heat

[NWC]

I want your best spicy recipes. Preferably vegetarian, but I can modify things to make them as such. My nose has been clogged often lately, and today it's just horrible. I just ate half of a raw onion covered in tabasco sauce in an attempt to open up my nostrils. It helped a little, but I'd like a little variety.

[Jenne]

Um.  Wash your nose with this solution:  8 oz of saline plus a pinch of baking soda.  Use those Neti-pot thingies...it's been proven to help and is the "newest" thing for allergy docs to recommend, though it's been a practice in "other cultures" for years.  We use a syringe-bottle thing here in our house, and it reduces colds in half and has all but taken away my kid's asthmatic run-ins with allergies.

[NWC]

yeah I saw that somewhere on the internet, but I don't have a neti-pot(though I'll buy one soon). So for now I'm just going with the spicy foods, everything else I tried led me nowhere. Plus I have to eat.

[Jenne]

  Ok.  Well, you can add cayenne to just about anything and kick it up.  Spaghetti sauces and other tomato-based dishes take to that flavoring really well.  Adding peppers to any Asiain dish does the same thing.

[Richter]

yeah I saw that somewhere on the internet, but I don't have a neti-pot(though I'll buy one soon). So for now I'm just going with the spicy foods, everything else I tried led me nowhere. Plus I have to eat.

PROTIP: Don't buy a neti pot.  Just bend a corner into a paper cup, or set aside a small measuring cup with a rounded pouring lip for the task.

As for food. Curries, vinadaloos, etc.  Even if you just chicken + olive oil + seasoning power, and serve over rice.  Add sriacha FTW.

Chewing gum, strong peppermints, tea, and steamy showers too.   

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Neti-pots are awesome. I've never been able to use any other device (other than a syringe) to irrigate my sinuses that thoroughly, so if you need to do it often I very much recommend spending the $12. Very convenient. I use tap water, a bit of sea salt, and a bit of baking soda (mitigates the stinging).

[Cainad (dec.)]

Another neti-pot alternative is simply to mix up a warm (not hot!) mix of what Nigel suggested, although I use table salt, put it in a glass, stick your nose in, and snort. It's a very weird sensation and people outside the bathroom may ask why it sounded like you were hacking up a sea cucumber, but the results are well worth it.

As for spicy, sambal oelek chili paste goes well on nearly everything, I've discovered. Good spiciness, and the flavor is great IMO.

[Jasper]

Blend habaneros up in oil, and mix that into some mayo.  Have sandwiches.

This idea, mere seconds from Sig's brain onto the internet, is untested.  DO IT.

I will be soon.

[BADGE OF HONOR]

I should find my recipe for thai yellow curry, it had something like half a cup of minced garlic and like 12 dried thai chiles.  Though strangely enough it tasted mostly of ginger, and burning.  The garlic just kind of oozed out of my pores afterwards.

[Jasper]

I have a theory that enough garlic in one place does that.  It kept happening to me when I was getting artichokes regularly in Cali.

[Reginald Ret]

http://www.instructables.com/id/Squirrel-mace-Ok-fine-repellent./

- wear gloves
- blend habaneros into a fine paste
- mix with vodka
- wait overnight
- sieve out solids
- let settle for 2-3 hours
- it seperates into 2 layers, lower is vodka with added flavor and top is near pure capsaicin oil.
- use turkey baster to seperate the two (or pour very gently)
- put oil in mister
- spray oilmist on food to as hot as you want it
WARNING: one spray makes it retardedly hot, dont start out thinking 'i like hot food' and spray twenty times.

PS also useful as a personal defence item.

[Triple Zero]

awesome I've been meaning to make this for a while. you can also use spiritus (denatured alcohol) if you're just intending it for personal defense or pest control, which is a lot cheaper than vodka.

another variation, a Thai friend of mine told me they use the same procedure with (sunflower?) oil instead of alcohol to create a traditional mega hot condiment. Although I am not clear on whether this would separate into two layers, or just extract the capsaicin into the oil.

[Reginald Ret]

capsaicin = oil, so it should work that way too, but when using oil as extraction fluid you cant remove the extraction fluid (no two layers (ok maybe a little, from the water in the plants)) so you end up with a more dilute product.


Not only can you use denatured alcohol, you ca use any type of alcohol.
Even Methanol, for that added braindamage when using your pepperspray.
just remember that for that to work you need to put both layers in your spraybottle and shake before use.
Don't get caught doing this btw.
Nowait: just don't do it.

[Triple Zero]

methanol spray doesnt mean immediate brain damage, does it? also where'd you buy pure methanol? I'm a go with spiritus, which is available in the supermarket

[Jenne]

Sig, enough garlic, enough onions, and you can forget breathing in a confined space.  When my husband cooks, he uses so much garlic and onions that I can FEEL the burning in the back of my eyes by the time I open the door to the garage to put my car in if I've been away while he's chopping.