Not all hot peppers are equal in spiciness, and following recipes exactly without spoiling the dish is quite difficult. Before adding the specified amount of pepper, I cut it and taste it for spiciness. However, you should not rely on the sharpness of the tip of the pepper, since the stem can be much hotter.
It’s good if the pepper turned out to be not hot, but what to do if you didn’t test it for hotness first, but it turned out to be terribly hot and now the dish is hopelessly spoiled? Or, for example, you came to a country with lovers of spicy cuisine and discovered that their concept of little spicy does not coincide with yours (and this is often exactly what happens).
In general, what should you do if you really want to try an exotic dish, but it burns you to tears, or you are expecting guests and haven’t quite calculated the spiciness of the prepared dish?
Soup
The spiciness in the soup is neutralized by cream, sour cream, milk (Photo: pixabay.com)
Place a cooking bag with raw rice into the pan. Wrap the crumbly cereal in gauze. Let the rice stand for a few minutes; you can boil the soup along with it. Keep in mind that the cereal will absorb not only pepper, but also salt.
If you realize during the cooking process that you have over-peppered the soup, add sweet carrots or bell peppers. Cut the vegetables into large pieces or add them whole (cut the peppers in half). Place peeled raw potatoes into the finished soup and leave for half an hour.
A piece of sugar will soften the sharp taste, and the acid will enhance the effect. Pour lemon juice or apple cider vinegar into the soup. For a three-liter saucepan, just add a teaspoon. If you are making cream soup, add more cream or milk. Season the prepared vegetable or meat soup with sour cream.
Dilute the dish with water as a last resort if there is no other option. In this case, it is better to use vegetable or meat broth rather than raw water.
See our recipes with photos: Vegetable puree soup and Champignon puree soup.
Useful tips
Removing spiciness from a dish is not difficult if you choose the right method. Below are basic recommendations on how to make the taste more balanced.
How to fix soup?
The table provides information on the most suitable methods of neutralizing spiciness in first courses.
| Method | Characteristic |
| Increased fluid volume | It is necessary to add up to 500 ml of rich meat broth without spices to the pan of the finished soup. |
| Introduction of additional components | To reduce the spiciness of the soup, you can: · increasing the amount of ingredients included in the composition; Beans, bell peppers, and tomatoes are especially suitable for these purposes; · having prepared an additional portion of frying without spices; For kharcho soup, a dressing made from fried onions and honey is suitable; · using a dressing made from tomato paste and a small amount of sugar, a few drops of citrus juice or vinegar (table, apple, grape); · It is recommended to add 1 tbsp in portions. l. sour cream or natural yogurt; · a piece of bread with butter served with the soup will soften the taste of the dish. |
| Neutralizing spiciness with porous vegetables | You can remove the spice by putting a bag of rice, vegetables or fruits with a porous structure into the boiling broth: · potato; · carrot; · beet; · apple. The ingredients are peeled and left to cook for 15 to 60 minutes until tender, then discarded. |
| Wait | After turning off the soup, you should wait 60 minutes, then pour it into another container, leaving some of the broth with spices at the bottom. |
How to fix the salad?
You can remove the spiciness from a dish as follows:
- if it is a salad of fresh vegetables, then just rinse the ingredients: pour boiled water over the vegetables and strain through a colander, then salt and pepper the salad again;
- increase the number of components by preparing a similar portion of salad without dressing and mixing it with a peppered version of the dish, or if the recipe allows, increase the amount of some of the components (potatoes, rice, eggs);
- a dressing made from fermented milk products (sour cream, natural yogurt) or citrus juice will soften the taste of the dish;
- You can add delicate soft cheese (mozzarella, ricotta) to the salad.
How to fix second courses?
The table provides basic recommendations for adjusting the spiciness of main courses:
| Components | Recommendations |
| Meat | · peppered raw meat must be separated from the bone, peeled and stewed in a sauce without salt and spices; · you can soak pieces of raw meat in milk, sour cream or water for 15-20 minutes; · it is recommended to add additional ingredients to the peppered minced meat: rice, grated potatoes, zucchini; · the taste of the dish will become more balanced if you prepare a side dish from foods with a high starch content without salt and spices (potatoes, rice, quinoa). |
| Garnish | · Peppered potatoes can be pureed with the addition of butter, milk and raw eggs; · pasta, rice, buckwheat can be washed with water; · if the recipe allows, you can supplement the side dish with a portion of vegetables (tomatoes, zucchini, eggplants) stewed without spices. |
| Mushrooms | · It is recommended to stew mushrooms with the addition of sour cream, flour, and onions; · You can add a small amount of water mixed with lemon juice; · You can mix mushrooms with mashed potatoes, rice or buckwheat, cooked without adding pepper. |
The presented methods will help remove the spice, make the taste softer, more balanced, except when the amount of pepper is many times higher than normal. It will be impossible to correct such a dish.
