Well.....
 

....it's THAT time of year again!

Yep, the Peckers will be meeting the Thieves in the stupid bowl in a
coupleafew weeks or so and Larry bought a tag, and Russ shot the
varmint, and I butchered and sliced and diced and wrapped and froze
the damned thing. Nothing left to do but whip up a mess of chili in
anticipation of the great.....um.....whateverthehell it is I just
forgot.


And so, ever mindful of the fact that you can never step in the same
kitchen twice (especially if I have been there between visits), we
bring you......wait for it.....venison chili!

HUZZAH! :)

Two, three, four pounds of venison.....RELIGIOUSLY! trimmed of all
fat, sinew, cartilage, blood clots and other bullet damage, tendons,
hair, skin, etc.
One bigass (or more or less) yellow (or other) onion.
As much garlic as you can stand.
Six or so 15ish ounce cans of diced tomatoes (or the equivalent in
fresh REAL tomatoes.....for those of you whom we would cheerfully kill
for it).
2, 3, 4 fresh medium tomatillos.
Some (more or less) freshly ground cumin.
Ditto cinnamon.
Ditto coriander.
Ditto clove.....if you've got it. I didn't :(
Salt, no duh.....and pepper.....ditto, to taste.
Pepitas, hazels, almonds, wallys,.....etc., whatever happens to be
lying about unused this late in the season.
Celery leaves, minced very fine.....don't be stingy.....you cheap
*******.
6, 8, or twelve ancho chilis.....depending on size and personal
tastes. Personally, I'd recommend 10, 12, or 16......if you're really
interested in making chili.
A couple or three glasses of cheap red wine (to be ingested directly
in process.....why waste it on something you probably wouldn't taste
anyway if you drank it while cooking.....right?).

Um.....

Oh yeah, chocolate. Well, "cocoa powder" (which is chocolate, sans
additives.....more or less) to taste. A tablespoon or two or
three.....hey, it's YOUR chili.....right?
Maybe a bit of brown sugar if the tomatillos add a wee bit too much
brightness.

Hm.....

Yeah, that's pretty much it.....if memory serves (it's been a long
time.....started three or four hours ago.....and getting VERY hungry
long about now!).

Treat and combine all ingredients in the usual manner and serve over
vehicle of choice. Rice is a classic, noodles work just fine,
potatoes, sweet potatoes (or yams.....like there's REALLY
difference.....right?), tortillas, cauliflower, polenta, rutabagas, or
other starchy substrate of choice all work just fine.

Serve with.....well, ****, do I have to tell you EVERYTHING?! :(

giles
and let me know how it goes.....soon.....i'm getting real hungry here.

Well.....
 

On Jan 25, 5:45*pm, Giles wrote:

chili!

Six or so 15ish ounce cans of diced tomatoes (or the equivalent in
fresh REAL tomatoes.....for those of you whom we would cheerfully kill
for it).

Ditto cinnamon.

6, 8, or twelve ancho chilis.....depending on size and personal
tastes. *Personally, I'd recommend 10, 12, or 16......if you're really
interested in making chili.

I'm sure it tastes just dandy but................you just described
tomato soup with chilis'

If you're really interested in making chili you omit the tomato and
use a chili paste, preferably home made with a mixture of chili's. And
save the freeking cinnamon for toast, rolls, and that stuff they call
chili in SW Ohio.

At least you left out the beans.

this is public service announcement from the Indianapolis chapter of
chili snobs.

Well.....
 

On Jan 26, 10:00*pm, Wayne Knight wrote:

I'm sure it tastes just dandy but................you just described
tomato soup with chilis'

If you're really interested in making chili you omit the tomato and
use a chili paste, preferably home made with a mixture of chili's. And
save the freeking cinnamon for toast, rolls, and that stuff they call
chili in SW Ohio.

At least you left out the beans.

this is public service announcement from the Indianapolis chapter of
chili snobs.

Mmmmmm.....chili! :)

Chili is arguably the most arguable subject in culinary history. Not
too surprising given that there is no one and only original recipe,
and that there are, at the very least, millions of "World's Best!!"
recipes floating around. Hell, we've got to have tens of thousands of
those right here in Curdistan, not quite, not yet, recognized
everywhere as the chili capitol of the world.

It would appear that about the only thing that everyone SHOULD be able
to agree on is that a recipe must contain chilis of one sort or
another, or at least parts thereof or something derived therefrom in
order for the name "chili" (and, lest there be any misunderstanding,
no, I am not interested in anyone's fulminations on how the name of
the finished product or its essential constituent element should be
spelled) to make any kind of sense. But even this is too much to
ask......names don't have to make any kind of sense at all.

Nevertheless, a lot of the arguments make sense.....as long as one
bears in mind that, carefully parsed, they virtually always yield
something very much like "this is the way I like it and thus, so
should you".

The injunction against tomatoes, one encounter frequently. Frankly, I
can't even comprehend the rationale (whatever it might be in any
particular instance) even when explained in comprehensible terms (a
rare enough occurence), let alone agree. Tomatoes and chilis are a
marriage made in heaven.....let no man put them asunder!

Chili paste.....hm. Well, I wash the chilis, soak them, remove seeds
and membranes, cut them into smallish pieces and then whir them around
in the blander for a while with a bit of the soaking water. The
result comes out thick enough to be called a paste, I guess.

The cinnamon is something I use sometimes....and sometimes not.....and
in varying quantities. Pretty much true of all the other herbs and
spices used in the mixture.....cardamom, clove, coriander, oregano,
rosemary, paprika, mint, thyme, cilantro, parsley, celery,
anise.....and other things as supply and caprice dictate. The only
invariable ingredient on the spcie and herb list is cumin.....never
make chili without it. Salt, pepper (the seed, whether black white,
green, or whatever), onion, and garlic don't count; these are not
spices, they are staples.

