Apparently deviled eggs are called that because they use mustard and paprika which are very mildly spicy, thus earning them the "devil" moniker by the standards of the people who made them, much like how taco bell's spiciest hot sauce is called "diablo"
were the people who named deviled eggs just *that* unused to spicy food, or were they way spicier in the past than they are today
-F
The mustard might do it. There are lots of varieties, and some (I'm looking at you, Russian mustard) are -intensely- spicy. I wouldn't doubt that the version that made it to America was watered down; standard yellow mustard is just not very spicy at all, but if it were developed in Europe where there's a wider variety, maybe they lived up to the name at some point.
@dodec Yeah, if you had some really strong mustard and maybe cut back on the amount of mayonnaise (look we just really dislike mayonnaise) they'd probably be a pretty okay level of spicy, though they'd definitely struggle to stand up to something with a really hot hot sauce -F
And it's exponential. Each level doubles the amount of spice. So I just sit back with a nice meal (at spice level 0) and watch my friends' faces turn red and sweaty.
@dodec We've heard that Thai restaurants actually play up the spiciness for people who just want ridiculously spicy food--apparently, the way to get authentic levels of spice isn't to ask for "thai spicy", but to ask for "as the chef would eat it"
we've never tried that though because we don't generally go near the higher levels of spice at thai restaurants to begin with
-F
@Felthry
Oh, there are stories I could tell of my previous job and a certain Thai restaurant in Salt Lake City. Two engineers who both enjoyed spicy food mixed with a place that makes you sign an actual book to prove that you ate food at level N before they let you try level N+1.