Ow ow ow, it hurts

November 28, 2008 4:37 PM

How can I not mace my entire apartment with chilis?

So I like hot stir fry. I like a lot of hot thai peppers. Problem is, it maces the entire apartment for about 20 minutes.

I generally set the chilis in some oil in the wok on med-low for a bit while I chop up the ingredients. About 10 minutes, all goes well. I crank the heat till the oils smokes, still good. I stir fry a bit of chicken or beef or whatever, still good. Add vegetables and such, stir fry with a little soy and rice vinegar, still pretty good, but I can smell the hot. Add the last bit of sauces to thicken up and now I notice everything is hot. My mouth, nose, eyes all of it, everywhere. My wife in the other room has a reaction.

I have effectively maced the entire apartment.

I have an actually powerful exhaust fan on all the time. It doesn't seem to come from the simmering of the peppers before, but at the very end where everything is hot as hell and just getting together good. That's the only part I'm not willing to give up.

I keep everything under the hood. I see it sucking up the steam as fast as I can make it. It does not escape. I don't know how any "mace" escapes it, but it does. It fills the entire apartment for about 20 minutes. It's literally hard to breathe.

Anyone know a workaround? What am I doing wrong?

posted by sanka to food & drink (8 comments total)

This is just checking for the obvious but... not all hoods vent to the outside. Does yours? Are there any vent holes on the front of the hood? If so, it probably is just sending the intake through the filter and back into the room.
posted by bricoleur at 4:52 PM on November 28, 2008

I think you're burning the chilis. Don't let the oil and chilis smoke.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 5:06 PM on November 28, 2008

Are you cooking the chilis in hot oil for ten minutes before adding anything else? That seems excessive. Have everything ready to add to the oil, add the chilis, fry for a minute or so and then add the other ingredients. As Cat Pie Hurts said, you're probably burning the chilis.
posted by peacheater at 5:16 PM on November 28, 2008

No no, the chilis are not even simmering. No problem there, just warm, say 150. Also yes, it vents to the outside, straight up a pipe. I had to fix the fan earlier, so I know. The chilis only get hot when I crank up the heat to actually stir fry. Once the oil smokes I throw in the meat and it cools.
posted by sanka at 6:23 PM on November 28, 2008

Maybe try making your own chili oil by soaking fresh chilis in oil for a few weeks. Then you can use the chili oil to kick up your stir fries without the excess chili simmering.
posted by gnutron at 9:54 PM on November 28, 2008

I've never had this problem so I'm taking some guesses here. Waiting for the oil to smoke is going to be vaporizing lots of the capsaicin. Don't wait that long, use less heat, or use an oil with a higher temperature smoke point.

It's not clear if you are seeding the peppers before letting them stew. The seeds have most of the fire so removing the seeds then adding them later should also avoid vaporizing the capsaicin.
posted by chairface at 11:56 PM on November 28, 2008

still pretty good, but I can smell the hot

which means that even at that point, delicious wonderful Hot that should be in your food is going to waste; in fact it's worse than going to waste, it's going on a rampage around your apartment. It doesn't take much to escape your hood's suction - Hot is powerful stuff.

Ten minutes of oil simmering sounds like plenty of time to extract a goodly chunk of hot from chili into cooking oil. I don't imagine your chilis, or the delicious hotness in their simmer oil, are actually benefiting much from the extra cooking they're getting along with everything else after the simmer. You might care to try using only a portion of your oil for the simmer stage, then reserving the chilis and most of their simmer oil in a cup while you stir fry everything else to very nearly the point of perfection (using the oil portion that hasn't had chili simmered in it) then mix in the reserved chili+oil right at the end.
posted by flabdablet at 5:21 AM on November 29, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

I make a chili oil in the microwave similar to what you find on tables in many Asian restaurants. I fill a glass jar loosely with chili flakes, fill up the remaining space with oil, and microwave for a minute or two. Let it cool on the counter and store it in the fridge.

When making a very hot stir fry, I prep everything first. I'll heat the wok up then add cooking oil. After it's nice and shimmery hot, I'll add onions followed by garlic and the chili oil mentioned above. Minced garlic cooks up fast so be ready with your other ingredients. Once those hit the pan, you don't have to worry about the chili oil vaporizing all of your nice chilies. Continue with your stir fry as you normally would.
posted by advicepig at 7:59 AM on November 29, 2008