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Chili Oil Notes

uptointerpretation.com

71–80 of 164 posts

Re: Chili Oil Notes

#71
post #58

I love nerding out on food as mich as the next person. On food and cooking is one of my favorite kitchen tools. Sichuan chili oil is a staple condiment in our house. That said, i find the following to be an oft-repeated bs phrase parroted across the internet. You can find it tracing back to reddit threads over ten years ago. > You can end up with what are called fines and boulders, fines being tiny, dust-like pieces…

I’ve double-blinded a burr hand grinder, electric blade spice grinder, and a fellow grinder.

It’s pretty easy to tell, although it depends a bit on how well you make the coffee.

Re: Chili Oil Notes

#73
post #37

Have y'all tried steeping in anchovies for salty / umami flavor? It definitely moves away from Asian chili oils and into Mediterranean, but I find anchovies add quite a hard-to-describe depth to the chili oil.

Interesting! I've mostly added umami from mushroom powder and MSG. Anchovies or fish sauce could be an interesting addition, although that does make it more of a sauce than an oil.

Thai "prik nam pla" is chili in fish sauce. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isLl3m_JUx4

Re: Chili Oil Notes

#74
post #58

I love nerding out on food as mich as the next person. On food and cooking is one of my favorite kitchen tools. Sichuan chili oil is a staple condiment in our house. That said, i find the following to be an oft-repeated bs phrase parroted across the internet. You can find it tracing back to reddit threads over ten years ago. > You can end up with what are called fines and boulders, fines being tiny, dust-like pieces…

Your argument is "I dare you; you won't notice a difference." That's not convincing. Those of us who've spent time in the industry can even detect differences between high end conical vs flat burr grinders, let alone the difference between a bladed spice grinder compared to a burr grinder.

There are substantial differences to be found in many variables of coffee brewing. Just because you don't have a palate for it doesn't mean others don't.

Re: Chili Oil Notes

#75
post #58

I love nerding out on food as mich as the next person. On food and cooking is one of my favorite kitchen tools. Sichuan chili oil is a staple condiment in our house. That said, i find the following to be an oft-repeated bs phrase parroted across the internet. You can find it tracing back to reddit threads over ten years ago. > You can end up with what are called fines and boulders, fines being tiny, dust-like pieces…

I’ve spent ten years in the specialty coffee industry (not selling grinders). If you’re controlling other variables properly you should definitely be able to tell the difference.

I think this is an important insight. Some people don’t have much experience in making repeatable coffee, and whether you make the coffee well is more important than how good the grinder is.

Re: Chili Oil Notes

#76

The discussion here reminds me of the lady tasting tea experiment. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_tasting_tea

I read all that and didn’t get the thing I want to know. Could the lady tell the difference?!

Re: Chili Oil Notes

#77
post #58

I love nerding out on food as mich as the next person. On food and cooking is one of my favorite kitchen tools. Sichuan chili oil is a staple condiment in our house. That said, i find the following to be an oft-repeated bs phrase parroted across the internet. You can find it tracing back to reddit threads over ten years ago. > You can end up with what are called fines and boulders, fines being tiny, dust-like pieces…

The difference in filter and espresso is quite a lot at the blender to burr grinder stage and a little bit from 200-1000$ getting better throughout. I’m sure you’ll be saying you can’t tell the difference in lots of areas because you can’t tell the difference. Which is fine btw!

Re: Chili Oil Notes

#78
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Coincidentally I had the black bean version of this a few days ago. Delicious, but less spicy than expected. :-)

It used to be spicier and even better before her son took over and changed it to a cheaper chili from another province a few years ago (which wasn't great). I ended up trying something like 20 different brands looking for an alternative, and my favourites from least to most spicy were: Chuan Lao Hui, Lee Kum Kee, and Wa!, which I actually found even better. I tried Lao Gan Ma again now that they're back to chilies fr…

Wa! is my absolute favorite chili oil. I put it in and on everything. A simple bowl of rice, with some Wa! (and perhaps an egg), becomes an entire meal.

Re: Chili Oil Notes

#79
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve spent ten years in the specialty coffee industry (not selling grinders). If you’re controlling other variables properly you should definitely be able to tell the difference.

I think this is an important insight. Some people don’t have much experience in making repeatable coffee, and whether you make the coffee well is more important than how good the grinder is.

But once you have repeatable steps and that are good (water, quantities, temperature etc.) the grinder becomes the most important piece even in espresso.

Re: Chili Oil Notes

#80

The discussion here reminds me of the lady tasting tea experiment. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_tasting_tea

I read all that and didn’t get the thing I want to know. Could the lady tell the difference?!

> David Salsburg reports that a colleague of Fisher, H. Fairfield Smith, revealed that in the actual experiment the lady succeeded in identifying all eight cups correctly.
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