Chili tonite

Beer is the natural accompaniment to chili and if yours tends toward the hotter side of the spectrum, then other drinks get ruled out quickly.

But, if wine you must, then I'd do Zin--preferring a Ridge or Renwood. Dare I say that I've found Ravenswood's a bit "wimpy"?

After that, then a big Shiraz will work.

And, if you're doing green chiles rather than the more Tex-Mex red version, you might have go with a Pinot Gris or Pinot Grigio. There are so many options for chili that it's tough to standardize a wine. Red or green? Beef or pork or game meat? Beans? (shut up all you Texans about the beans!) Hot or mellow? Accompaniments like cheese, onions, rice (ptui!)?

Ed Rasimus Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret) "When Thunder Rolled"

Hey Larry, I would go with the Ravenswood Zin, but that's just me, I love Zin with almost everything. :-) Dick R.

It may depend on what kind of hot pepper is used and how much. There are some "Northern or Yankee" versions of chili that have very little fire and at least would not kill a strong red such as Zinfandel. Then there are some of the "Southwest" versions that are loaded with some of the most hot peppers available. One spoon of this kind can kill your taste for wine and just about anything else for many minutes. In this case you need plenty of beer and/or water to put out the fire.

My mailbox is always full to avoid spam. To contact me, erase snipped-for-privacy@webtv.net from my email address. Then add snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com . I do not check this box every day, so post if you need a quick response.

Hi Larry, Ed, As usual, Ed has brought up some interesting thoughts. With all the variations on chili, maybe the only safe bet is a good beer (and I'm not talking Miller Lite). Perhaps Ravenswood might be "wimpy", but it might be a perfect match with a "wimpy" chili. So many variations. Personally, I like a bean or two in my chili - guess that makes me a "non-Texan", and that's OK too. The solution: Bring some zin and bring some good beer (I think you might have some good beers in Canada). :-)

Enjoy your dinner, Dick

Ahh, you're leaning toward the fightin' side of me. Although Chicago born and raised, I've spent a good part of my adult life in the SW (AZ, NV, TX, NM and now CO.)

While cooking with chiles can be an assault on your tongue, throat and tastebuds, when done right it really doesn't burn or kill the tissues of the mouth. It offers a core warmth rather than a surface explosion. You'll feel the warmth begin in the back of the throat and then in the center of the chest just above the breastbone. Shortly the little beads of perpspiration will pop out on the forehead and then a pleasant warm total body glow will envelop.

At least that's when it's done right. And, it's done right in NM a lot more often than in Texas (now I've gone and done it!). Seriously the distinction between NM "Mexican" and Tex-Mex "Mexican" cuisine is that the TM version is generally a bit bland and allows the consumer to heat it up with addition of "salsa". NM version comes with a variety of chiles employed for flavor and nuance, but it can be quite warm.

And, it all goes good with beer...and maybe a bit of tequila in whichever sort of concoction you prefer but better "neat".

IMHSWO.

Ed Rasimus Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret) "When Thunder Rolled"

Ed Rasimus wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Oh yes New Mexico Chili. I had some one day around noon in a little cafe somewhere west of texas and east of the moon. After I took one bite, the owner looked at me as I tried to breathe and as the beads of sweat were exploding from my forehead. She then rather calmly said to the girl in the kitchen "Consuela (or some thing like that) I think you got it a little too hot today."

I was still burning 8 hours later in Colorado.

I'm a tad over 50 and have regrettably eased up on the "hots".

Wish I had the constitution to bite the big banana pepper ;-}

ZIN or beer it is.

All the best,

Larry Southern Ontario

Wine with chili? Hmmmm.... I think that's a bit of overkill myself.

Nope, I can't recommend any wine with chili except perhaps Lambrusco...

Beans make an excellent side-dish with chili.

Rice? Ugh.

If the chili is hot, then beer is about all that works well. If the chili is wine-friendly, then I would second the suggestions for big Zin. In fact, I'd suggest that it might make sense to think of a mild/moderate chili the same way you would think of pasta with a robust sauce when it comes to food matching.

;-) Dana (Born and raised in Northen California)

Very, very, well-put.

Hey Ed, you ever have a Puerto Vallarta specialty called "raicilla" ?

;-)

Nope. I've missed Mexico (beyond the border towns) so haven't had that experience.

I've just been happy that no one has introduced the Mexican weather report to this thread:

"It's gonna be chili tonight and hot tamale...."

