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cayenne pepper powder for chilly powder?

post #1 of 12
6/5/05 at 4:28am
Thread Starter 
hey,

I was wondering if cayenne pepper powder is the same as chilly powder? or at least, can i use chilly powder in place of it, coz it's much cheaper..
Will it alter the taste ?

Thx :)
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post #2 of 12
6/5/05 at 6:47am
There is a BIG difference between cayenne pepper and your average chili/chilly powder!!

If you substitute chilly powder for cayenne in the same quantity you will have a much milder, different tasting dish. Not as spicy hot. :lips:

If you substitute cayenne for chilly powder in the same quantity you may have a dish that is inedible to all but the most ardent chilihead (as we refer to them in the USA). :eek:

Here's why: Cayenne powder is straight cayenne -- that is, unadulterated heat from the cayenne pepper, which is very, very hot. :cry: Chili powder (chilly powder outside the US) is a blend of powdered hot peppers with other spices, often garlic powder, cumin, oregano, etc. -- so there are a lot of other ingredients to balance the heat. That's one reason why it's cheaper than straight cayenne. Also, I suspect that the peppers used to make "chili powder" are not necessarily always the same ones, so the product can vary in heat and flavor.
"Notorious stickler" -- The New York Times, January 4, 2004
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post #3 of 12
6/6/05 at 4:17am
Thread Starter 

Thx!!

Oh...i see...now i know.. haha...
Gosh... good thing i didn't try substituting it yet... :p
and now i know why cayenne pepper's so hot!...

Thx for the info!! :D
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post #4 of 12
6/6/05 at 8:12am
LOL

Yes, not a mistake to make......... more than once in a lifetime.

Yes, cayenne is a VERY hot pepper. It is what adds heat to hot paprikas. It is what makes cajun the hot food it is. If used with discretion and good judgement, it can be rather a nice pepper too. You need to find a recipe for a mixed spice that you like, and slowly add more cayenne to it till you find your heat level. I make a very generic cajun spice blend of 4-2-1-cayanne. 4 parts paprika, 2 parts white or black pepper, 1 part green herbs(matching the herbs to the dish) and the cayanne. Personally, if my main parts are tablespoons, the amount of cayanne I like is 1 teaspoon. Potent stuff :)

Read these. They are interesting blends, and give an idea what is used.

http://www.pepperfool.com/recipes/ch...i_powder1.html
http://www.pepperfool.com/recipes/ch...i_powder2.html
http://www.pepperfool.com/recipes/ch...li_season.html
Space...the final frontier. These are the voyages of KeeperOfTheGood. His lifetime mission: to explore strange new worlds of flavour, to seek out new life and and ways of cooking it- to boldly grill where no man has grilled before.
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post #5 of 12
6/6/05 at 7:56pm
Keeper, I don't know that I'd call a cayenne pepper "VERY hot". Sure it is pretty darn hot, but in the big picture I'd call it medium hot. In the scoville scale (how the heat of peppers is measured) it lies in the middle.

Here are a few of the more popular peppers and their scoville units:

Bell Pepper 0 units
Poblano 1000-2000 units
Jalapeno 2500-8000 units
Chipotle (dried smoked jalapeno) 5000-8000 units
Serrano 8000-25,000 units
De Arbol 15,000-30,000 units
Cayenne 30,000-50,000 units
Piquin 40,000-58,000 units
Thai 50,000-100,000 units
Bird's Eye 100,000-225,000 units
Habanero 100,000-325,000 units
Scotch Bonnet 150,000-325,000 units
Pepper Spray 2,000,000 units
Police Grade Pepper Spray 5,300,000 units
Pure Capsaicin 16,000,000 units
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post #6 of 12
6/7/05 at 3:02am
Thread Starter 
thx for the info guys!..

I didn't even know tht there was some scale so measure the 'hotness' ... :p
funny :D ..
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post #7 of 12
6/7/05 at 7:39pm
LOL

Thats because I am not a chilihead :)

Actually, I find cayenne very inconsistent for heat. I also find it hotter by measure to the Thai chilis. :( I add Scotch Bonnets at 1 per 1 liter relish when making pepper relishes too. Hmmm, odd that, I just feel the heat better in cayenne than in some of the other peppers maybe? Dunno.

But I am right, you only mix the two once in a lifetime :( Man that was a hot chili :(

Hmmm, and there are some marrinades I like that are made of Scotch Bonnets that I get from the import shop down the road, and I don't mind their heat so much either....

You got me thinking now.....!
Space...the final frontier. These are the voyages of KeeperOfTheGood. His lifetime mission: to explore strange new worlds of flavour, to seek out new life and and ways of cooking it- to boldly grill where no man has grilled before.
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post #8 of 12
6/7/05 at 8:46pm
As far a "chili powders" go, I try to avoid them as much as possible. They are a mix of different chilis, spices and dried herbs. I find them to be very inconsistent, and you are never sure what the mix is. Instead I buy pure chili powders. They will have the name of the Chile in front of it, example Ancho Chile Powder, Chipotle Chile Powder. These powders are straight chile with no added ingredients, leaving me to add the cumin, oregano, etc. as I see fit.

As for the heat of specific chiles, the table I gave is only a rough guide. Each pepper can lie quite a bit outside of the average. It all depends on the cultivar, the soil conditions, the weather, storage, and, in the case of dried chiles, how they were dried and how old they are. I've used chipotles that have lit my mouth on fire for hours, while I've also had some pretty mellow habaneros (that is relative, they still lit me on fire). And I agree with you Keeper, some chiles just seem to hit me harder than others. I find Thai chiles, almost unbearable, at times, while I love the heat of habaneros and scotch bonnets.
From Man's sweat and God's love, beer came into the World-Saint Arnoldus
http://www.onceachef.com/
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post #9 of 12
6/8/05 at 8:51am
One of my favorite meals is to make homemade habanero sauce and pour it over a steak sauteed with onions, garlic, and roasted poblano peppers. Yum!

Mark
Salad is the kind of food that real food eats.
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post #10 of 12
6/8/05 at 11:18am
Mark then you would like the way I like to top my steaks, at home. Saute up some mushrooms, onions, poblanos and anaheims, deglaze with a good amount of worchestershire and finish with a load of cold butter.

One of my favorite ways to eat habaneros is in a ceviche I make. Diced mango, a small amount of diced red onion, minced habanero, diced tomato, freshly squeezed orange, freshly squeezed lime and diced scallops (raw). Combine according to your taste and allow to sit for 1-2 hours, then pile on to tortilla chips. This stuff rules!!!! Sometimes I will add just a touch of cilantro also.
From Man's sweat and God's love, beer came into the World-Saint Arnoldus
http://www.onceachef.com/
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post #11 of 12
6/8/05 at 3:51pm
Hey oh

There is a Chillain cook in the town next to mine that makes a mango salsa very much like that dish Pete. She doesn't make hers hot, but dang it is awsome on chips indeed.
Space...the final frontier. These are the voyages of KeeperOfTheGood. His lifetime mission: to explore strange new worlds of flavour, to seek out new life and and ways of cooking it- to boldly grill where no man has grilled before.
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post #12 of 12
6/15/05 at 3:29pm
interesting fact, and true-personal experience
having a high level of cortisone in your system enables you to 'withstand' hotter chilis. try it some time post-op. (unless you had something gastroenteric. i mean, be smart.)
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ChefTalk.com › ChefTalk Cooking Forums › Cooking Discussions › Food & Cooking › cayenne pepper powder for chilly powder?