October 18, 2008
The October Chilli Newsletter
G'day
Welcome to the chillies-down-under.comOctober 2008, Chilli Newsletter.
Well if you haven't got some chilli seeds planted now you've still got time, but you better hurry up to catch the best part of the season.
OK, let's get into it;
Food Quote Of The Month
In order to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe.
Carl Sagan, Cosmos
Chilli Tip Of The Month
If you're planning on growing your chillies from seed I recommend you apply the following technique once you've got the seeds in front of you.
Get a bowl of water and pour all the seeds you’re intending to plant, into the water. Give it a good swirl with your finger to break the surface tension of the water and ensure that it is not preventing any of the seeds sinking.
Now, any seeds that are still floating are highly unlikely to germinate, due to a variety of factors including malformation and a lack of embryo or kernel. Discard the floaters and then pour the remainders into a sieve to get rid of the water. Now inspect the seeds, with a magnifying glass if you’re really keen, and discard any that look undersized, deformed or damaged.
Man Takes Fatal Chilli Bet
Now many of you will have seen the sad story below reported in the papers and a number of websites, but for those who didn't, here it is.
Andrew Lee, 33, suffered heart failure the morning after he ate the chilli.
Toxicology tests are now being carried out to see if the fork lift truck driver suffered a fatal reaction to the dish or whether anything else contributed to his death.
Mr Lee, of Edlington, Doncaster was apparently in perfect health and had just passed a medical at work, the opening of the Doncaster hearing was told.
Cooking was one of his main interests and he went to his girlfriend Samantha Bailey's house to make a chilli.
His father John Lee told the inquest: "He had a bet with Samantha's brother who could make the hottest chilli then went back to her house to stay."
Mother-of-four Miss Bailey called the emergency services to her home nine days ago.
Police officers were called to the house after receiving reports of a man suffering a cardiac arrest and Mr Lee was found lying on the floor.
Paramedics failed to revive him and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
A full post-mortem examination is underway and further inquiries are being carried out.
Deputy Doncaster coroner Fred Curtis granted a burial order and adjourned the inquest for further evidence.
World's Hottest Curry ?
The Cinnamon Club in London has created what they believe is the world's hottest curry. The timing is a little unfortunate with respect to the above story, but that's how it goes.
The British Metro.com news site reported the below story a couple of weeks ago.
A curry so hot it requires diners to sign a disclaimer before eating has been launched.
The Bombay Burner sees two of the world's hottest chillies, the Dorset Naga and the Scotch Bonnet, brought together for the lamb-based dish.
The curry is available at London restaurant The Cinnamon Club.
Executive chef Vivek Singh said: 'It's the hottest thing I've ever tried – we are looking at getting it into Guinness World Records.' His tip for getting rid of the heat – which can last for up to half an hour after the meal – is to sip yoghurt or ice-cold milk.
The curry was made for the launch of Virgin Media's new Bollywood service.
Here's what Metro's lucky taster James Ellis made of the dish:
I've tried the Bombay Burner and, while scorchingly spicy, it is daal-icious.
The lamb-based curry is innocuous enough at the first bite – especially if you only try the filling.
But a mouthful including the Scotch bonnet casing saw my tastebuds melt in fury at the inferno in my mouth.
New Twist On Chilli Crime
Recently the Times of India ran the following story. I like it because it's a great role-reversal for chilli powder. Most of the stories I put in here are about chilli powder being used as an offensive weapon however, this time it's been used successfully as a defense. Note, Chennai used to be the city of Madras.
CHENNAI: A box of chilli powder came in handy for 20-year-old Anjom to escape from an intruder who got into her house and tried to take away her jewels. She sustained minor injuries but is now being hailed as the ‘superwoman’ of the area.
Anjom, a resident of Thiru Vi Ka Nagar, heard a knock on the door. She opened the door for a visitor who claimed to be from a private bank, but once inside, he tried to snatch her gold chain. “I managed to push him away. He pulled out a small knife and slashed me on my hand and neck,” she said, narrating her scuffle with the intruder. She managed to grab a box of chilli powder on the dining table.
She threw some on his face and managed to bundle him out of the house. The unidentified man fled the scene. But Anjom’s ordeal is not isolated. Several women don’t think Chennai is a safe place to live .
Nigel: Yet another weird and amusing story.
Share Your Recipes
Last month I put a tool up on the site for people to share their favourite recipe with other chillies-down-under.com readers. The idea was suggested to me by a couple of readers and I thought it was a good one.
So far there's only been one recipe posted - you can see it at Lucy's Eggplant Chilli Recipe.
Time will tell whether this is actually something many readers want. I hope so as it adds a great deal of depth to get other peoples material and style up on the site for everybody to see.
You can share your recipes at the Reader's Recipes page and all new recipes will be featured in the newsletter.
Sharing a recipe will create your own web-page for each recipe that you can then share with friends and family as discussed in the article below this one.
Recipes
If you don't see the recipe heading once you click on the below link , you may need to hit F5 on your keyboard to refresh the webpage on your screen.Quick & Healthy Chilli Beef with Cashews - a great, easy meal for those mid-week nights when you don't have a lot of time. On top of that, it's quite a healthy meal.
Chinese Ribs With A Five-Spice Sauce - this one is a little more involved in putting together, but the flavour is fantastic !
OK, that's it for this month.
I hope every one of you is well, enjoying the newsletter and getting ready to get this summer's chilli patch up and running.
Wishing you a life full of flavour
Nigel
Secret Chilli Recipes
I have created this book to cater for both the experienced chilli lover and the beginner. As a result it is an incredibly useful resource for simple and complex recipes and a great learning tool.
It also contains some of the best cooking secrets that I have picked up over the years such as;
- How to create tender, melt in your mouth BBQ ribs everytime, and
- The secret of making the most amazing Satay sauce that I was taught in Sulawesi, Indonesia
Food, Wine, & Chilli Quotes Collection
I have collected these 602 food/wine quotes over the last 20 years of reading countless books and watching nearly as many movies
The front part of the book is dedicated to chilli related quotes, of course, and the following 71 pages are from such diverse sources as the revered Dalai Lama through to the not so deep Homer Simpson; and from the time of Plato (428-348 BC) through to June of 2007, from the animated movie Ratatouille.
I have broken the book up into three categories; Chillies, General Food, and Wine/Beer/Spirits. I did consider a fourth category, Sex & Relationships, however many of the quotes cover two or more of these categories and putting in the fourth would have resulted in an excessive amount of duplication. I did find it interesting however, that there was such an overlap in these themes – a good comment on the important things in life !
At $17 this is a bargain that you'll be reading for days and referring back to for years to come !
chillies-down-under.com Food, Wine, & Chilli Quotes Collection