The Padrón Pepper Hypothesis
Ah Waitrose! You browse round tasty (and ocassionally prohibitively expensive) produce, get to try exciting new things, and learn a bit about the world for free.
Last Sunday I bought padrón peppers - never heard of them. This Thursday I walked past Fernandez & Wells, a bar that had blackboarded them as an available snack; the new BIG THING I thought. And falling asleep last night I generated my theory.
These speciality peppers originate in North-West Spain, where they have been known as the "teeny weeny thug" owing to the occasional HOT one you might unknowingly pick from the bowl.
Yes, between 1 in 30 (Waitrose packet) and 1 in 50 (website below) are piquant, whereas the remainder have a gently green pepper flavour - not bitter like the usual greens are or sweet like a red pepper, but fresh and tangy in taste. Fried for 90 seconds in olive oil and sprinkled with salt they proved an excellent accompaniment to cheesy steak baguettes.
http://www.padronpeppers.com/
The Theory
As delicious as the peppers were with steak, there wasn't a hot one in the pack (c. 40 peppers). So on the basis I can't beat odds of 1 in 30, I'm going to have to rethink my retirement plan.
Sure, sooner or later I'll get to the crunch of a Russian Roulette moment a la Padrón. But whether shopping in Waitrose or shifting to Aldi, I'm pretty sure I can't afford the tickets to scale up for lotto.
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Great story, here, BTW.