After peppery cocktails, fiery appetizers, spicy soup, and three different incendiary entrees, they have the nerve to serve jalape o sorbet for dessert. Fortunately, the vast majority of chile cooks believe that enough is enough and prefer a soothing cool-down as a perfect finish for a fiery feast. As with beers and wines, a debate rages over precisely which drinks actually tame the heat of chiles. Recommendations range from ice water to hot tea to lemon juice to one of my favorites, Scotch on the rocks. Most of these liquids can be dismissed out of hand.
Ice water is totally useless because capsaicin and water don t mix.
As soon as the water leaves the mouth, the fire rages on. Hot tea is a legendary Vietnamese remedy, but there is no logical reason for it to work because it is ninety-nine percent water. Lemon juice seems to help some people, but somehow I can t picture my guests sitting around the table sucking on lemons after a marvelous fiery feast. And as for Scotch on the rocks, well, if you drink enough of it you soon won t care about cooling down. They discovered that the most effective antidote for capsaicin is dairy products, particularly yogurt.