Chile's are mainly used (from a culinary standpoint) because they heighten the sensitivity of your taste buds, and the other flavours in the food containing the chile become more intense.

And don't worry about causing damage to your taste buds with chile peppers. They'll grow back in about a week.

You forgot the hot sauce from Quiznos. While I don't care for anything hot (the sweat factor plus taking away from the enjoyment of the food, IMO), that hot sauce is pretty damned good (when used lightly). :p

Re: Hot!
 

The Jambalaya recipe I posted here is pretty warm, but made even better with a little Tony Cachere's Creole Seasoning. Mmmmmm, yum.

I love hot foods... horseradish, wasabi, tabasco... I really dig the boneless buffalo wings at Appleby's (though the rest of the menu is painfully bland).
Ow, my feelings.

boneless buffalo wings

Don't you meen HOT chicken nuggets ???

Don't you mean "mean?"

Salsa Super simple good

big can of good diced tomatos. (Glen Muir organics fire roasted.)
1/2 of a white or red onion diced.
2-6 jalapenos seeded and minced, 1-3 serranos seeded and minced (go as far as you dare. It will continue to develop hot as it sits)
bunch of cilantro chopped fine.
1 lime squeezed
bunch of salt, bit of pepper.

Stir and eat, blend if you want it smoother.

or add smokey goodness- add 1-3 minced canned chipotles and a bit of the adobo sauce.

God I'm hungry.

or throw in a can or two of drained corn and a can or two of drained black beans, and you are in business.

Ok, I'm gone.

vsp should find this thread any time now...

Crystal hot sauce is the one I prefer (that's not a stupidly hot, hot sauce. Mind you, I never thought Dave's Insanity Sauce was that hot).

Heh. I've been invoked.

<a href="http://www.peppers.com">Peppers.com</a>: there is no substitute. I have an order-in-process with them as we speak, since I won't be in Rehoboth myself for another month and a half. They have sauces that'll cater to novices and others that'll take the paint off your car, and everything in between, and their retail outlet is simply amazing.

As for lighter sauces, Quizno's chili sauce isn't bad. I have a bottle on my desk and could probably drink it straight-up. Trader Joe's makes a good Tena pepper sauce that's newbie-accessible. Tabasco's decent, but I like Chipotle Tabasco better.

I finally bought a bottle of Batch No. 81 Sunday. Goddamn, that is some good hot sauce.

spicy recipes?

this is one I came up with for a sports bar I was setting up the menu for.. yeah It's industrial sized, but with a little work you can scale it down if you like.

all you need is a larger pot, a whisk and some time

melt 1/2 pound of butter (or margarine) on low heat
add 1/2 white onion (fine diced) allow to cook slowly until translucent
add 1/4 cup chopped garlic
add 1/8 cup crushed red pepper
add 1 gallon bbq sauce ( I like sweet baby rays original, but Kc masterpiece works, although you have to thin it out a bit with some water)
add 1/2 gallon hot sauce ( once again, I like Franks got sauce, but anything other than tobasco works (it's too vineagery)
2 tbs blackpepper
let all of that simmer for a bit ('til it reduces by about 1/6th stir stir stir!)
add 1 pound brown sugar
and 1 pound honey
remove from heat, let it cool down a bit.. and you can use it for damn near anything.. (thin it out and use it as a marinade for chicken or ribs... it's pretty good)

i agree with jinx that tabasco has a weird taste. frank's red hot is way better, but when i eat it i get pains in my stomach- ulcer?
we have habanero wings where i work. if you order them you must be 18 and you have to sign a waiver. the waiver goes something like this "These wings are hot as hell...do not touch your eyes...wash your hands..."
if you want to try them, all you have to do is marinate chicken wings in frank's red hot buffalo sauce. THEN, buy some dried habanero peppers, grind them in your coffee grinder or with a mortar and pestle - don't inhale! and dust the wings with the habanero powder. guaranteed to be the hottest friggin thing you'll ever eat. have a glass of milk ready. the proteins in the milk counteract the heat of the peppers. i learned this on the food channel...i don't remember the exact explanation, just have some milk ready....

buy some dried habanero peppers, grind them in your coffee grinder

I bet that makes for a really interesting cup of coffee the next morning.

I tried the Quizno's hotsauce per ladysycamore's suggestion. And damn, that stuff is good!

Current adventure: figuring out salsas and making dips for chips.

I have heard tell of some extremely hot wings available at a neighborhood microbrewpub down in Phila. ForksBob tells me that he was only capable of eating two of the five wings which comprise an order. Bob is not a hot-sissy. When he was relatively new to chili making he misjudged the amount of cayenne pepper to add to the batch. He thought there was no way that a teaspoon or two could be anywhere near enough, so he added three or four tablespoons.

Only three people were able to eat that batch of chili. Bob, me, and this guy we know from Texas whose response to it was to scream "Goddamn that's hot" and then eat another bowl.

I have to try these wings.

I find that if ya mix the 2 Tabsco's it's better! The red & Chipotie. imho