My chili is more organic than yours!

As an active foodie and food blogger, I am well aware of the organic food movement sweeping the country. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but in general I don't partake. No, it's not because I have some problem with the philosophy or practice of sustainable agriculture. Mostly it's because I'm really cheap. Organic food, for all its benefits, is pretty darn expensive. I feel like the time is coming soon when it won't cost an arm and a leg for a cut of organic beef, but for right now I've found a better solution - wild game.

There are many of you who roll your eyes and make groaning noises when someone mentions hunting. Get over it. Hunting is practical, sustainable and fun. Long before anyone knew what a genetically modified organism was, wildlife officials were practicing effective, efficient management of the animal population. Besides, do you think that the packages of meat at the market are miraculously produced from good karma and fairy dust? No, animals have to die to give you your Thanksgiving turkey (warning - images of dead turkeys, but an interesting article).

Alright, enough pontificating. Now I can't say that I harvested the animal myself as I'm a terrible hunter. In fact, I wouldn't call what I do "hunting" so much as "armed hiking". One of my buddies is a terrific hunter and this year offered to give us a half of a deer (warning - image of a dead deer). He dropped our animal instantly, minimizing the gaminess of the meat. Nice shot!

So now I've got 40 lbs. of vacuum-packed venison chilling a hole in my freezer. Jenny and I have never cooked with wild game, so we've taken our first steps with the 10 lbs. of ground meat that came with our bounty. Venison is very similar to bison in that it's a deep red color, very lean and can dry out faster than you can say, "this meat cost me 83¢ a pound!" This sounds like a call for some chili.

Normally I make a pretty vanilla bowl of red, but this time I decided to call a statue of liberty and go with a gimmick - coffee. I dropped a bit of instant coffee into my cauldron and added the complimentary flavors of cumin and chipotle Tabasco sauce (my favorite because of it's mild, smoky flavor....also, because it's fun to say "chipotle").

The end product is much more complex than my previous efforts and has a hearty chuck wagon flavor. It's a bit unconventional, so if you're timid you may want to half the cumin and coffee. For those that don't have ready access to cheap venison, you can just use ultra-lean ground beef (7% fat).

Oh and don't substitute ground coffee for the instant coffee. It does make a difference. Don't ask me how I know.

Wild Venison Chili

2 lbs. Ground Venison
1 lg. Onion, diced
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
3 cans Dark Red Kidney Beans, drained and rinsed
2 cans Diced Tomatoes
2 small cans (8 oz. each) Tomato Sauce
4 cloves Garlic, mashed
2 1/2 cups Water
3 tablespoons Chili Powder
2 tablespoons Chipotle Tabasco Sauce
1 tablespoon 2 tablespoons Instant Coffee
2 teaspoons 1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
Salt and Pepper to taste

In a large heavy pot coated with olive oil, brown the venison and onions. The oil prevents the lean meat from sticking too bad. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer as low as possible for 2 1/2 hours, or until thickened.

You can drastically reduce the cooking time by reducing the amount of water (down to 1 cup). But heck, you sat in the woods for 12 hours to bag that deer, so you might as well treat it right.

Makes 13 cups, 4 points per cup.

Update 2/14/07 - This photo was entered in this month's Does My Blog Look Good in This photography contest!

Update 2/28/07 - After thinking about it for a month, I'd recommend halving the cumin to 1 teaspoon, and doubling the coffee to 2 tablespoons.