(*NOTE* Article first appeared in early November.) Some of you lucky souls have already harvested and processed your 2017 deer. My first chance at tagging a whitetail comes in a week when I head to Big Horn Outfitters in Wyoming. It will be my first mountain terrain hunt. I’m both anxious and excited as this could be my first whitetail. To up my chances I’m taking along my new “venison cuisine machine”, a.k.a. my Weatherby Camilla Mark V Subalpine outfitted with Leupold optics; a VX5HD with a custom dial. And, Sitka’s high-performance Subalpine women’s gear system will provide utmost flexibility, and comfort. While awaiting my departure, I’m cleaning out the last pounds of stew meat and burger from my freezer. This weekend I made a comforting chili that tastes as good as it looks. All you need is a couple slices of crusty griddled bread and a pair of paws to dig in. This right here is some knuckle sucking good vittles worthy of mountain deer camp, or the 2018 Super Bowl coming to icy Minnesota. Crack a can of Miller High Life and you are golden, baby!
Ingredients:
2 lbs. ground venison
½ lb venison stew meat
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
½ diced red pepper
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 chipotle pepper, dried
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon oregano
2 teaspoons salt
½ cup hominy
1 cup beef stock
¾ cup red wine
1 ¾ cup tomato sauce
1 14.5 oz. can fire-roasted diced tomatoes with juice
1 15 oz. can pinto beans with liquid
1 loaf rustic bread-sliced
METHOD
-Heat oil in large Dutch oven pot over medium high. Add onions, garlic and red pepper and cook for about 5 minutes until softened, stirring as needed. Mix in garlic and cook for another minute
-Add stew meat to pot and brown. Add ground venison to pot breaking up into chunks. Brown beef for approximately 12 to 15 minutes or until no longer pink.
-Add chili powder, cumin, paprika, oregano and salt to venison mixture and continue to cook, stirring constantly, until spices begin to bloom and become fragrant, about 2 minutes.
-To pot, add hominy, red wine, beef stock, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and beans with liquid. Bring to a boil and then put lid on Dutch oven and transfer to a 275 F degree oven for approximately 2 hours. Remove, uncover and continue to simmer over low flame until sauce is thickened. (Go here for more on Hominy.)
-Serve with griddle grilled homemade bread, sharp cheddar cheese, jalapenos, sour cream and a squish of lime. No silverware required!
To make your own crusty, rustic loaf of bread to serve with this wild game recipe and many others, check out this post.
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