venison chili

I’m slowly finishing up the various cuts of venison my husband’s friend shared with us. Recently I used the ground venison for chili. I did an internet search and found a recipe that used common pantry items. The recipe is from a a website called Fox Valley Foodie. It was an excellent recipe and quite tasty. The recipe needed to simmer for three hours, so this would be a do ahead meal. 

The recipe called for two pounds of ground venison. Our friend must have included some type of ground fat in the venison (you could literally see it) straight venison would be too lean. Besides the venison, the recipe called for one 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes, 2-cans of chili beans, 1-15 ounce tomato sauce, 1-6 ounce can tomato paste, red onions, poblano peppers, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, beef broth and flour. Due to my oversight, I unintentionally misread the recipe and adjusted a few quantities and omitted some. For starters I purchased two cans of diced tomatoes, omitted the tomato sauce, used yellow onions not red, red kidney not chili beans, omitted the flour and used approximately 1-1/2 cups of beef broth. With these changes my 8 quart Dutch oven was filled to the brim!

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The chili seasoning for the recipe called for both 1-1/2 tablespoons of kosher salt and cumin. I reduced that to a teaspoon and felt I could always add more. Also needed was oregano, chili powder, onion powder, paprika, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, fresh ground black pepper and 2 bay leaves. 

The first thing I did was to sauté both the peppers and onions together to soften and get some color. Next, the ground venison was added. Once the venison had some color, I cleared a spot in the pot and cooked the chili seasoning to bloom the spices. I did the same thing with the tomato paste to remove some of the raw tomato taste. Once that was complete the balance of the ingredients went into the pot. To complicate matters, the pork dinner that I was going to prepare afterwards for supper that evening was also misread, the meat had to marinate for two hours or overnight! Therefore, the chili was cooked for just two hours before being devoured by my husband and I. 

Despite my miscues, this was a delicious and flavorful chili. The sauce wasn’t too loose and it had lots of flavor. The author of the recipe says he obsesses over each of his recipes and previously owned a gourmet burger food truck. His recipe, despite my missteps, was hearty and wonderful. So if you want try something different with lean ground wild game, try Fox Valley Foodie’s recipe. For wild game, John’s Meat Market in Scotch Plains, NJ could be your source. Venison is low in carbohydrates and high in protein. Your family won’t be able to tell the difference between the beef and venison.