MOVED from request a recipe - The Fire Down Under

[dub']

I've always thought it was:

pequins - small 1/4"-1/2" long chiles.They're shaped like teensy jalapenos and only grow wild under certain mesquite bushes. Hellfire hot.

petins (or chiltepins)-spherical, buckshot-sized. Like a small version of the cascabel chiles. Slightly less warm than pequins.

These are mostly used dried.

Thai chiles are 1-2" and are used fresh or dried. Dried they are called chile japones. Looks like miniature cayennes or tabascos. Milder than either of the above, but not by much.

I've usually heard "bird's eye" referring to pequins and "bird chiles" referring to the Thais.

They'll all light yer tail up, I tell ya! More heat here than actual flavor.

[TX Sandman]

They'll all light yer tail up, I tell ya! More heat here than actual flavor.

That's one thing I've never understood. I like spicy, and my heat tolerance is well above average, but I like *flavor*! When it get's beyond me, all I get is the heat. At that point, I could be eating prime rib or particle board, it all taste's the same.

[Paulr]

That's one thing I've never understood. I like spicy, and my heat tolerance is well above average, but I like *flavor*! When it get's beyond me, all I get is the heat. At that point, I could be eating prime rib or particle board, it all taste's the same.

I agree, but the only place I've had food where I couldn't taste anything but the chilies was a fish dish in an Indonesian restaurant in Amsterdam WOW that was hot...
Scotch bonnets have a really nice flavour to them and are my favourite.
In most of my BBQ sauces I don't overdo the chilies because as you said it can kill all the flavours of the meat your cooking which would be a waste!

[Stan41]

I live in Central Texas and grow the small bird peppers. (Had some with stew for lunch). There are two kinds of small peppers with about equal hotness. In south Texas the Chili Petines grow wild. The mature pepper is about the size of an english pea. The Chili Petines will not survive the winters this far north. (Mills County). I had one one time and it died the first winter. The ones I grow have smaller peppers, not much bigger than a mocking bird's eye. They will survive the winters here. Both types are very hot, but not nearly as hot as Habanero. They are called bird's eye peppers, chili petines, chili pequins, turkey peppers. I grew some Habaneros in my garden once, but don't see the point in doing so since they are too hot for me to eat.
Stan

[Stan41]

My Turkey Peppers
www.centex.net/~sbessent/peppers1.jpg

www.centex.net/~sbessent/peppers2.jpg