How Hot Is Level 10, Really? A Guide by Dish

Phaal, which is a British-Indian restaurant invention created specifically to be the hottest item on a menu. Among traditional dishes, vindaloo and Andhra-style cooking built on Guntur chili are the hottest.

Yes, and the vinegar is part of why. Acid carries capsaicin quickly, so vindaloo delivers heat faster and sharper than its chili content alone would suggest. The name comes from the Portuguese carne de vinha d'alhos, meat in wine and garlic, and chili replaced the wine after it reached Goa.

It depends on the dish. A level 10 korma is hot but rounded, because cream and ground nuts blunt capsaicin. A level 10 vindaloo sits on top of a dish that's already hot and has vinegar carrying it. Expect sweating, a running nose, and a burn that continues for fifteen to twenty minutes after you finish.

Bhut jolokia, the ghost pepper, from Assam and Nagaland in northeast India. It held the world record for the hottest chili until 2011. Guntur chili from Andhra Pradesh is the workhorse of India's hottest regional cooking.

Yes. Casein, a protein in dairy, binds capsaicin and carries it away. Whole milk, yogurt, raita and lassi all work. Water doesn't, because capsaicin isn't water-soluble, drinking it spreads the burn instead of removing it.

No, which surprises people. It's used for its deep red color rather than its heat, which is very mild. A dish can look intensely red and be gentle.

Less than you'd like. At the top of the scale capsaicin saturates the receptors doing the tasting, so you get heat and texture and not much of the spicing underneath. Around a 7 is where most people find heat and flavor both intact.

No. Find the level you can eat a full plate of comfortably, then go up one per visit. Heat accumulates across a meal, so the first bite tells you very little.