Ed Rasimus Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret) "When Thunder Rolled"

If you're ever in Puerto Vallarta, ask around the local bars until you find some raicilla. It's the local agave-based moonshine and something to be experienced once, just make sure you have a chaperone. It'll put all other tequila/mezcal into perspective.

;-)

I have to disagree. For myself, beer doesn't go well with any food at all. I like beer, but don't find that it compliments anything (except maybe cigarettes)

That brings up a question in the realm of food-wine pairings... Do people look to choose a wine that has components that the food lacks? or wine that has a similar makeup. For example, coke and pizza are a knockout punch. I've always though this is because the pizza has a lot of fats and grease and the coke supplies that which the pizza hasn't. However coke doesn't go so well with general-gau chicken because it's so sweet that the coke almost tastes like soda water.

On the other hand, desert wines tend to be sweet, as do deserts. Do you people drink desert wines with sugary deserts?

Sometimes I've noticed components of a certain wine only when I've sipped them after a bite of something that may cancel out or mask other tastes that are more up-front.

Tonight I'm drinking Vigne de l'enfant Jesus from Bouchard Pere & Fils and I can't taste anything! Don't think it matters what I eat...

SJP, You might want to check out the thread, "What should i [SIC] get?" as to some pairing ideas. To re-state, it is an inexact science, but folk often do both of the pairing thoughts, that you state - match, contrast.

As for beer, well I have a recipe for flourless chocolate cake, matched with a Taddy Porter, or Young's Double Chocolate Ale, that will leave you breathless. Now, your died-in-the-wool wino friends will question, "hey, why does my wine have a head on it?" but will get over it with one bite/one sip.

Since Pizza is such a broad taste spectrum, this is a monster generalization, but one with a tomato sauce, or sun-dried tomato toppings, will likely match well with most well-crafted Sangioveses, i.e. Chianti. Just go lightly on the crushed red pepper condiments!

Hunt

I was introduced to an absolutely stunning beer/food combination, but I'm not sure whether you have access to this type of beer. It's a dark (although not as black as Guinness), quite old-fashioned, definitely on the sweet side. It's brewed here in Austria and called "Bischofsbräu" or "Doppelmalz" or the like. This, in combination with blue cheese - mild, medium or strong -, is a phantastic pairing.

M.

Is it creamy? If it is, that sounds to my like an oatmeal stout could substitute well.

Outstanding, I would have never thought of that -- I'll have to try it.

As for pairings, I can't think of a liquid that goes better with curry or kebabs than an India Pale Ale, aside from perhaps a Mango Lahssi.

-- kov

Don't know, I never had an oatmeal beer. Only one (house) brewery brews such a beer here, but I have never come across.

I just talke to Conrad Seidl, Austria's Michael Jackson (the one writing about beer, not the child molester), and he said oatmeal stout or sweet stout would go quite well.

What I am talking about - sweet, dark lager, in fact - is brewed just like a standard lager, just with the addition of mucho caramel malt, the latter bringing both colour and sweetness.

HTH,

M.

I was recently introduced to an interesting Burgenland-wine/chili-food combination that I bet is not new to you: Roter Muskateller from Kloster am Spitz. The food was chili (and spices) dominated and included different starters (duck, rabbit, bitter melon, tripe, broad beans), followed by really hot chicken, frogs and few other things I have forgotten. But I will keep the wine in mind: a very nice discovery.

The combination is new to me (since I haven't eaten at the Schwarz's for over two years), but not the wine. Here is my TN from early springtime 2003, the vintage being 2002:

| (Rosenmuskateller, die Setzlinge von der Laimburg in Südtirol; | Lese ohne Botrytis, 21,5 °KMW, gleichgepresst wie Rosé, 43,5 RZ, | 12,7 % vol.) Attraktives, archetypisches Rosa; frische, | hochfeine ganz zarte Muskatellernase; beschwingte, dezent süße | Frucht, bei allem Alkohol auch elegant.

It says that the variety is moscato rosa, the vines coming directly from the nursery in Laimburg Castle, Alto Adige, Italy. The grapes were harvested at 25.3 Brix without botrytis, were pressed immediately (like rosé), the wine has 12.7 percent of alcohol and 4.35 percent of residual sugar. Attracive, achetypical rose hue; fresh and elegant muscat aromas; animated, discreet fruit, in spite of the alcohol quite elegant.

M.