The chilis, incidentally, are also highly variable, anchos being the
sole exception.....they are ALWAYS the primary.

Beans, yeah. I never cook chili with beans. Beans are impossible to
break of the habit of continuing to disentegrate long after the
initial cooking. After one night in the refrigerator they have
already ruined the original texture of the chili, and things just keep
getting worse as long as the leftovers last. Freezing will not stop
the process. But beans are GOOD! in chili. The solution is to cook
the beans separately and then serve the chili over them. Of course,
this does not preclude the use of other outstanding vehicles for
chili.....rice, pasta, potatoes, tortillas (and virtually ANY other
breadlike substance), lettuce leaves, chips, a slab of meat, fish,
cauliflower......pretty much anything.

Lots of variables. About the only thing that is certain.....written
in stone, as it were.....is that if the discussion goes on for a while
some ****wit WILL spoil the whole thing by bleating "authenticity."

giles
who, all that said, will, if approached with a suitable fawning
reverence, reveal the one and only original, authentic, and world's
best recipe for......wait for it.....STEW!

Well.....
 

On 1/27/2011 12:07 PM, Giles wrote:


Chili is arguably the most arguable subject in culinary history.


......have you forgotten Gumbo so quickly?g Then again, on this little
corner of the Internet, any foodstuff becomes an arguable topic. I
remember several days of bruschetta debate a while back. As for stew,
does your world's best recipe entail moose meat?

Tom

Well.....
 

On 1/27/2011 1:32 PM, Tom Littleton wrote:
On 1/27/2011 12:07 PM, Giles wrote:


Chili is arguably the most arguable subject in culinary history.


.....have you forgotten Gumbo so quickly?g Then again, on this little
corner of the Internet, any foodstuff becomes an arguable topic. I
remember several days of bruschetta debate a while back. As for stew,
does your world's best recipe entail moose meat?

Tom

that should have read 'include moose meat'. Sorry.

Tom

Well.....
 

On Jan 27, 12:33*pm, Tom Littleton wrote:
On 1/27/2011 1:32 PM, Tom Littleton wrote: On 1/27/2011 12:07 PM, Giles wrote:

Chili is arguably the most arguable subject in culinary history.

.....have you forgotten Gumbo so quickly?g Then again, on this little
corner of the Internet, any foodstuff becomes an arguable topic. I
remember several days of bruschetta debate a while back. As for stew,
does your world's best recipe entail moose meat?

Tom

that should have read 'include moose meat'. Sorry.

Works either way. Simply a matter of where one stands and which way
the moose was headed.

As to "Gumbo".....well, that's just chili.....without the chilis.

And the bruschetta debate, in the final analysis, revolved around the
question of whether or not one is an inescapably prissy doughboy from
a region that would have been better left as long-grass prairie, thus
eliminating the possibility that it would one day be guilty of housing
terrified blowhards.

Most of us, I am happy to report (and on good authority) are not.

giles
who feels it should not be necessary to point out that this leaves
open the possibility, nay, even the certainty, that some of
us.....indeed.....are.

Well.....
 

On Jan 27, 1:12*pm, Giles wrote:
On Jan 27, 12:33*pm, Tom Littleton wrote:

On 1/27/2011 1:32 PM, Tom Littleton wrote: On 1/27/2011 12:07 PM, Giles wrote:

Chili is arguably the most arguable subject in culinary history.

.....have you forgotten Gumbo so quickly?g Then again, on this little
corner of the Internet, any foodstuff becomes an arguable topic. I
remember several days of bruschetta debate a while back. As for stew,
does your world's best recipe entail moose meat?

Tom

that should have read 'include moose meat'. Sorry.

Works either way. *Simply a matter of where one stands and which way
the moose was headed.

As to "Gumbo".....well, that's just chili.....without the chilis.

And the bruschetta debate, in the final analysis, revolved around the
question of whether or not one is an inescapably prissy doughboy from
a region that would have been better left as long-grass prairie, thus
eliminating the possibility that it would one day be guilty of housing
terrified blowhards.

Most of us, I am happy to report (and on good authority) are not.

giles
who feels it should not be necessary to point out that this leaves
open the possibility, nay, even the certainty, that some of
us.....indeed.....are.

One hastens to add, lest erstwhile critics expose themselves
unnecesarily (yes, we already know you), that, yes, these too are
contentious issues, in some circles (where people are too dumb to
masturbate), but none of them approach the great chili debate in
breadth, depth, scope, magnitude, importance, illumination,
irrationality, bombastity (if one may be allowed to coin a
term.....assuming no one else did it first.....of course), murkiness,
lucidity, triviality, obtuseness, opacity, obscurantism, blind/stupid
faith, flatulence and downright cussidness.

giles
ask us about mustard greens sometime.....go on.....we dare ya! :)

Well.....
 

On 1/27/2011 2:24 PM, Giles wrote:

ask us about mustard greens sometime.....go on.....we dare ya! :)


who's we? And, no matter, you can have my share of mustard greens.
Tom

Well.....
 

On Jan 27, 5:22*pm, Tom Littleton wrote:
On 1/27/2011 2:24 PM, Giles wrote:

ask us about mustard greens sometime.....go on.....we dare ya! * * * :)

who's we?

Me and my shaaaaadooow.....

And, no matter, you can have my share of mustard greens.

I just did. About an hour ago.

No, seriously.

giles
and they were goooooood!