Cayenne are very hot, more so than Jalapeños. You have to taste to tell how hot they are, every pepper is different. They are too hot for most people to use a whole pepper in a meal, although there aresurely some spice lovers amongst you. Most use just part as a spice. Here are some ideas:
Use little bits in stir-fry, de-seed and keep remainder
in plastic bag in fridge or freeze;
Alternately, cook with it by putting in the whole
(uncut) pepper, tasting regularly, and pulling out
when you get your desired spice level;
Hot peppers freeze very well: put in ziplock bag and
when you want to use, don’t thaw first (they’re easier
to seed and mince while still hard);
Make salsa (I might with tomatillos and scallions);
Tie them up by stems to dry (should take 2-4 weeks)
and then crush them (these are the typical dried
pepper flakes you may have in your spice rack);
Store in olive oil: wash in cold water, cut 1-2 small slits into each pepper to allow oil to penetrate, put in clean jar alone or with other spices (garlic, oregano, cloves...) cover with oil or a mixture of cooked oil,
vinegar and salt.