Jalapeno

Let me tell you about the jalapeno, and let's not be shy about its heat — that is the whole point of this pepper.

Cut one open and taste it in pieces: near the white ribs it bites hard and sudden, out in the green flesh it settles into something milder, rounder. Taste both before you decide how fine to chop it — your tongue will tell you everything you need to know. If your mouth is burning, reach for milk, not water — every cook who has ever cried over a jalapeno swears by this, and that is reason enough.

Choose one by its skin: tight, glossy, no soft spots. Give it a squeeze — a good one feels firm and snaps cleanly under the knife, and it smells fresh and grassy. A dull, wrinkled one has gone soft and tired; leave it on the shelf.

Some people say the seeds carry the heat. No — chew one alone and you'll taste nothing much. Bite into a bare rib and you'll know exactly where the fire lives. That mistake sends cooks scraping out seeds with great care while the ribs stay behind, and then they wonder why the salsa still burns. Take out the ribs. The seeds can stay.