By Barbara Winters
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| VENISON CHILI |
Her: "You like derr?"
Me: "What?"
Her: "The derr? You like the derr meat?"
Me: "Oh, yes, yes we do. Especially the sausage."
Her: "Jose's cousin goes hunting and he brings us the... the derr heep."
Me: "Mm hmm."
Her: "Joo know. The heep."
Me: "Oh, yeah, the hip, ok, the haunch."
Her: "Jess. But two is too much."
Me: "I'd think so."
Her: "Joo wan' one?"
Me: "Ah... Sure, that would be good."
So I got a very solidly frozen package of deer meat and began asking myself what we were going to do with it.
I texted my husband that we had this and what should we do? He said, "Stew. Or chili."
Well chili sounded fascinating. I began to explore the recipes for venison chili online and they seemed to be the same as beef chili. I fell back on my absolute favorite chili recipe which I've used for ages. It calls for 2 lbs. ofstew beef, shredded. We ended up with 2 1/4 lbs of venison. My husband gave it a brief time on the smoker for
a little bit of extra flavor first.
2 lbs. lean meat
1/3 cup chili powder
2 teaspoons paprika
1/2 teaspoon onion flakes
1/2 teaspoon garlic flakes
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
2 tablespoons masa flour (corn flour)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne (optional)
2 cups picante sauce or salsa
2 cups water
Brown the meat and drain off fat. In a Dutch oven, combine meat, water and salsa. Bring to a simmer.
Ladle off 1 cup of hot liquid into a bowl and whisk thoroughly with the masa flour. Slowly stir in to thicken.
Spread the cumin in a small pan and toast it over medium high heat, to bring out the flavor.
Add cumin and other ingredients. Simmer on low for 1/2 hour to an hour. Serves 8.
For hotter chili add jalapenos or more cayenne, to taste. Delicious ladled over cornbread.
*This recipe is taken from the pre-prepared mix credited to Carroll Shelby's Real Texas Chili.
