Your Best Venison Chili: A Framework

Five kinds of Mexican peppers frame up this smoldering bowl

Well, this should start an argument. Chili.

What’s in and what’s out? Meat and beans, just meat, or just beans? Which meat? You can use pretty much any protein you like from bear to hare, turkey to wild hogs, elk, antelope or moose would make a fine choice. Grind, dice or shred meat? There is no argument about chili and onions, but what kind of chili specifically and how much exactly? Tomatoes?

mexican-chillies — Here are six different Mexican chilies plus a fiery Asian one for visual reference.

My chili is made with venison, a young white-tailed doe to be specific. And more specifically it was grind from a fully boned shoulder. Everything here adds layers of flavour. If chilies are the framework of this pot, there are five main beams in this bowl build plus a sweet smoky paprika. I raided my pantry and found six different chili peppers from mild to medium hot (skip the Tsin Tien asian chilies––they’re dynamite.) See the photo and labels to get an idea of each one’s heat index. Molasses lends a bit of sweet depth, smoked salt builds on the smoke of chili, bacon ends adds another layer of smoke and rich moisture to lean venison, tomato paste and tomatoes add umami and liquid and the onions and garlic add more sweet umami. I chose to add kidney beans.

Specific chilis hit receptors on different parts of your tongue: tip, middle and back. What we’re going for with this collection of peppers is to hit your whole tongue in a fully-rounded medium heat kind of way. Face it, if your mouth is blistering from chili fire, you’re going to miss the whole point of this dish. I headed for the high side of medium heat while maintaining the depth and deliciousness of a good bowl of chili.

But the point of chili is to suit yourself. I hope you like mine, but further, I hope you tweak it to make it your very own brag-able bowl.

Venison Chili

Serves 4-6

Equipment

Ninja Foodi or Instapot (on sear, then on slow-cook) or Skillet
Wooden spoon
Gram Scale
Can opener
Chef’s knife
Cutting Board
Bullet blender
Spatula

Ingredients for Chili

2 pounds of ground venison
1 large yellow onion, peeled and chopped
160 grams (6 ounces) of fatty bacon ends, chopped (or diced side bacon)
5 grams of smoked salt (a bit more than a teaspoon – remember the beans and canned tomatoes are salted)
2 tablespoons smoked sweet Hungarian paprika
1 tablespoon ground coriander
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 heaping tablespoons of the chili paste resulting from a mix of 2 each of the following peppers: Guajillo, Cascabel, Morita and Brown Chipotle, Ancho, Mulato (not Tsin Tien) seeded, chopped, covered in hot water, soaked for 30 minutes, and pureed. (You will have some chili paste left over to marinate your venison Fajita steak (stay tuned for that…)
19 oz can of kidney beans (I included the liquid, it’s salty—suit yourself)
5 cloves of garlic, peeled, smashed and chopped fine
1/2 a 28-oz can of whole tomatoes
Up to a quart of venison or beef stock as needed
Grated cheese and fresh cilantro for garnish

Here’s what the diced looks like. (Note my favourite knife a Wusthof chef’s knife.)

Method

Boil the kettle.
Remove seeds and stems from chilies and chop coarsely.
Cover with water and let hydrate at least 30 minutes.
Chop bacon and start it over high heat in the Ninja Foodi or medium-high for the skillet on a burner. Add onions as soon as the bacon starts to crisp, then add meat, continue on high and brown well. (The Ninja Foodi, like the Insta Pot, has both a sear and a slow-cook feature. I gave the Ninja a try for this recipe. While the sear function worked just fine browning the meat surprisingly well, the slow cook was a bit slow for me, so I hauled out my Lodge cast iron and finished the chili at 325 F in the gas oven for three hours.)

slow-cook — Slow cookers make me nervous: they’re too slow. I prefer heat I can see and Lodge cast iron.

Add garlic and other spices toward the end of the meat cooking and turn the heat down to medium.
Puree reconstituted peppers, add two heaping tablespoons of peppers to the mix and stir well. (Start here and add more, or not, guided by your tastebuds––proceed with caution––you’ve been warned.)
Add the undrained beans, tomato paste and tomatoes. (I like the addition of the bean liquid. Note it contains salt. Suit yourself.)
Bring to a simmer, check the taste of the chili, add salt if required, and a bit of venison stock to suit.
Dish up and garnish with some fresh cilantro and some shredded cheese.

What I like best about this chili is the process of dealing with and adding the combination of chilis in the form of a paste. The other ingredients make what is for me a near-perfect bowl of smoldering heat while leaving enough space to enjoy a round umami-rich flavour of venison and beans. Now, what’s left to argue about?