There’s nothing quite like a steaming bowl of chili on a cold winter’s day.
And chili made with ground venison is comfort food in more ways than one. It’s tasty, warm and nourishing, and you get to relive last fall’s deer hunt with every bowl.
Each season we usually grind a few deer hams and shoulders into venison burger, and put about a pound of meat in each freezer storage bag. Tacos and sloppy joes are also very tasty when made with ground venison.
Here’s a basic venison chili recipe, written out here as a small batch. For more chili, just double or triple the amounts of each ingredient:
2 – Tablespoons olive oil
1 – 1-pound package of ground venison
1 – 15.5 – ounce can of chili beans, red beans in medium sauce
1 – 14.5 – ounce can diced tomatoes or a pint of homemade canned tomatoes (cut into chunks)
1 – 6-ounce can of tomato paste
1 – medium onion, chopped
2 – Tablespoons (one ounce) of chili powder
4 to 6 ounces of thin spaghetti, broken into 3-inch pieces
2/3 – cup of mild bell peppers (red, yellow or green) chopped
1 – cup of water
Salt and pepper to tasteSaute onions and peppers in olive oil, with salt and pepper. Add ground venison and brown. Add water, chili powder, chopped tomatoes and tomato paste, and beans. Bring to a boil, then cover, and simmer on low heat for about an hour. Add more water if needed.
In a 3-quart pan, boil 4 to 6 ounces of thin spaghetti in water, with a Tablespoon of olive oil added. When the spaghetti is done, drain and add to chili about 15 minutes before chili is finished cooking.
Serve chili with saltine crackers and Louisiana pepper sauce.
Regional Preferences
If you’ve ever been to a chili cookoff you know there are many variations, with a wide range of ingredients added to the meat and tomato base, depending on regional preferences.
I grew up in Louisville, and the way my family made chili was influenced by Cincinnati-style chili.
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Our chili had beans and spaghetti, but we added the cooked spaghetti to the chili, rather than serving the chili on top of the spaghetti. Grated cheddar cheese and Oyster crackers were sprinkled on top of each bowl.
Another difference was the herbs and spices added to the sauce. My parents insisted that we only use Bloemer’s Chile Powder. This fourth generation company was started in Louisville, in 1919, by Frank B. Bloemer, Sr., who made a chile base in the back of his neighborhood grocery store. For more information visit: http://bloemerfoods.com.
Cincinnati-style Chili
When my wife and I sold our home in Louisville and bought a farm in northcentral Kentucky’s deer country, the venison chili she began making for us was even closer to what we know of today as Cincinnati-style chili. She added garlic and cinnamon to her chili.
Real honest-to-goodness Cincinnati-style chili, made with ground round or sirloin (beef), also has has vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, cocoa powder, ground cumin, allspice and bay leaves in its recipe.
Maggie Brown, who lives in northern Kentucky, gives a short history of Cincinnati-style chili and the recipe, with cooking instructions, in her book The Kentucky Fresh Cookbook.
Published in 2011 by the University Press of Kentucky, this cookbook ($29.95) is filled with over 200 regional favorites, for every season of the year. For more information, and to order online, visit: http://www.kentuckypress.com/ Search The Kentucky Fresh Cookbook.
Chili is a seasonal favorite, and when it’s made with ground venison, it makes everyday meals a special occasion.
Art Lander Jr. is outdoors editor for NKyTribune and KyForward. He is a native Kentuckian, a graduate of Western Kentucky University and a life-long hunter, angler, gardener and nature enthusiast. He has worked as a newspaper columnist, magazine journalist and author and is a former staff writer for Kentucky Afield Magazine, editor of the annual Kentucky Hunting & Trapping Guide and Kentucky Spring Hunting Guide, and co-writer of the Kentucky Afield Outdoors newspaper column.