Chili tonite

Hi Dick,

I went for the Ravenswood Zin. My friend said he had the beer ready but we still went for wine. Stood up well against the spicy sauce. I give it a B.

Funny thing was a few said the Ravenswood might be a bit "wimpy". Will I was eating I looked at the bottom of the bottle. It said " Not A Wimpy Wine" ;-)

talk at ya later Dick

I originally posted this at 2.24 PM today, but it never showed up in AFW?

Hey Larry! How was the chili? Did you have wine or beer, or a little/lot of each? What do you think? Good party?

Dick R.

The original post from Larry on 10/02/2004: Going to friends tonite for a simple meal of chili. I have Zinfandel, Shiraz, Pinot and Cabernets in my cellar. I'm leaning toward the Ravenswood Zin because i had it before with a spicy food that had a tomato base( and hot peppers added) and it stood up ok.

Would really like to take a red wine but experience of others might have beer prevail. Thoughts/advice?

Larry Southern Ontario

Which Ravenswood did you open?

As for the "wimpy wines," it has a marketing tag to have international red circle with diagonal red slash, with the words, "wimpy wines," that Ravenswood has used for some years. They usually have something to that effect on most of their ads, posters, and around the tasting room. I think that the references were definitely tongue (Zin stained tongue at that), in cheek.

Hunt

Hi Ed,

Any cooking tips on doin' it right (the NM way)? I live in Chicago (all my life) and must have been to dozens of Mexican restaurants over the years. Never impressed (4-stars) here in Chicago (even at the places famed to be "the best" in town). However, there was one NM-based chain that I did enjoy in Phoenix quite a lot. Also not worth of 4-stars (though I'm a tough grader), it was, however, one of the best chain-restaurants I've ever eaten at, and certainly put even Chicago's best to shame. I know what you mean about the "core warmth," though I've never been able to produce it either (in my limited attempts at cooking Mexican). Thanks in advance.

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I'd suggest that you start by familiarizing yourself with some of the options among chiles (not chilis)--I'm speaking of the various peppers used in SW cooking. Mark Miller, of Coyote Cafe fame--originally in Santa Fe but now in a number of other venues including LA and Vegas--has an excellent little book out on the various peppers. It provides color pictures, relative sizes, a discussion of heat and some of the flavor nuances.

You'll quickly discover that peppers are a lot like wine, in that they offer distinct characteristics and flavors when used in cooking.

Then, you can start to explore the flavors with your own recipes and your own tolerance for heat. You can mail order dried peppers of the various types from Coyote Cafe and in most big cities you can now find most of them available in gourmet grocery stores like Whole Foods or Wild Oat Market.

There's hope for us Chicago boys (I grew up on the NW side of town in the Milwaukee and Lawrence neighborhood--went to St. Pat's HS on Belmont and graduated from IIT on 33rd & State.) Also spent a lot of time in Phoenix/Mesa/Chandler/Gilbert/Apache Junction.

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