[Sca-cooks] Texans

Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius adamantius1 at verizon.net
Sun Sep 30 21:40:14 PDT 2007


On Oct 1, 2007, at 12:22 AM, Michael Gunter wrote:

>
>>  a proudly self- > proclaimed Texan in a Western-cut suit and  
>> cowboy hat (this was the > 80's) cry. Not just tear up -- cry.
> The funny thing is that most Texans I know don't wear cowboy hats  
> and Western cut suits. I guess it would be like our vision of the  
> typical New Yawkah.
>
> There are more of that type out in West Texas not much in Central  
> and Eastern.

I'm sure. But nobody asked the guy to dress that way and advertise  
his hubris.

>> I resisted the temptation to say, "I'll have what he's having..."
> Another interesting thing is that I have tried even some folks'  
> "nuclear" chili and it wasn't too bad. Most chili in the state  
> tends to lean far closer to flavor than heat.  And then there are  
> the types that make chili just as hot as they can for no other  
> reason than to make it hot.

There seems to be a guy thing in some circles, about chilis and the  
heat thereof. You know how in the real world guys are into things  
like fast cars, big guns, all that stuff, or how much booze they can  
hold? Well, then you have guys that lie about their capacity to  
consume capsaicin and live. And then you have the ones that pretend  
their knives are sharp. Or is that just a SCAdian thing? ;-)

> The hottest dishes I have had were either the Thai "Spicy Steak". I  
> finished it but it hurt and was wonderful.

I'm fond of some of the Chinese dishes of shredded meat stir-fried  
with green vegetables, wherein the green vegetable is a semi-hot  
chili... sometimes not so semi...

However, we are none of us getting any younger and I confess my  
stomach isn't what it used to be, so I have no point to press and no  
statement to make; I'm just in it for the enjoyment. I still remember  
sitting with a cook at a restaurant we worked in, a lovely gentleman  
from Madagascar (he used to cuss incessantly in his native language  
while working the grill), who looked me up and down, reached into his  
pocket and handed me one of his personal stash of fresh chiles, to  
eat like a chunk of bread, with our evening stew or whatever it was...

A day or two later I came in with a bag of Scotch Bonnets, and he was  
fairly impressed. I like to think I was exposed to Malagasy terms for  
"Da**, that's good!"

> Or the Santa Fe enchiladas eaten in a 200 year old restaurant in  
> New Mexico. Also wonderful and painful.
>> Adamantius
> Gunthar

I like that nine-volt-battery-on-the tongue effect a good chili can  
have. But yes, it's nothing if it has no real flavor, and I always  
get sick when I see those fake hot sauces with artificially boosted  
heat levels not represented by actual chili content... I'm always  
thinking to myself, "Yeah, and I bet you think your knives are sharp,  
too!" ;-)

Adamantius 
  



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