Quote:
Originally Posted by Windswept
But don't the *really* hot sauces kind of cauterize your mouth, so you can no longer taste the more delicate ranges of flavors in the meal?
|
Not sure I agree with Wrao, but maybe there's no "one answer" (ie. depends on what's in it). I've read that many hot sauces can damage (for lack of a better term) the taste cells on your tongue / in your mouth. And not surprisingly this is why when people start their "experiments", they become more and more "hot sauce resistant" over time. The reason is, the have basically permanently anesthetized the specialized cells on their tongue, so the only way they get that hot sauce buzz (from the pain-endorphin thing) is to use progressively hotter and hotter sauces. Remember: the hot sauces are often highly acid.
That said there was a really good hot sauce I picked up in New Orleans a couple years ago. It was called Crystal sauce or something like that. It had a kick roughly on par with Tobasco, but a really good flavor to it. Much better than Tobasco or most of the chili pepper sauces restaurants give you. Everything you put it on (that requires spicey sauce) was made better by it, without killing the original flavor of the thing you were eating. Good stuff.