanging peppers are hotter than higher hanging ones.

Who would pay almost 600 bucks for this stuff, apparently some would, or they wouldn't be selling it.

Rhody...

My doctor gave me a green light on ghosts - inquiry due to high blood pressure. He said I'd be better off eating just the peppers - rather than the stuff I normally put them on.

 

[turbo]

My doctor gave me a green light on ghosts - inquiry due to high blood pressure. He said I'd be better off eating just the peppers - rather than the stuff I normally put them on.

Peppers are good for you. Cream cheese, bacon, and Monterey jack (like my wife and I like to dress up jalapenoes) aren't so good for your health, if you indulge frequently.

I crunched down most of a ghost not long after I'd visited my doctor and he said that my BP was high. I measured my BP with a nice Panasonic BP meter that my wife bought, and it was 128 over 82. I can live with that.

 

[rhody]

My doctor gave me a green light on ghosts - inquiry due to high blood pressure. He said I'd be better off eating just the peppers - rather than the stuff I normally put them on.

Oh, God...

Unless your palate and sympathetic nervous system is conditioned for it, pleaseeeee be careful. I am building tolerance slowly. Putting small amounts in salsa, recipes, etc... and last weekend Patron in a frozen shot glass, works for me, although not highly recommended for the faint of heart. Turbo seems to have no problem with them, and I am happy for him. He is an exception, and not the norm. My BP is no problem 110/60, I must be some kind of freak I guess.

Rhody...

 

[WhoWee]

Peppers are good for you. Cream cheese, bacon, and Monterey jack (like my wife and I like to dress up jalapenoes) aren't so good for your health, if you indulge frequently.

I crunched down most of a ghost not long after I'd visited my doctor and he said that my BP was high. I measured my BP with a nice Panasonic BP meter that my wife bought, and it was 128 over 82. I can live with that.

My home monitor is fairly consistent at 142/105 - with 3 pills and roughly 1.25 gallons of water daily. Hot/spicy food doesn't seem to have any impact - salt is another issue altogether.

 

[Evo]

My home monitor is fairly consistent at 142/105 - with 3 pills and roughly 1.25 gallons of water daily. Hot/spicy food doesn't seem to have any impact - salt is another issue altogether.

Make sure you take your monitor to the doctor and have them check it against theirs, turns out my very expensive new monitor was way off, got my money back.

Perhaps your doctor should try you on a different med, I take one tablet daily and it reduces my non-medicated BP of 215/135 to usually 120/80 or 90. 142/105 with meds is not good.

 

[WhoWee]

Make sure you take your monitor to the doctor and have them check it against theirs, turns out my very expensive new monitor was way off, got my money back.

Perhaps your doctor should try you on a different med, I take one tablet daily and it reduces my non-medicated BP of 215/135 to usually 120/80 or 90. 142/105 with meds is not good.

My machine is typically very close to the doctor's readings. Unregulated, my readings are also quite ugly - especially when stressed.

 

[turbo]

After getting a high reading, my new doctor asked me to come back in a couple of weeks, and bring my wife's BP monitor, because I told him that the high reading was due to fragrance chemicals in his office, and that my BP at home was quite normal. That Panasonic EW3019 BP monitor was almost dead on against his old mercury-column sphygnomanometer (sp?). Within one point at the top and bottom numbers, measured a few seconds apart on separate upper-arms.

The readings in his office were both high (and agreed), though my BP the next day was 128 over 82. I can live with that.

 

[rhody]

I came home to find a surprise, don't remember ordering anything lately, so the box was a surprise. It seems that Turbo decided to send me some of his habanero relish and a Laconia T shirt. Thanks, I appreciate it, I can smell and see the garlic. We are buying some high end hot dogs, and I can't wait to try it. I sampled a bit, pretty hot, but a real nice flavor. I looked real close and didn't see any ghost bits, but that would be hard to tell if he used the not ripe ones, you didn't did you ?

On the subject of food again, our contractor friend who did our bamboo floors left three on the window sill to ripen. His mother in law comes over to his house, intending to make dinner while her son in law and daughter are at work. She is making chourico and peppers. Not knowing the window sill peppers were ghosts, were she takes the three peppers chops them up and cooks them along with regular peppers. Holy crap !

Her daughter told my wife over the phone, she became concerned when her fingers wouldn't stop burning . She had no idea what a ghost pepper is, long story short they ate the chourico and peppers, and got as expected mixed reviews, her son in law loves them, and others were amazed at the heat and backed off accordingly. Is their a moral to this story, mother in law takes it on herself to make a meal for her daughter and son in law and meets the devil or in this case devils ghost himself on the windowsill. I can't make this up folks, truly, I can't.

Rhody...

 

[turbo]

The T-shirt was one that my wife kept saying (get rid of that) and I used it for packinging. You can use it for polishing your bike or whatever. I apologize for the wimpy character of the chili relish - that's the best that I had this year.

 

[turbo]

Last night, I had hot dogs with the '11 habanero relish and hot mustard on them. I miss the heat of the earlier stuff, but at least this batch of relish is better than I could ever have made with the store-bought habanero chilies. I am SO glad that we have a place with a decent garden-spot. Next time I have a decent year for chilies, I'm going to have to make up a lot of relish. I have an unopened case of Ball half-pint jars and lids in the closet in the garage - wishful thinking, perhaps, but there's always next year. I have 6 of the small jars of this years' relish in the pantry. They won't carry me though to next year, but I'll find a way to get by. My wife got a deal on some bottles of "The Mex" hot sauce a while back, so I'll dig into them and find ways to substitute here and there.

 

[HeLiXe]

I had a chicken biscuit from chick fil a and I was totally impressed. It really tasted like someone made it fresh just for me...like an aunt or a granma<3