Chili

Posted byNoriePosted inbeef, RecipeTags:

You can have your deer processed by a butcher at a meat market or you can do it yourself.  We are do-it-yourselfers so we did our own butchering and processing of the deer we killed.  Grinding the venison, even with a professional heavy-duty meat grinder is a very trying and tiring task.  Venison meat has a lot of tendons and membrane in between the muscles that wrap around the grinder blade.  It then plugs up the holes of the grinder and the meat has a hard time pushing through.  Processing the venison and grinding it is another whole story.

  • 1 1/2 to 2 pounds of ground venison or beef
  • 3 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 1 can whole tomatoes, drained and cut up
  • 1-8oz. can tomato sauce.
  • 2 cups water (1 cup if using Instant Pot)
  • 4 TBS Chili Powder
  • 1 tsp. Cumin
  • 2 bay leaves
  • ½ tsp. cayenne pepper or red pepper powder
  • 1 ½ tsp. salt or to taste

Brown the meat in a hot skillet. Drain all the liquid.  Remove the meat from the skillet and set aside or use a different skillet to sauté the garlic.

In about 1 to 2 TBS cooking oil, sauté garlic until fragrant then add the onions.  Sauté until the onions are soft and transparent.  Add the browned and drained meat.  Add the tomatoes and the water. Heat till boiling and set to low.  Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer until done, 1 hour or 2.  Or cook in slow cooker 7 to 8 hours.

Venison meat is tougher than beef so I simmered this on low for about 2 hours.  The longer you cook it, the better. But do not cook on high heat or let boil.  It will get tougher.

If using an Instant Pot, add only 1 cup water and pressure cook for 45 minutes.

Add beans if desired but cook beans separately.  Garnish with chopped onions and shredded cheese.  It can be eaten with crackers, corn chips or Fritos.