Bhut Jolokia pepper (aka Ghost Pepper)

[Roger]

So does anyone have any experience using ghost pepper powder, extract, or hot sauce? I'm thinking of buying a small package of some powder and using it my chili. I've done this before with Habanero chili powder and it was quite tasty and hot as hell, and now I want try this. While there are certain people that I will invite over for the full burn the **** out of their mouth effect for the most part I enjoy the different flavors of the different peppers. If it was just to burn the **** out of peoples mouths I could just add more habanero powder.

also if I buy a 6 oz bottle what other things would it be good for? I don't think I would want it on my dry rub for brisket or steaks.

 

[IRC]

There are a couple of dozen youtube videos of people eating those bad boys.

I love cayennes off of the vine, but these things? No thanks!

 

[LITNIN HORN]

C'mon IRC...they only have two and a half times the heat level of a habanero.

 

[pulque]

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[LITNIN HORN]

Scoville ratings:

Habenero...350,000-580,000
Ghost........855,000-1,050,000

 

[Roger]

so has anyone actually cooked with them? or have any ideas how to use them

 

[IRC]

Well, according to an article I read after reading your post, I see that villagers in India smear them on fence posts to keep elephants out of the gardens.

Other than that...

 

[salonghorn-70]

I had to go get something cold to drink just from reading this thread.

 

[Roger]

I just ordered the 4 oz Jar and noticed the recipe on the page

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[fishnugget]

It's a delicious pepper. I've only had it fresh once, and it seemed to taste and have a similar heat level to fresh habanero (this was my experience, as has been pointed out above it's supposed to be 2-3 times hotter). I haven't been able to find it fresh in a long time, except for purchasing seeds or pods and growing them myself, which I intend to do this spring. The powder is really good though. Very smokey, almost the same feel as eating chipotle powder (but much hotter, obviously).

If you can handle your heat well, it's not really that bad. It almost seems like once you pass a certain threshold nothing really seems that hot anymore. I personally prefer the taste of the habanero powder. It has a really sharp flavor similar to a salsa I like to make (simple - take about 40 habaneros, blacken them in a frying pan or in the oven, blend with salt and white vinegar to taste. In Mexico, this is a salsa popular with cochinita pibil). Then again, the smokeyness is sort of a 'when i'm in the mood' sort of thing to me. If you love chipotle powder or peppers, and can really handle heat, you'll absolutely adore bhut jolokia powder.

I like the bhut jolokia powder just about everywhere I like habanero powder... on meats (burgers, steak, chicken), pizza, in soups, on sandwiches. But, as I said, tend to prefer habanero for the flavor.

Hope this helps.

 

[Roger]

thanks fishnugget, I really like Habaneros but honestly they push my heat threshold. I'm planning on playing around with them to figure out how much I can use without absolutely destroying myself.

 

[THEU]

I think we can all agree here that playing around with flavours and heats of various chiles can be great fun.
I am wel known for my barracho beans, and while they are warm and very flavourful people are always surprised at just how many types of chiles they contain because they aren't scorchingly hot.
I use green chiles, poblanos, jalepenos, and anchos. I just love the mix of all of these together. Various heats and subtle flavours... smokiness, smoothness, heat, freshness, earthiness.... great stuff. and a great thread!

 

[Roger]

so I got the ground ghost pepper this week and we tried it for the first time tonight. I took a tablespoon of ground garlic and a very small pinch of ground ghost pepper and sprinkled on chicken and then grilled. It had a very good smokey flavor and by no means was over powering. you definitely knew it was there but it could have taken a little more and still been good flavor and not over powering.

 

[MaduroUTMB]

Preparing for riot season, are we?

 

[Roger]

I've used them now on chicken and burgers, very good smokey flavor in the burgers, the problem in chicken is that I need a sweet/savory seasoning or marinade to go with it. It is a little over powering to use by itself and I've been mixing with Garlic powder but overall it taste like it needs something.

 

[fishnugget]

I recommend this extremely simple (but awesome) salsa.

Take 3-4 roma tomatoes and cook them in a pan (slightly blackened, but don't burn them). Blend with bhut jolokia (I use 3-4 whole dried peppers, seeds and all, but I would imagine powder would work fine too... Try a teaspoon to start, adjust later to taste), also throw in olive oil and salt to taste. The olive oil emulsifies with the tomato (I hope i'm using that word right), and it gets to be this sort of creamy consistency. It should be a rich yellow color. It's absolutely awesome stuff.

 

[general35]

i read an article that says the Indian government is weaponizing the pepper in the form of a tear gass grenade.

 

[uisge beatha]

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[Roger]

with July 4th tomorrow I thought I'd come back and share what I've figured out to be a great burger:

1 lb ground meat
1-2 tablespoons four horseman season blend from recipe above
1/4 cup Sweet Baby Ray's original BBQ sauce

perfect combination of sweet and spicy...2 tablespoons of seasoning blend will potentially kick a little *** but 1 to 1.5 definitely not too hot, even for kids.