Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Jason Style Chili

OK, so Jamie shot a deer and got like 40 pounds of ground venison. What better to make than my famous (locally) deer chili. I made it about 6-8 months ago and forgot the recipe. This time I used a recipe online and heavily modified it to my liking. I made up a batch the other night and it was awesome! I am going to make up a batch today. This time I wrote down the ingredients and directions for future use. Some of the ingredients are a bit odd but trust me, this chili is the best! Steer clear if you are a vegetarian though as it has 4 pounds of meat in it. :) Here it is in its full glory:


Jason Style Chili

Ingredients:

- 3 Pounds of ground meat – Venison is best! (If not using venison use 2 pounds of hamburger and 1 pound of ground pork)

- 1 pound of bacon – Smoked is best

- ¼ cup of honey

- 1 can chili beans in mild sauce

- 1 can dark red kidney beans

- 2 cans of stewed tomatoes 14.5 oz

- 4 cloves of garlic finely chopped

- 1 Vidalia onion finely chopped

- 1 Lime

- 1 teaspoon of Angostura bitters

- 1 cup of water

- 1 bottle or can of 12oz beer (I use Labatt Blue)

- ¼ cup of olive oil (you can use vegetable oil also)

- 3 tablespoons of chili powder

- 6 beef bouillon cubes (or 2 tablespoons of instant beef bouillion. Cubes are better)

- 2 tablespoons of cumin, ground

- 2 teaspoons of paprika

- 2 teaspoons of oregano leaves

- ½ teaspoon of coriander, ground

- 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa

- 1 teaspoon of hot sauce(this will not make the chili hot, trust me)

- 1 teaspoon of cornmeal

- 1 teaspoon of flour

- 1 teaspoon of warn water

Directions

Step 1 – Cook the bacon. Personally I like to fry bacon because I like my bacon kind of soft, not real crispy. To stick to the recipe, fry the bacon and drain the grease. If you really want it crispy then bake it in the oven.

Step 2 – Peel and finely chop the onion and the garlic cloves.

Step 3 – Brown the 3 pounds of ground meat. Halfway through the browning process, add your onion and the garlic. If you are using venison then you shouldn’t have to drain the grease because there normally isn’t any. If you are using hamburger / pork then drain.

Step 4 – Get your large pot out (not the doobie kind). I use 5 ½ quart / 5.2 Liters. This size works good.

Step 5 – Take the bacon and tear it up (not eat it, unless you took out the wrong pot). You can usually rip a piece of bacon into 4 or 5 one inch pieces.

Step 6 – Put the bacon, ground meat / onion garlic mix into the pot.

Step 7 – Add the beer (no tasting!), water, honey, both cans of beans (do not drain the juice from the cans of beans), olive oil, honey, bitters, both cans of stewed tomatoes (also do not drain), chili powder, bouillon, cumin, paprika, oregano leaves, coriander, unsweetened cocoa, juice from one lime, and hot sauce.

Step 8 – Stir everything together really well (colorful huh?).

Step 9 – Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer, covered for 2 hours. (Stir well every 15 minutes or so).

Step 10 – Get a bowl (again not that kind) and stir in the warm water, cornmeal and flour.

Step 11 – Stir the mixture into the chili and cook covered for an additional 20 minutes (stirring once).

Step 12 – Enjoy! If made right, this will be a great chili that everyone can enjoy. It will be somewhat sweet and somewhat spicy, but not hot. I like to add hot sauce and shredded cheese to mine!