I was watching the most recent episode of Good Eats, the one on knives and related applications. He mentioned that a 5:1 concentration of water to bleach was the ideal solution for ridding hands of unwanted chile oils. Long time readers may recall my misadventures with chile oils, and my subsequent crying like a little girl who lost her favorite balloon.

The problem was that I wore no gloves when working with many, many chile peppers, and after a while my hands started burning. Nothing I tried seemed to help, including laundry-strength concentration of bleach followed by hand washing, but apparently the bleach makes the oils water soluble, and in the 5-to-1 concentration, the oils actually get dissolved.

If any of my readers go through this, please post how well the cure worked. Dedicated though I am to furthering your knowledge of cooking techniques, I still kinda remember the pain, and am not eager to repeat it. I know, I disappoint you all, but my dedication to my readers apparently has limits.