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Chili Oil Notes

uptointerpretation.com

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Re: Chili Oil Notes

#121

Post by psd1 »

gmac wrote: post #108
barrkel wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bitter tannins are what you want in black tea, they're smoothed out by milk but a good cup needs to be grippy in the mouth. Black tea made with anything less than boiling water is usually not very nice, in my experience.

100% this. Which is why, as a Brit, my heart still sinks when ordering tea in most European countries: nine times out of ten you get a glass of once-boiling water to add a teabag to.

Yep, a proper cuppa needs the water at absolute boiling. 1000m above sea level is high enough that I won't even bother trying to brew a cuppa; it just won't hit the spot.

Milk is a factor. Weirdly for a country with a robust approach to pasteurisation, French milk is insipid.

In China, I couldn't even get hot enough water for coffee. The places I stayed offered water almost cool enough for a bath. I had thought I was clever, buying ground coffee in Beijing, but I might as well have carried a bag of sand.

Hey ho. Travel without privation is merely holiday.

Re: Chili Oil Notes

#122

Post by mbakke »

elhudy wrote: post #114
mbakke wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even amateurs will notice the difference between a "perfect" pour over from a $50 grinder and a $200 grinder. The GP clearly does not own a V60 :) Above the $200 range really only matter for espresso. Manual brews don't need that fine grind precision, just consistency (no fines, no rocks) at medium grind levels.

I’m sorry but what is an “amateur” coffee drinker? Is coffee drinking so complex that you can become an expert in it? Get over yourself, you’ve been drinking the koolaid, not the coffee. People who own v60s tend tie the promotion of v60s to their personal character so i know this might fall flat but; every real study ive seen, thats blind, has shown no no added benefit to slightly more consistent grounds. Ive noticed…

Do you have a link to such a study? My google-fu is failing.

I don't doubt you but would like to read it and try to confirm my bias anyway!

My experience is mainly with completely crap grinders vs high-end burrs which is very distinguishable. Probably low/mid end burrs do okay as long as there aren't too many fines. Grind size variability may even be advantageous :)

Re: Chili Oil Notes

#123

Post by selimthegrim »

elesiuta wrote: post #49
racked wrote: 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…

So I wasn’t imagining the change in pungency of the chili crisp at all.

Re: Chili Oil Notes

#124

Post by michaelteter »

kelipso wrote: post #57
michaelteter wrote: post #13

With regard to the health risks many comments note, I wonder how many natural (collaborative, so to speak) ingredient mixes might contribute to positive food safety despite the known threats. For example, I had a roommate who would cook salmon in a tomato sauce and leave it to sit overnight. From my background, this sounded like obvious death, but he assured me it was a common recipe in South Africa. I did try it, an…

Some fish curries from kerala can be left outside for days and the flavor is supposed to improve. The curries have high heat and acidity, so it makes sense it doesn't go bad.

Cookbooks with these kinds of recipes surely exist, but I wonder if there are any recipe books that focus first on special ingredient and preparation combinations that result in safety/preservation benefits beyond just good taste.

Re: Chili Oil Notes

#125

Post by ChrisKnott »

Adverblessly wrote: post #110
ChrisKnott wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm struggling to believe this can be done by taste; I could understand it if you went milk+teabag, then added water, but this seems like brewed tea in a pot added to milk in cup v.s. milk added to brewed tea in a cup, which will get totally mixed either way...? The only difference I can think of in these situations is the temperature of the bottom of the cup. Can this really detectably affect the taste? Maybe she wa…

The difference is that if the milk is added first, slowly pouring the prepared tea will gradually heat up the milk from its initial temperature to the final combined temperature. If the tea is added first, the milk will start at tea temperature and gradually cool down to the combined temperature. Imagining a scenario where the milk starts at 0 degrees and the tea at 100 and having a 1:10 milk:tea ratio, the differenc…

Does the milk really heat up passed the shared temperature, then back down? How does it "know" which way round it's mixed?

Like if I did this on the ISS, put milk in a cup, then moved it up into a hot blob of tea, am I adding tea to milk or milk to tea?

