Friday, December 5, 2008

Those recipes I promised (Part I)

So, it took a day or two, but I've managed to round up the recipes I promised you in Wednesday's column. They get a little long, so I'll divide them up among three posts spread over a few days. The first one is Star multimedia director Justin Thurman's Porter Chili. I haven't tasted it yet, but he's threatening to make another batch soon to share with the newsroom. Above the recipe is a note from Justin.
I feel that the porter brings heartiness to the chili that I don't get from other liquids. I use the porter much like someone would use a beef or chicken stock in a recipe. I drain all ingredients so that the beer is the main liquid in the chili. I love porters, I have used many different ones but Abita Turbo Dog is my favorite. This really worked out well with a chili that I made with venison as the meat.

I remembered a few years ago a man in my home town winning a chili cook-off and he said his secret was beer. Being a beer lover, I thought I would try this but I wanted to use the kind of beers that I drank. Turbo Dog was the first beer that I tried this with and it is still my favorite today.
  • 1 large red onion diced
  • 1 red pepper diced
  • 1 yellow pepper diced
  • 2 pablano peppers diced
  • 2 jalapeno peppers diced
  • 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce diced
  • 1 pound of ground venison (beef and bison work as well)
  • 1 pound of bacon
  • The remaining adobo sauce from the chipotle peppers
  • 2 cans red kidney beans drained
  • 2 can black beans drained
  • 1 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes drained
  • 2 garlic cloves minced
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 2 tablespoons chili powder
  • 1 tablespoon of crushed red pepper
  • 2 bottles of your favorite porter.
  • Salt and pepper to taste
Sauté onions and peppers in olive oil until translucent and add to crock pot. Cook bacon in pan until done, leaving bacon grease in pan. Cook the venison in the bacon grease. Chop bacon and add it and venison to crock pot. Add remaining ingredients and cook on low overnight.