Vegetable stew
Add more ingredients to the stew (Photo: pixabay.com)
The hot taste will be overwhelmed by an additional portion of ingredients. Add more vegetables, which will take up some of the pepper. Potatoes, cabbage, and eggplants play an excellent role as an adsorbent. You can also add boiled rice without spices to the vegetables.
For stewed or boiled vegetables, prepare creamy or sour cream sauce. Fermented milk products neutralize the burning taste. The “fire” in your mouth can be put out with milk.
Black menace
Most potato soups are usually prepared with black pepper. It can be peas or ground powder. Here, too, an unexpected situation may occur. For example, your hand trembles or the lid of a jar of spices suddenly falls off. What to do if you add black pepper to your soup? In this case, you shouldn’t panic right away either. There is also a way out of this situation. You will have to add boiling water or broth. And if this is not enough, then you just need to increase the amount of vegetables. It's better if it's potatoes or tomatoes. Both of these products absorb aromas well and can save the situation. And if this is not enough, then you will have to serve sandwiches with the first course. Bread and butter will help alleviate some of the heat. At least there won't be a burning bitterness in your mouth. And this is already half the success. But it’s better to be as careful as possible so that you don’t have to waste time correcting your own mistakes later.
Meat
Lemon will remove the spiciness of the meat (Photo: pixabay.com)
Solving the problem in this case is difficult: the longer the pepper is cooked, the more it reveals its hot properties. You can try to shake off or wash off the excess, but in the latter case the juiciness and aroma of the meat will disappear. Try to remedy the situation with a piece of butter. Place it on the meat and simmer for a while.
A similar method: prepare a creamy or sour cream sauce. You can put a dollop of sour cream on top and put it in the oven for 15 minutes at 180°C. Use cheese instead of sour cream.
Sprinkle charcoal shish kebab or steak with lemon juice. Instead of lemon, use other sour fruits: lime, pineapple, kiwi. You can cut into circles and place on top.
Add black bread, sour cream, semolina to the peppered minced meat.
Fish
It is recommended to rinse salted fish to remove pepper with water (Photo: ura-povara.ru)
Salted fish is easiest to rinse with water. Treat fried and baked meats as you would with meat: sprinkle with lemon or season with sour cream sauce and simmer in the oven for a few minutes. Serve with a neutral side dish without spices.
See our recipe with photos: Marinated mackerel.
What neutralizes spicy food?
Help from the udder The best means for neutralizing capsaicin (it is this substance contained in pepper that causes burning) are recognized throughout the world as processed cheese, ice cream, milk and yogurt. The secret is that these products contain casein protein, which removes capsaicin from nerve endings.
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Salad
The peppered ingredients for puff dishes can be mixed with a new portion of ingredients without spices and made a salad on two plates (Photo: ura-povara.ru)
Add additional ingredients. If there are no vegetables left for the salad, season the peppered ingredients with lemon juice and sour cream (you can make homemade mayonnaise based on it).
Sesame seeds, almonds, and flax seeds neutralize the peppercorns in the salad.
See our recipe with photo: Watermelon slice salad.
Use some vegetable oil.
For example, lasagna, spaghetti and other Italian dishes go well with olive oil. Some other types of food will also not spoil if you add a few drops to them, but even these will be very effective and will help neutralize the pepper.
Regardless of which method you decide to use to save your dish from adding too much pepper, the most important thing is to slowly add a small amount of your chosen ingredient and taste the dish after each addition.
Source
Sauce
Serve the pepper sauce with neutral side dishes (Photo: pixabay.com)
Add more of the main ingredient to soften the flavor. For example, if you prepared a sauce based on tomato paste, add more paste or chopped tomatoes. Add cream to the cream sauce, and more sweet vegetables to the vegetable sauce.
Hot sauce can be served with fresh side dishes and appetizers - rice, wheat or corn tortillas.
Acid neutralizer
Any citrus juice, vinegar or tomato paste can correct the situation. Sour components not only neutralize the effect of pepper, but also add a slight sourness to the dish. It is important to understand in which dishes this method would be appropriate, and also to take the neutralizer in small quantities - 1 - 2 teaspoons. A mixture of sugar and vinegar will also be effective.
Pilaf
Sweet carrots will help soften the burning taste in pilaf (Photo: pixabay.com)
Rice absorbs salt and pepper perfectly, so it’s quite difficult to correct the situation. You can neutralize the burning taste with sweet carrots. Just chop finely and add to the dish. Grated cheese or boiled beans will also absorb excess pepper. However, the result will be an unconventional pilaf.
Serve the pilaf with sour cream or cream sauce. It goes great with meat.
How did you put out the “fire” in a peppered dish? Share your life hack in the comments.
Add dairy products
Milk and dairy products soothe the stomach and mouth after spicy food. However, fermented milk products must be compatible to taste with the food being prepared. You can add milk or cream to broth or cream soup, and sour cream or yogurt can be added to thick dishes. If the dish does not go well, then after eating it you can drink a glass of milk, which will help “cool down” the oral cavity. You can also grate cheese into side dishes, which helps soften the taste.