Re: Chili Oil Notes

#126

Post by RevEng »

elhudy wrote: post #113
jonahhorowitz wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A friend of mine started a company based entirely on the premise that grind quality matters. They did many blind taste tests and found that they could taste a 50μm difference in grind size when they controlled the other variables. Can you tell the difference between a $50 spice mill and a $200 burr grinder? Yes, absolutely. Can you tell the difference between that and a $1,500 expresso grinder, probably. His little s…

Tasting a difference in grind size does not equate to fine particles being “bitter” and larger particles being “flat”, nor does it result in a slightly uneven grind being “better” than a more consistent one…

The effect of fines being bitter and the coarse being sour is easy to test. Take a decent grinder and your favorite coffee. Grind one batch a couple notches finer than usual. Grind another batch coarser than usual. Brew both with the same amount and temperature of water for the same time as you normally would. Compare the flavor of both brews. This is a common step of "dialing in a brew" to get your preferred flavor. The finer grind tends to be more bitter, the coarser tends to be more sour.

Now take a bit of both grinds and mix those together and brew them. You will find it is both bitter and sour.

If you want to avoid placebo, simply perform a double blind test.

James Hoffman has plenty of videos demonstrating this, even on himself. He tests many methods, machines, and beans. The things the community says matter he can reliably detect in a double blind test. Other things typically show no effect.

Don't forget, this isn't just Reddit. People have been brewing coffee for centuries. There are many professionals and lifelong tradespeople. There are definitely things that matter for making a good brew and particle size is one of them.

Re: Chili Oil Notes

#127

Post by RevEng »

esperent wrote: post #103
nosefurhairdo wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 do…

Are you aware of any blind tests done on this? I'm fully aware that I can taste the difference between my Specialita and a blade grinder. What I'm less convinced by is that more and more expensive grinders taste better to any noticeable and consistent degree. Personally I'd say that the taste changes day by day, maybe according to my mood, whether I brushed my teeth or ate something sweet in the last hour or two, the…

Yes. Check out James Hoffman on YouTube. He tests many machines, including grinders, using double blind taste tests, and he can reliably tell the difference between many machines.

Though keep in mind that his palate is especially refined. Average Joe buying a coffee at Baskin Robbins isn't going to notice the difference between different high end grinders.

Re: Chili Oil Notes

#128

Post by RevEng »

michaelt wrote: post #106
klausa wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Lol, no you don’t. Microns are much smaller than you think. You absolutely do. Many stepped grinders will have steps on the order of magnitude of 5 microns, EG-1 being probably the easiest one of the bunch to prove [1]. But note that this is talking about the difference in the _burr distance_, not the ground particle size difference. In a world where we figured out how to make perfect burrs that produce uniform part…

Speaking as a someone who does DIY CNC, it's easy to add an adjustment dial labelled in 5 micron steps. But those labels are basically decorative if other imprecision in the machine means adjustments aren't reliably reflected in the output. Even if your coffee grinder is in a room temperature-controlled to within 1 degree, the heat output of the motor could easily cause more than 5 microns of thermal expansion. But o…

While I agree in general, a good quality burr grinder is surprisingly consistent. I'm not sure you could reliably get distinct results one notch apart, but at a given notch you will have a very narrow spread in grain sizes and a couple notches apart they will be visually distinct. James Hoffman has some videos comparing several cheap and expensive grinders, including looking closely at the grain size, and you can see the difference clearly.

Re: Chili Oil Notes

#129

Post by skyyler »

donatj wrote: post #87
s_dev wrote: post #40

If anyone is looking for a chilli oil you can buy that's both delicous and available check this out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lao_Gan_Ma It goes great with, eggs, rice and any yogurt dishes.

The little soybeans are the best part of Lao Gan Ma. I would kill for a version that was half soybean.

If you're getting the "fried chili in oil" product, you could look out for the "chili oil with black bean" product they make.

Another option is Fly By Jing's original "sichuan chili crisp" which has a different flavour profile than LGM but is very forward with the douchi / black beans / black soybeans.

Re: Chili Oil Notes

#130

Post by kelipso »

michaelteter wrote: post #124
kelipso wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some fish curries from kerala can be left outside for days and the flavor is supposed to improve. The curries have high heat and acidity, so it makes sense it doesn't go bad.

Cookbooks with these kinds of recipes surely exist, but I wonder if there are any recipe books that focus first on special ingredient and preparation combinations that result in safety/preservation benefits beyond just good taste.

Yeah it's something I've wondered about. Like for fish curries, adding coriander is supposed to make it so it doesn't last as long. I guess one thing is books on fermented foods that should give lots of hints on how to modify your recipes for preservation.
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