What to use instead of scotch bonnet
It depends entirely on what it's doing in the dish. Here's the job, what else does it, and what to skip.
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Whole pepper perfuming a stew without being chopped in
Dropped in intact, the skin gives up its fruity aroma into the pot while the seeds and pith stay sealed, so you get the smell without the full heat.
HabaneroRan out
1 for 1, whole and unpierced, removed before it splits
Same heat and nearly the same fruit. A shade more floral and slightly less sweet.
Scotch bonnet hot sauceRan out
1 tsp per pepper, stirred in for the last 10 min
Brings vinegar and salt with the heat, so pull back the salt. Sharper and less rounded than a whole pepper.
Dried scotch bonnet or habanero flakesRan out
1/2 tsp per pepper, added with the aromatics
Heat arrives immediately and evenly instead of building. Drying takes most of the apricot note with it.
What doesn't work: Jalapeno or serrano. You can get the heat up to scotch bonnet level by using six or eight of them, and you will have added a lot of grassy, vegetal pepper flavour in the process. The apricot-and-floral top note that makes a pot of rice and peas smell Caribbean is not in a jalapeno at any quantity.
Raw heat and fruit in a pepper sauce or marinade
Uncooked, the capsaicin sits in the pith and hits hard and late, and the flesh carries a sweet tropical flavour that survives the vinegar.
HabaneroRan out
1 for 1
Effectively interchangeable raw. Marginally thinner flesh, so a blitzed sauce comes out slightly looser.
Fermented scotch bonnet or habanero sauceRan out
1 tbsp per pepper
Sourer and funkier from the ferment, and already salted. Cut the vinegar in the recipe by half.
Sambal oelekRan out
1 tbsp per pepper
Straight red chilli heat with salt and a sour edge. None of the fruit, so a jerk marinade made with it tastes hot and flat.
Piri piri sauceRan out
1 1/2 tbsp per pepper
Closer on fruitiness than sambal and considerably less hot, so you need more. Brings lemon and garlic with it.
What doesn't work: Cayenne powder. It delivers sharp heat at the front of the mouth and nothing else. A pikliz made with it is hot and hollow, and it will not build the way a fresh bonnet does because the flavour compounds that make it linger are not there.
Fish the whole pepper out before it bursts. Once the pith opens in the pot the heat goes up several times over and there is no taking it back.