Ghost Meatballs
My wife and I have a group of friends we call “Book Club”. This club includes several couples who get together not nearly as frequently as we would like to eat and drink much more than we should. It has nothing to do with books. These are some of our “foodie friends” so having them over to eat is a big deal. These are special occasions and it’s fun to pull out all the stops.
When I lived in Chicago I ate at Rick Bayless’ restaurant a bunch of times. More than a graduate student should. I also liked his cookbook “Everyday Mexican. Bayless described living in Mexico City and discovering holes-in-the-wall that served out of this world chipotle meatballs. I decided trying to recreate the Mexcio City Whole in the Wall experience was just the right level of fancy for bookclub. Not something I would make on a regular night but also it seems simple enough that I wouldn’t screw it up.
As the night started to wind up and the champagne started to pour I felt the unique warmth and satisfaction that comes from being with friends and family and the anticipation of feeding them. I couldn't wait to take the meatballs from the oven and serve them family style in the center of the table. I practiced absentee cooking - the meatballs were cooking away in the oven while the champagne poured.
The meatballs smelled spectacular as they sat half-submerged in a just bubbling sauce that was beginning to blacken and had baked on to the side of the pyrex dish - these balls were stunning to the eyes and nose.
I served the meatballs with tortillas and a fresh salad and the chatter subsided as we tucked in. I closed my eyes and recreated the Mexico City hole-in-the-wall experience in my mind.
It didn’t register immediately, but my first bite was… surprising. “There’s some heat in there” I thought to myself. I peek through my closed eyelids to gauge everyone’s reaction. Furtive glances were traded across the table. I tried to continue eating - but the heat. It was just too much. And I LIKE spicy.
Wikipedia says that the ghost pepper is the world's hottest chili pepper.
On this night our dinner guests and I discovered that you can approach Ghost Pepper level heat when you add TWO CANS of chipotle peppers instead of TWO PEPPERS. Whoops. Happily, our friends did not ghost the party and after these many years those who have not successfully erased the experience from their memories are able to laugh about it.
