Tasting Mamee Monster x Daebak Ghost Pepper Kari Lontong

This is another new one from me from a local Asian market. Mamee is from Malaysia, and they seem to excel at ghost pepper-based noodles and at having a good mix of heat and taste. This particular one came in at #3 on The Ramen Rater's all-time spiciest ramen list, 2022 edition. 

The package contains 4 individual packets to go in the noodles: a dry soup base, something called a "ghost pepper creamer", a wet paste where I think the ghost pepper proper was, and a packet of ghost pepper oil marked "Spicy", "Super Spicy", and "Mentally Spicy", I guess based on how much of it you used. 

The directions called for boiling the noodles in 400 ml of water for 5 minutes, then add stuff - so I did, but in stages. 

1. Boiled the noodles and added the dry and creamer packets. Tasted that and didn't catch any heat at all. 

2. Added the wet paste packet. That brought some heat, at least enough to taste, but it faded pretty quickly. 

3. Added the oil. Yes, all of it. That brung the heat in a pretty quick way. It wasn't quite as hot, or as painful, as the previous Mamee Shinsegae I tried in December 2020 - which The Ramen Rater ranked as #4 on the same list. But the heat lingered for at least a couple of minutes after the first bite, and it built a bit as I continued to eat it. 

Noodles were chewy and held up well as I wrote this post - maybe because most of the water had boiled off in the cooking. Notwithstanding the heat, the flavor was a pretty neutral protein - it was sort of a vague curry flavor and the creamer made the soup into more of a curry gravy-type consistency. I added some sesame oil, sesame seeds, and leftover chicken and it was pretty tasty. 

Timed it from the last bite until I couldn't really taste the heat anymore: a little over 8 minutes. Spicy! 

Nutritional details: 583 calories, 28(!)g of fat, and 10g of protein. 1,768mg of sodium. 

Verdict: Can't remember what I paid for them, but dolled up with my extras this was a good mix of heat and flavor. I'd definitely do them again. 

Taste: 7/10

Heat: 8/10

Spicy foods rant!

In my last post I noted the plethora of foods, particularly salty snacks and fast food, that claim to use habaneros, or ghost peppers, or Carolina reapers, etc. but for which the heat levels are pathetic. I remember the first time I tried Blair's Death Rain habanero chips - sadly, no longer made I don't think - and they were gloriously painful. I started cultivating a taste for that capsicum-induced endorphin rush shortly thereafter. 

In the years since, I've had the good fortune to travel to the Caribbean for work on a number of occasions, and most of the places I've been to have very spicy dishes and they don't compromise. I've had hot sauces that I can only describe as looking like yellow nuclear waste - and at least for me whatever taste was present was obliterated by the heat. I've since developed a better tolerance for the hotter stuff and I have some Bajan and Trinidadian hot sauces in my kitchen right now. 

But Wendy's Ghost Pepper Ranch? Taco Bell's Reaper Ranch fries and burrito? Meh. The flavor's OK, but the spice level is pathetic. Recently I came across Blue Diamond Almonds Extreme varieties which come in cayenne, ghost pepper, and Carolina reaper flavors. Their website says to "Get ready for a mouth-blazing fiery flavor rush all on a superfood." Again, meh. The reaper variety has some lingering heat, but it's just not reaper level. 

The only exception I've found to this pathetic misuse of these spicy peppers is the Paqui Haunted Ghost Pepper tortilla chips. Paqui knows something about spice, as the purveyors of the One Chip Challenge. But the Haunted chips have a nice "sting & linger" level of heat that actually tastes good too. If they can do it...

SO! Here's my request: What snacks do you know of that area actually hot - like keep a glass (or a gallon) of milk handy hot? The name of the pepper(s) used isn't as important as that it packs a wallop in the capsicum department - taste beyond that is good too, but sometimes I just need a fiery smack in the face! As noted above, I'm very aware of Paqui, and I keep a bunch of ghost pepper and reaper noodle packets in my pantry, and I have probably 30 bottles of hot sauce at habanero level or hotter. But I'd love to find chips, jerky, etc. stuff that actually has some heat without being a novelty like the Toe of Satan, Lil' Nitro, or the Death Nut Challenge. 

Finally, I'm also always on the lookout for super-spicy ramen - I taste and blog them here. I'm pretty familiar with Paldo, Mamsee, and Samyang, and I'd love to try Culley's but not for $50+ for a single package. But if you know of one that is super spicy and that can be ordered online, let me know! 

Update 8/15: I went to Trader Joe's this past weekend and saw their Ghost Pepper Potato Chips - lattice cut and kettle cooked - so thought I'd give them a try. The potato flavor and texture are great, but the heat level feels somewhere between Lays Cheddar Jalapeno and the various Flamin' Hot varieties. Another ghost pepper pretender. 

 ready for a mouth-blazing fiery flavor rush all on a superfood*

Tasting Cheetos Flamin' Hot Sweet Carolina Reaper Crunchy Cheetos

As regular readers of this blog know, any time I see a food product claiming habanero or hotter peppers as an ingredient, I have to give it a shot. Ran across these at Walmart yesterday, and of course I had to try them. Now, I'm not really a fan of Cheetos, and I haven't really found much heat in their and Frito-Lay's other Flamin' Hot offerings. But I couldn't resist the Reaper. 

When I opened the bag, the first thing I smelled was.... salt and vinegar! Not real sure why, and I don't know what I expected them to smell like, but it was definitely a bit unexpected. The Cheetos dust was a deep reddish-orange and didn't seem to be present as much as in other flavors of Cheetos - there was very little residue left on my hands. 

The flavor and texture were what you'd expect of crunchy Cheetos. The heat was there, and hit pretty quickly and then built slightly. My first taste was a single Cheeto, and I could still taste a slight residual heat nearly 2 minutes later. It's not overwhelmingly spicy; without looking at the bag and the list of ingredients, I don't think I would have guessed reaper, or really anything other than their standard Flamin' Hot level of heat. 

These Cheetos did give me an idea for some spicy mac & cheese with reaper or ghost pepper cheddar and jack and some of these crushed on top for texture. I can't say that they didn't meet my expectations - the problem is that so many purveyors, especially of snacks and fast food, label things with habanero or ghost pepper or Carolina Reaper but there's no real heat there. I'm not the one doing market research for e.g. Frito-Lay, but I think that if they think there's a market for Carolina Reaper, etc., it's reasonable to assume that people are looking for the deep heat. 

Taste: 6/10 (hey, they're Cheetos.)

Heat: 5/10