Venison Chili

Well, I was going to continue an exploration of tipping, but who wants to beat a dead cliché? Perversely, I do. But not today.

Instead, I’ll show-and-tell you some venison chili I made this weekend. I was off work for a brief break for music, and withdrawal was setting in. We’re having the wrong sort of weather in my city for this stuff, but a bowl followed by a siesta hits the spot.
A cook friend of mine gave me some deer sausage, cube steak, and stewing meat a few weeks ago, and I had some trimmings from a side of top sirloin I butchered to make biltong. Chipotle, serrano, and dried bird’s-eye peppers provide the heat. No beans. New Belgium’s Fat Tire covers the obligatory (for me) beer element, and also imparts a subtle malt coriander flavor. Trinity provides the base (onions, carrots, and green bells). Lead spice notes are cumin, chili powder, and some secret, work-related spice mix. Tomato paste and canned tomato build body.

By no means traditional, but by no means inferior.
I tried a little trick – after a few hours of cooking I used some white rice flour (made by grinding 1/4 cup of basmati rice in a coffee grinder) to thicken it. The rice instantly thickens the sauce, but it catches fairly easily and should only be added right at the end. Works very well. Sour cream and scallions round out the dish, served with sourdough toast soldiers. Got me through SXSW.
Taste this: