“what do you want for dinner?” “Potato soup!” “I don’t know if I have time for that. Let me check.” I found a previous post of mine here and realized I not only had time to make her soup but make some bread.
Cost per person: $1.80
Potato soup is such a good comfort food! It looks great! What’s that you have drizzled on the top?
A little Tapatio. There is also a fair amount of red pepper flakes in the soup.
Ohh that’s a nice touch. Thanks for sharing :)
I learned growing up that most soups, claims and spaghetti, Mac and cheese, buttered pasta and a lot of other things can be 4% better with a little red pepper in flakes.
“Any place or thing in the universe can be up to 104% perfect. That’s how you got Beyoncé.” – The Good Place
But not too much red pepper flake. “There’s something so human about taking something great, and ruining it a little so you can have more of it.” – The Good Place
Red pepper flakes go in almost everything I make. I’d probably even eat it on cereal if I still ate cereal.
One guy on Reddit made a thread asking why his red-pepper flakes in oil wasn’t very spicy, and I tried explaining that such is the tamest way to have them, i.e. dried. They can pack ~10x the wallop if you add them in the actual cooking process. Or if you have them dried, but in powder form. You just have to make sure to mix them in a little bit, else you can give yourself a tremendous coughing fit, sort of like inhaling ground black pepper.
This past batch I got was a bit hot. I’ve had to dial back how much I put in things. I usually add them at the same time as any other spices near the beginning. Unless there is a saute happening, then I’ll add them after any liquid addition so the oil doesn’t pick up too much heat and I get more flavor.
I’ve had to dial back how much I put in things.
Are you and the missus roughly in the same ‘capsaicin neighborhood?’ Because one thing I’ve learned, living with housemates (when I was younger) is that everyone seems to have a rather specific, unique heat tolerance, with a ‘little extra’ being a problem, and too little being ‘not hot enough.’
Oh btw, for anyone reading who’s not fond of vinegar-based stuff and likes cheap, but quality hot sauce: I’ve learned to buy something scorching, like ghost-pepper hot sauce (non-extract preferable) and add it to mayo-type, bargain-bin salad dressings in order to make a delicious, creamy hot sauce. A full container (think Tabasco-sized) ghost-pepper sauce lasts me over half a year, when titrated out that way. :D
Unless there is a saute happening, then I’ll add them after any liquid addition so the oil doesn’t pick up too much heat and I get more flavor.
What? Really? The red pepper interferes with flavor when hot oil is involved?
Goldang, I can’t believe I’m this old, and still learning basic cooking science / chemistry. :S
We aren’t even on the same tectonic plate. She has gotten better over the years of living with me but she will always have that built-in Pennsylvania defect.
Occasionally she’s in the mood for something spicy. But when I post pictures of chili you’re not seeing her bowl with a lot more sour cream on it.
But when you’re adding red pepper flakes to everyday recipes you’re not adding enough for heat. I’m just adding it for a little bit of layered flavor. If you can identify it in there then you’ve added too much.
Not that it interferes so much as the heat gets cranked up. It releases that heat trapped inside.
On this old and I’m still trying and learning new things. If I had more resources I’d be learning how to cook Eastern African food. I’ve never made their spongy pancake they use as a delivery system for all kinds of goodness.
Hell yeah! I put crushed red pepper in a lot of dishes and it adds such a nice touch of warmth/heat and color. Easy to overdo it for sure though haha
