Don’t Be a Wimp: How to Start Enjoying Hot Tex Mex Dishes

Many people who love Tex Mex cuisine love it good and hot. As in, spicy hot.

But many of us who love Tex Mex food don’t like our dishes spicy. We like it hot, of course, but spicy? NO!!!

Yet when we look at our friends and family members who pile on the chili peppers and the hot sauce – asking the waiter for the muy caliente level of hotness, and the more caliente, the better – we wonder: what are we missing? Surely the spicy flavor must be adding something wonderful, we should try it.

But, we tell ourselves, we just don’t like spicy food. Never have and never will.

Well, we say it’s time to fling that cloak of wimp-hood and embrace the spice!

Take a look below at some steps you can take to start enjoying spicy hot Tex Mex cuisine.

1. Start slow and small and start with non-Tex Mex foods you eat regularly.

For example, sprinkle extra black pepper onto your steak. Crush some red peppers and put a pinch or two into your cup of soup. As you start to like the extra zest these spices can bring, keep adding them to your meals. Don’t go overboard: just add one spice to a dish at a time so that you can start differentiating their different flavors.

2. Go slow and enjoy the added flavors the spices bring.

As you eat, aim to savor the new flavors you’re experiencing. Note how routine dishes are changed and how their flavors are enhanced.

3. As you adapt, slowly add hotter spices to your dishes.

Move slowly, but start adding, for example, hot spices such as chopped chiles to your dishes. You could start with the milder ones such as poblanos, for example. But don’t be afraid to go too hot every now and then. You’ll build up your tolerance more quickly if you occasionally “burn” your mouth.

4. Pair the spicy dish with milder dishes.

Make sure you have a dish to eat that can “cool” you down during your meal.  In addition, you could mix some cream into your salsa to make it milder.

5. Not everyone comes to love spicy food; there’s no shame in being one of them.

If you give it your best shot but find that you just don’t enjoy spicy food, be proud that you at least tried and go on and keep enjoying the delicious Tex Mex cuisine you love!

Have you eaten Tex Mex this month? If not, visit a Mattito’s near you to enjoy hot and spicy (or just hot) Tex Mex cuisine! We look forward to serving you.

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