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"  After reading my recommendation of a certain Thai restaurant in my GHRI bio, Genevieve, our senior food editor, suggested the food department dine there in celebration of the holidays. I had blathered on and on about it, calling it &amp;quot;consistently delicious&amp;quot; and encouraging people to order things &amp;quot;Thai spicy.&amp;quot; Immediately, needling whispers of doubt crept to the forefront of my mind. &amp;quot;What if they don&amp;#039;t like it? They&amp;#039;re going to think I don&amp;#039;t know what I&amp;#039;m talking about!&amp;quot; &amp;quot;What if the restaurant runs out of food? A party of 14 is a lot!&amp;quot; &amp;quot;What if it&amp;#039;s too spicy for them? Can they handle it? They&amp;#039;re going to think I&amp;#039;m sadistic!&amp;quot; The spice, ah, the spice. Heat from Thai chili peppers (aka bird&amp;#039;s eye chili peppers or prik kee noo) is one of the most recognizable characteristics of Thai cuisine. While Thai cooking is actually based on the careful balance of spicy, sweet, sour, and salty flavors, it&amp;#039;s the heat that you&amp;#039;ll remember long after you&amp;#039;ve gotten up from the table. Thai chilies are a potent bunch, clocking in at an average of 50,000 to 100,000 Scoville units. A Scoville unit is a measurement of capsaicin, the chemical compound in peppers that makes them spicy. To give you an idea of how hot that is let&amp;#039;s put it this way: a jalapeno is a measly 2,500 to 8,000 Scoville units. Surpassed only by a handful of other varieties (such as habanero and scotch bonnet peppers), Thai chili peppers are some of the spiciest on the planet. Of course, used judiciously, these small berries (yes, chili peppers are actually fruit) wield delectable power and can transform a drab dish into an enticingly vibrant one. To reduce its fiery punch, split them down the middle from top to tip, then split those halves in half. With a paring knife, remove the ribs and seeds. Drop the quarters into a soup to give just a hint of heat or chop them up finely and toss them into a stir fry at the same time as your other aromatics for a more intense kick. Or do as I do. Use a lot of them, seeds and all, but don&amp;#039;t say I didn&amp;#039;t warn you. If you do happen to find yourself overwhelmed by the heat, don&amp;#039;t bother reaching for white bread or milk. A sweet drink works wonders to tame the fire, whether it&amp;#039;s an off-dry Riesling or, my personal favorite, a tall glass of Thai iced tea with a drizzle of sweetened condensed milk. As for the holiday dinner, my brave colleagues handled the spice just fine that night. Despite any discomfort, they couldn&amp;#039;t help but going back for seconds and thirds. Such is the seductive siren call of the Thai chili pepper. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/food-recipes/a21814/thai-chilis-on-a-chilly-night/?src=shelter_footer>