6 Chilli Venison Chilli

I have a love-hate relationship with venison. Good venison is expensive and hard to come by. The standard of lots of the venison sold in Irish butcher shops is, in my experience, variable at best. Buying from a good, reputable butcher is important, if one want’s to avoid some of the pitfalls. Having said that, I have no issue with the lovely venison meat in this post. I got it specifically to make a chilli with layers of flavour built by using a range of chillis. Don’t be afraid to experiment with the different types of dried Mexican chillis. They can offer great variety of flavour and a warming depth to any stew.

The chillis I used were as follows: Chipotle Morita, Mulato, Guajillo, Ancho and Pasilla. Anybody who knows their Mexican chillis will agree that this mixture will deliver a lovely set of flavours to any chilli. Now, here’s the ingredients list:

Ingredients

  • 1 kilo of venison meat, cubed
  • 500 gms of venison meat, ground
  • 500ml of good quality venison or beef stock
  • Chorizo or ordinary bacon lardons
  • 500 gms of kidney beans
  • 4 large onions
  • 5 or 6 garlic cloves
  • 20 gms achiote paste
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • 1 teaspoon of black pepper
  • 6 types of chilli (2 each of the large ones 4 to 6 of the smaller)
  • 2 bottles of beer
  • 2 tins (400gms each) of plum tomatoes

Remove the stalks (and the seeds if you want a milder dish) from the chillis. Add hot water and soak for about 30 minutes. Use this time to chop the onions into bite-sized pieces and to add the lardons to a large casserole ahead of browning them and then the venison.

A good browning will help develop flavour.

Chop the garlic small. Fry off the onions and garlic over a medium heat before adding them and all the other ingredients bar the beer to the browned venison.

Adding the onions.

I couldn’t resist taking a couple of pouring shots. These are more for my amusement than yours. Please bear with me.

This is a lovely home-made beef stock.

 

Those tomatoes are a tricky enought thing to photograph. They certainly won’t g back in the bowl for a second attempt.

Use some of the beer to deglaze the onion pan. Add this to the mix along with the balance of the beer.

This turns to a lovely brown paste.

Place the chillis and the soaking water in a blender. Blitz until you have a pungent, gloopy paste. Then add this to the casserole and stir to combine the ingredients.

This is what the paste looks like after blending. The aromas are eye-watering.

Bring this to a boil. Pop on a lid and transfer to a 165ºC/330ºF fan oven for about three hours. At this stage, add the kidney beans. The beans add a good bit of carbohydrate to the chilli and, if you rehydrate your own, a good deal of goodness too.

Return this to the oven and leave it alone for about an hour. You should end up with a fine flavour filled chilli that will feed six to eight hungry adults. As I cooked this during the third lockdown, it fed two of us twice with another round waiting in the freezer. I served it with some buttered Naan breads and some grated Cheddar cheese. It would be just as nice served with corn bread, rice or a nice crusty roll.

Really lovely with a nice bit of cheese grated over. OR, try some clotted cream.

I really do encourage you to experiment with the chillis. The flavours are amazing. Just be sure to buy good venison.

Written by
Latest comments
  • Gorgeous recipe and your usual stellar photos, Conor.

  • The onion pour shot is especially good!

  • Super! I wish I had some venison.

  • You will have to take up poaching! That looks delicious.

      • Get a little trailer for the back of your bike!

  • This is one I’ll have to admire from afar… No venison, no chillis. I liked the tomato pouring shot, with those long ribbons of tomato juice twining down.

  • Beautiful photos! It’s so funny cause in the U.S. our chili con carne has one “l” and we spell your chillis chile peppers. Sometimes it throws me off. Looks like you’ve really learned your Mexican chile peppers. I’ll just have to make your version. I’ve never made one with venison.

  • As a chili aficionado, I definitely approve! 🙂 One of the best chilis I ever had was one made with some very fresh venison. I like the two cuts of meat. I’ve always used one or the other, depending on my mood and the kind of chili I’m making. I’ve never thought of incorporating both in the same pot. I also like using a variety of chiles and I usually do a quick toasting of them in a dry pan prior to giving them their soak.

  • *;augh* I know it looks as if original thought has left me and I am copying Kate ! Well I guess I am – no venison, virtually no chillies !! Have used dry ancho and chipotle in trying to copy Mexican fare. And I too clap at your ever increasing ability to produce the best ‘pouring shots’ on foodie posts ! Hmm – shall have a later look at your appetizing dish . . . some form of interesting translations may be possible . . . ! . . be well . . .

  • Well this sounds amazingly tasty. I’ve never had venison but I’m sure it’s good.

  • Conor, I’m a grand lover of both chilli and venison. Luckily we have very good quality fresh venison when it’s in season. We also have farm raised red deer available all year, but I like the fresh hunted wild variety. I wish I could easily acquire the peppers. I may have to make it two chilli chilli…

Join the conversation, you know you want to....

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d bloggers like this: