"I don't believe it... It's not working! This sauce is supposed to be a real gut-burner!"
— Eddy, Ed, Edd n Eddy, just before the effects of his brother's Armenian Secret Hot Sauce kick in.
"I like a hot sauce. My bloody marys are known to cure squints. And at an Indian restaurant I will often order a vindaloo, sometimes without the involvement of a wager. So when I accidentally found that bottle of Insanity, I poured maybe half a teaspoonful onto my paella. And tucked in.
Burns victims often say that when they are actually on fire, there is no pain. It has something to do with the body pumping out adrenaline in such vast quantities that the nerve endings stop working. Well, it wasn’t like that for me.
The pain started out mildly, but I knew from past experience that this would build to a delightful fiery sensation. I was even looking forward to it. But the moment soon passed. In a matter of seconds I was in agony. After maybe a minute I was frightened that I might die. After five I was frightened that I might not.
The searing fire had surged throughout my head. My eyes were streaming. Molten lava was flooding out of my nose. My mouth was a shattered ruin. Even my hair hurt.
And all the time, I was thinking: “If it’s doing this to my head, what in the name of all that’s holy is it doing to my innards?” I felt certain that at any moment my stomach would open and everything — my intestines, my liver, my heart, even — would simply splosh onto the floor. This is not an exaggeration. I really did think I was dissolving from the inside out."
Burns victims often say that when they are actually on fire, there is no pain. It has something to do with the body pumping out adrenaline in such vast quantities that the nerve endings stop working. Well, it wasn’t like that for me.
The pain started out mildly, but I knew from past experience that this would build to a delightful fiery sensation. I was even looking forward to it. But the moment soon passed. In a matter of seconds I was in agony. After maybe a minute I was frightened that I might die. After five I was frightened that I might not.
The searing fire had surged throughout my head. My eyes were streaming. Molten lava was flooding out of my nose. My mouth was a shattered ruin. Even my hair hurt.
And all the time, I was thinking: “If it’s doing this to my head, what in the name of all that’s holy is it doing to my innards?” I felt certain that at any moment my stomach would open and everything — my intestines, my liver, my heart, even — would simply splosh onto the floor. This is not an exaggeration. I really did think I was dissolving from the inside out."
— Jeremy Clarkson, Help, quick – I’ve unscrewed the top on a ticking bomb
Yosuke: You don't mind me going first? Actually, I've been looking forward to yours. I mean, Risette cooked it herself. Can you imagine how many guys would kill me if they found out? Well then, chow time!
(Yosuke takes a bite, but seems startled upon eating it)
Yosuke: Urgh... (slightly high-pitched and pained) I-I... can't give this to Nanako-chan...
Rise: Ooh! It's so delicious that you won't let anyone else have a bite!?
Narration: In any case, you should try eating it too...
(The protagonist eats it and has the exact same reaction as Yosuke)
Narration: ...It's spicy! The spiciness and heat are like lava in your mouth...! You can't taste or feel the foie gras at all... It's starting to taste like iron... For some reason, you sense a dull pain in your mouth as well... You can't give this to Nanako...
(Yosuke takes a bite, but seems startled upon eating it)
Yosuke: Urgh... (slightly high-pitched and pained) I-I... can't give this to Nanako-chan...
Rise: Ooh! It's so delicious that you won't let anyone else have a bite!?
Narration: In any case, you should try eating it too...
(The protagonist eats it and has the exact same reaction as Yosuke)
Narration: ...It's spicy! The spiciness and heat are like lava in your mouth...! You can't taste or feel the foie gras at all... It's starting to taste like iron... For some reason, you sense a dull pain in your mouth as well... You can't give this to Nanako...
Sydney: OH MY GOD IT'S SO HOT!
Waitress: [thinking] Take that, you little twerp.
Sydney: Thank you! What is this, about three million Scoville? Do you have a drop of pure cap[sicum] to garnish this with?
Waitress: [thinking] Take that, you little twerp.
Sydney: Thank you! What is this, about three million Scoville? Do you have a drop of pure cap[sicum] to garnish this with?
— Grrl Power, #118
Arianna: Does anyone have any good recipes they'd like to share on morning news programs?
Sydney: I make a mean weapons grade spaghetti sauce! It involves peppers that are red, but are not red peppers.
Arianna: That may not be the best—
Maxima: Hands up everyone who wants to see Kelly Rippa burn her face off on Sydney's cooking.
Everyone else: [hands raised]
Sydney: I make a mean weapons grade spaghetti sauce! It involves peppers that are red, but are not red peppers.
Arianna: That may not be the best—
Maxima: Hands up everyone who wants to see Kelly Rippa burn her face off on Sydney's cooking.
Everyone else: [hands raised]
— Grrl Power, #364
When you bite into it, the initial taste is sweet. You go, wow, that wasn’t so bad. And then immediately, that vast amount of capsaicin takes over, and it’s kind of like eating molten lava. That’s the best way to put it.
Ed Currie, on the Carolina Reaper pepper
, on the Carolina Reaper pepperKryten craned over the crumbled handwritten recipe sheet he'd been given by Lister. It was Lister's own concoction: "shami kebabs diablo," which he'd once claimed proudly had put Petersen in the medical unit for over a week. But surely there was some mistake. The amount of chilli peppers called for could have launched a three-stage Deep Space probe from Houston Mission Control to the outer reaches of the galaxy. This wasn't a shami kebab - it was a thermonuclear device.
—Red Dwarf: Better Than Life
What's cooking? Why, YOU are! The Burning Love is famous for its powerful taste and utter disregard for the Scoville Scale. Ingest at your own risk.
Shawn: I'm sorry, was this chicken seasoned with molten lava?
Abigail: What's the matter, Shawn, you don't like it?
