Smokin' Hot (chili)

December 1, 2013 5:10 PM

I have a basic cooking question. Big pot of chili -- too much heat. It probably has something to do with the amount of ridiculously hot peppers we put in it. We have no tomato products and are down to bullion cubes and beer. How can I make this edible, quickly?
posted by cedar to Food & Drink (10 answers total)

Eat it with sour cream. Serve it with bread, or tortillas, or rice. Stretch the chili out with beans or if you're desperate, chunks of potato. You could also try thinning it with the bouillon or beer, but you're compromising the beefiness of it.
posted by Nelson at 5:14 PM on December 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Add sugar -- it helps neutralize the heat from peppers. Try it with one bowl of chili first; it's less risky than sweetening the whole batch. If you find it easier, make a sugar syrup first -- that's one part sugar and one part water, brought to a boil in microwave or on stove.
posted by wryly at 5:14 PM on December 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

Do you have potatoes? Peel some, chuck them in and simmer for a little while; the potato "soaks up" some of the heat. Eat the potatoes, too! Yum! Chili potatoes.
posted by miss patrish at 5:14 PM on December 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

I've heard the same as wryly about sugar. I've also heard of people using ketchup for this purpose, since it has tomato and sugar.
posted by cabingirl at 5:15 PM on December 1, 2013

To cook in: potatoes (preboiled).
To serve on it: cheese, yogurt, sour cream. Tortilla chips.
posted by holyrood at 5:15 PM on December 1, 2013

Best answer: this might sound crazy - stay with me - peanut butter

also, brown sugar or dark chocolate.

i concur on all the stretch it, starch it, add dairy etc advice.
posted by nadawi at 5:25 PM on December 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

This is what sour cream is for, in the context of chili.

One remedy for adding too much salt to a dish is to put in a chunk of potato, which is supposed to absorb some of the salt (and probably also leach some starch in). Maybe it would work for heat? You're supposed to remove the potato chunk before serving.
posted by Sara C. at 5:29 PM on December 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I made a simple syrup with both brown and white sugar. I added it slowly and by the time I hit 3/4 cup, I had some awesome chili. This may become part of the evolving (evolving in the sense of totally made up and different every time) recipe.
posted by cedar at 5:32 PM on December 1, 2013 [11 favorites]

Had the same problem last week, my partial solution was to serve using a slotted spoon in order to leave as much liquid behind as possible (which is where the real heat seemed to be). Then a dollop of sour cream or creme fraiche for the faint hearted. I will freeze and use the liquid to seed the next batch of chilli.

I know that chilli is fat soluble hence the use of dairy but what does sugar do?
posted by epo at 1:53 AM on December 2, 2013

As far as I can tell, no one knows exactly. Sucrose solution has been demonstrated to be even more effective than milk at similar temperature in terms of relieving the irritation, and capsaicin reduces sugar sensitivity substantially. It might be something that happens where the brain processes taste, rather than a direct chemical interaction at the tongue level.

I'd love it if an actual scientist could find more on this, but outside of treatment for irritation, it looks like most of the science is still figuring out how capsaicin works on a neurological level.
posted by klangklangston at 10:37 AM on December 2, 2013