MY Venison Chili Recipe

I do NOT consider myself a cook (I'm a baker!). I've never really trusted myself to experiment with creating my own recipes because I can barely pull off a recipe written by a professional chef that has been reviewed by millions of at home cooks that have given it a hundred stars.

I cannot afford to mess up too much in the kitchen. Food is expensive and I have a picky six year old and a husband with a sensitive stomach. My culinary experimentation would not only mean money wasted, but that I would have to come up with an alternative to my initial disaster of a meal. No thank you.

Well, I've been pushing myself for quite sometime, to do new things. So far, things have gone pretty well. Saying yes to new ideas certainly has been a lot of fun. Yesterday, I did it again. In mid-recipe, I abandoned the instructions, and created my very own.

A few weeks ago, I harvested my first deer (a big doe). Now I have a freezer full of venison and have found myself in a brand new place in my culinary life. What to do with it all? I've never prepared venison before.

Before continuing, I must first say that harvesting that doe was one of the most meaningful experiences of my life. Really. Eating the venison that I hunted, has been humbling and has made me appreciate the food that I consume, in a way I've never felt before . Yes, I've gardened and eaten that bounty, but this is different.

Back to the recipe! I had plans for venison chili. I took out a pound of pure ground venison to defrost and then I did what I do best-I googled the heck out of my subject. I found a variety of interesting ideas. Recipes with wine, coffee, molasses, four types of hot peppers... They all appealed to me in one way or another.

I shopped and came home with it all. I still wasn't sure which route to go. Then finally, I decided on a recipe (with a million stars of approval), created by a famous chef, and went for it. I started with his recipe. Then I unexpectedly diverted from his fool proof plan and took charge of my culinary destiny. I thought about incorporating all of those delicious ideas of peppers, coffee, wine, and molasses into it...then I edited my enthusiasm a bit, and came up with this.

• 3 strips of bacon
• 1 pound of pure ground venison
• 1/3 cup chopped red onion
• 1 teaspoon of minced garlic
• 4 chipotle peppers (in adobo sauce)
• 1 cup Pinot Noir
• 1 (6 ounce) can of tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 (16 ounce) can chopped tomatoes
• 1 (16 ounce) can of plain tomato sauce
• 3-4 tablespoons of adobo sauce
• 1 quart of beef stock
• 1 can of black beans (rinsed and drained)
• 1 can of kidney beans (rinsed and drained)
• 
  

Directions

In a large saucepan, cook the bacon until the fat is rendered, 4 to 6 minutes. Remove the bacon and place it on a paper-lined plate to drain. Add the venison to the hot oil and cook it. Remove the venison from the pan and set aside. Add the onions, garlic, and chipotle peppers and saute over medium-low heat until tender. Stir in the wine and tomato paste. Bring the mixture to a boil. Stir in the dry spices and adobo sauce. Add half a can of each of the following: the chopped tomatoes, tomato sauce, and the beef stock. Simmer uncovered for 35 to 45 minutes, or until the sauce is very thick. Add the venison, bacon, kidney and black beans to the pot and cook, stirring, until just cooked through and hot, 3 to 4 minutes. Place it in a crock pot on "warm"and add the second half of the chopped tomatoes, tomato sauce, and beef stock. Stir and go about your day and ignore it.

THE VERDICT:

Ava, of course would not touch it. She's never eaten chili and today wasn't going to be the day she would start. She did take a bite of a corn muffin and didn't like them because, "There are actual corn kernels in this!? They aren't flat on top, they are lumpy. I ONLY like corn muffins without corn in them that are smooth on top." She dined on yogurt and m&m's for dinner.

Audrey, my "eats ANYthing", proclaimed it to be excruciatingly hot (spicy), gagged, guzzled her water, refilled her water, then added so much sour cream and cheddar cheese that the chili turned an ugly shade of some never before seen color, said the corn muffins were, "of NO help!!", then scowled at me and got very mad. Wow. She was really pissed. She, "...had been looking SO forward to this chili!!!" and I completely ruined it for her and disappointed her in the most grandiose way, EVER .

What a doozy of a dinner. Eric still wasn't home from work and was missing all of this. I found the chili to be on the spicy side, but in a good way. I did dread his response. Mr. sensitive stomach. Yes, I put onions, garlic, cayenne pepper, chipotle peppers, and adobo sauce in this concoction of mine. He would not only hate my dish and offer his "constructive criticism", but he might also die from it.

As I was finishing up, I heard the garage door open. I quickly started to get everything off of the table. I already had my little speech worded in my head about how I would explain to Eric that I went a little overboard in the spice department and how even Audrey wouldn't eat it. I knew it would destroy his system and I didn't want to be responsible for an evening of his suffering.

He came in and Audrey immediately started with, "DO WE HAVE ANY EGGS?!!? WHAT ABOUT BACON??!! DO WE? DO WE? I GUESS I'M GOING TO HAVE TO MAKE MY OWN DINNER! WHAT PAN SHOULD I MAKE MY POACHED EGGS IN?!". Yay. This is exactly how Eric likes to be welcomed home after a long day at work-attitude from a ten year old and an undigestible dinner from his wife. Ava made her presence know by asking me non-stop when was I going to go through the Christmas ornaments so that she could go upstairs and decorate her tree. NON-STOP.

Much to my surprise, Eric wasn't the least bit deterred from trying my horrendous chili. He lifted the lid off of the crock pot and said it smelled amazing. Despite the mass chaos, he was smiling and happy. "Just wait until you actually taste it", I thought. He got a big bowl of it and grabbed one of the lumpy corn muffins. I warned him and the slamming of pots and pans as Audrey made her dinner, did too.

He didn't hesitate with his response. He LOVED it. I eagerly waited for the fire to kick in. That's when he would realize it was awful. Nothing. He took another bite. He loved it even more. Audrey was incredulous. "HOW can you like THAT?!" He actually defended my chili. I'm so used to defending my own cooking. This was so different. I sat down with my husband while he ate, and Ava continued with her ornament plea, and Audrey's temper cooled down.

You know when foodies talk about food and they discuss the aroma, flavors, and textures in such a way, you surely believe your taste buds are just plain stupid or lacking because they had never been touched by this intoxicating poetry of flavor described? Why bother, to even eat? I don't even know how to taste food properly...

Well, this chili... it made me a believer. A believer in my skills and in my palate. I've spent my life trying to please others in my kitchen, copying the masters, and always coming up short. I finally did what I've been hesitant to do, and that is to cook to please myself. I always felt that to do so, would be selfish and wouldn't be well received.

While I'm still high off of my success, I plan on going about cooking in my own way. Maybe Eric will suddenly find, "just a salad?" a filling evening meal. I might make breakfast feel like dinner and not be chastised. I still will google the heck out of my ideas, but now, I have the confidence to diverge from the "tried and true" and create my own "delights and disasters".