Shawn: No... no, I think I like it too much, it's so authentic. Dude, I can't see anything out of my left eye...
Gus: I see dead people.
Abigail: What's the matter, Shawn, you don't like it?
Shawn: No... no, I think I like it too much, it's so authentic. Dude, I can't see anything out of my left eye...
Gus: I see dead people.
—Psych: Bollywood Homicide
"Hotter than any normal hot sauce. No, hotter than that. Hotter. Keep going..."
—Description for the Hotter Sauce Treasure, Wario Land: Shake It!
"What you see here is a look of instant regret; contemplation of the meaning of life itself and all of the choices I have made in my last years. Sweet baby Jesus. The flavor's actually quite nice; it's like you're eating a really delicious Japanese curry and then someone decides to break into your house with a flamethrower, and he won't stop flaming even though you tell him to, and as time goes on, the flamethrower turns into jet fuel."
I raised my chin and narrowed my eyes, then; the shadows of the still shed seemed to darken and gather up around me. "We need hot sauce," I said, "that's so all-fired hot that ponies will weep when we so much as mention its name. We need hot sauce that'll soak into a pony's very bones when they eat of it. We need hot sauce that's so durn hot that if a filly tries some as a yearling, it'll still be coursing through her veins when she's a grown mare and starts thinking about having foals of her own; hot sauce that'll just up and laugh at that silly ol' placental wall and dive straight into her womb so when the time comes for birthing, she won't break water, she'll break Tabasco bucking Sauce! We need hot sauce that'll pass from generation to generation, across the ages, through the blood, traveling through the years like an ancestral curse, a fire that never goes out, a stark reminder of the folly of a sad, silly mare who, one fateful day, made the star-crossed decision to nibble just one tiny bite of the magnificence we are about to birth into the world!" I took a deep breath. "FILLIES!" I practically screamed. "GENTLECOLTS! WE'RE GONNA NEED OURSELVES SOME DANG HOT HOT SAUCE!"
Thunder. Lightning. I reared up and cackled madly, my eyes rimmed all around in white. For one blissful moment, I was the universe and the universe was me.
Bell and Rainbow both stared at me in shock. Bell found his tongue first. "Madre Ciela," he said. "What will you name this abomination?"
"Pepperjack," I said, settling my forehooves back down, everything about me glowing. "Pepperjack Extra Bold. The hot sauce that'll make all Equestria explode... twice."
Thunder. Lightning. I reared up and cackled madly, my eyes rimmed all around in white. For one blissful moment, I was the universe and the universe was me.
Bell and Rainbow both stared at me in shock. Bell found his tongue first. "Madre Ciela," he said. "What will you name this abomination?"
"Pepperjack," I said, settling my forehooves back down, everything about me glowing. "Pepperjack Extra Bold. The hot sauce that'll make all Equestria explode... twice."
—Contraptionology!, Chapter 15 — "Hard Bucking"
For the second time that day, I was happy that I'd invented that magnetic-field tankard earlier, because I wasn't sure any vessel of true matter could have contained the brain-warping magnificence of Pepperjack Extra Bold. Pepperjack Extra Bold: the world's first truly unnatural hot sauce, the sauce that was so spicy that it actually broke the laws of physics by its very existence. Gone was all the normal red and orange color of the peppers Bell had used as a foundation. The crystalline sludge at the bottom of the tankard was pure white, trending toward ultraviolet, and there was the distinct sense that at least a small portion of the light striking the substance was getting just plain confused in its attempt to reflect off of it and eventually giving up and going home. It smoked, as though it was burning the very air above it and possibly sending some of it off to another dimension entirely.
"Okay," I said. "Nopony eat that."
"Okay," I said. "Nopony eat that."
—Contraptionology!, Chapter 15 — "Hard Bucking"
random-ferret: I read that capsaicin makes your mouth feel like it's burning because it increases your nerve sensitivity to heat, and menthol works by doing the same thing to cold
So if I eat a habanero pepper and then chew a bunch of breath mints they'll each other out [sic] and I'll be fine
random-ferret: Hey guess what hellfire tastes like
nudibranchparty: Fun fact! The nerve endings for "ouch too hot" and "ouch too cold" are different! Which means that they can both be activated at once, without cancelling out. Rip OP.
So if I eat a habanero pepper and then chew a bunch of breath mints they'll each other out [sic] and I'll be fine
random-ferret: Hey guess what hellfire tastes like
nudibranchparty: Fun fact! The nerve endings for "ouch too hot" and "ouch too cold" are different! Which means that they can both be activated at once, without cancelling out. Rip OP.
a tumblr post◊ exploring one of the more interesting subversions of this trope.
◊ exploring one of the more interesting subversions of this trope.Mehryde: Compliments of Mistress Zero, the satrap's honored guest, we are serving a special curry for anyone who wishes to partake. But be warned: it is not for the faint of heart!
Daring Diner: Oh! By all means, I'd welcome the challenge!
Passing Patron: (takes a sniff) Sisters have mercy... the smell alone is... (faints)
Daring Diner: (takes a bite) It burns! It burns! (falls out of his chair)
Varshahn: To better maintain the facade, the alchemists ensured that my vessel was capable of consuming food... However, I fear Zero's curry would test the limits of their design.
Warrior of Light (option): I felt my life flash before my eyes - and it was exhilarating!
Daring Diner: Oh! By all means, I'd welcome the challenge!
Passing Patron: (takes a sniff) Sisters have mercy... the smell alone is... (faints)
Daring Diner: (takes a bite) It burns! It burns! (falls out of his chair)
Varshahn: To better maintain the facade, the alchemists ensured that my vessel was capable of consuming food... However, I fear Zero's curry would test the limits of their design.
Warrior of Light (option): I felt my life flash before my eyes - and it was exhilarating!
Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker
