Topic: Is "cooking out" of ground chillies required ?

[Peripatetic Phil]

The received wisdom would appear to be that if one adds ground chillies to a curry then one needs to cook them "out" in order to (a) avoid the flavour of raw ground chillies, and (b) to avoid anal afterburn.  Over the last couple of days I have been using raw ground Kashmiri chillies without any cooking whatsoever, and I have found that so long as they are properly mixed with oil they neither have an unpleasant raw flavour nor do they cause afterburn.  The scenario is adding them to tinned sardines in olive oil.  I tried adding a little, just as an experiment, and found that there was a definite improvement in the flavour of the sardines, so when I ate a second tin for lunch yesterday I added a good heaped teaspoonful of ground Kashmiri chilies, and although these tasted raw if they were not mixed with the oil, they were extremely pleasant once properly integrated.  And no afterburn on either occasion.  Food for thought.

 Phil.

[london]

Phil,

I'm guessing that the chillies are dried as I never seen fresh Kashmiri chillies for sale, if this is the case then they don't need any cooking and can be used like the one you get in chilli grinders that I put on pizzas.

London.

[George]

I've never understood terms like 'cooking out'. What does it mean, as compared to terms like frying, baking, grilling or even 'cooked'?

[Peripatetic Phil]

I've never understood terms like 'cooking out'. What does it mean, as compared to terms like frying, baking, grilling or even 'cooked'?

That is exactly why I placed it in scare-quotes, George.  To my mind, "cook out" and "fry off" are just pretentious nonsense, coined by so-called "celebrity chefs" (more scare quotes) and adopted by hoi polloi in an attempt to demonstrate how with-it they are ...

** Phil.

[George]

Yes, 'fry-off' is another term I've heard used, for example by a professional chef on the radio. What meaningless drivel when he could have said to fry onions until soft, pale brown, for 10 minutes or whatever you need to do, explained in helpful terms.

[Stu-pot]

Hi Phil.  Thank you for the information re mixing raw ground chillies with oil to avoid the consequences.  I shall certainly use this method when it's easier than cooking it depending on the dish and/or recipe.

I prefer raw crushed Kashmiri chilli flakes which can cause considerable pain if I don't cook them first. Would you happen to know if mixing the flakes in oil works in the same way?  I'm often out on the road working all day so getting to a lav with a shower etc is almost impossible.  The consequences are beyond anal afterburn, it's more like arse on fire !

[Madrasandy]

I always fry off my onions and cook out my spices, if you dont you dont get the BIR taste, simple