Saturday: Chili and Cornbread

Since it hasn't been cold, we haven't been doing the usual gamut of winter stews; so it's been almost a year since the last time I made chili. Somehow cornbread has also fallen through the cracks; I haven't done that for the same amount of time. Last night that changed.

For the chili I used ground beef, smoked ham, and a bit of salami as meats. I spiced it with toasted cumin, coriander, paprika, a couple cloves, and a pinch of cinnamon. For heat I added ground pasilla chile and dried chile de arbol and chile negro.

I made the standard cornbread recipe, using medium polenta as my cornmeal.

I also did a cabbage salad using some fresh sauerkraut, lemon juice, and cilantro.

Wine: Château Musar 1998. This is the big brother of the cuvee we had the week before last. I have to say that at least yesterday I didn't like it as much as the lower-priced version. Maybe the big wine needed more time, but yesterday it was very one-dimensional (oaky) and reminded me of some of my less favorite Valley of the Moon wines. We'll see what today brings.