Adapted for venison instead of beef, with the ingredients for the chili sauce base kept as a separate component to cut down on how intimidating the full ingredients list looks — see Sauce for chile con carne for that half. Also converted from a stovetop recipe to a pressure-cooker one, since sitting at the stove for hours isn’t necessary with an Instant Pot on hand.
Details
- Yield: 10 servings
- Total time: about 2 hours 15 minutes
- Active: 15 minutes
- Passive: about 2 hours (30 minutes toasting/reducing + 90 minutes pressure cooking)
Equipment
- Instant Pot
- Frying pan
- Blender
Ingredients
- 450 g dry kidney beans
- 2-¼ kg venison, trimmed and cut into pieces of various sizes
- 2 tbsp cooking fat
- 300 g (2 cups) onion, chopped
- 3 fresh Thai chili peppers (or substitute 1 jalapeño pepper)
- 10 g (2-¼ tsp) garlic, minced
- 3 g dried oregano leaves
- 2 bay leaves
- 800 g (3-⅓ cups) crushed tomatoes
- 60 mL (¼ cup) cider vinegar, plus more to taste
- 60 mL (¼ cup) vodka or bourbon
- 25 g (2 tbsp) dark brown sugar
- 15 mL (1 tbsp) Buffalo-style hot sauce (such as Frank’s RedHot), or more to taste
- salt
- black pepper
Chili sauce base
- Sauce for chile con carne, scaled up to about 3-⅓× a single batch (roughly 1 L stock’s worth) to match the amount of venison above
Method
- Add beans, 2 L water, and 3 tbsp salt to the pressure cooker and cook at Normal pressure for 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare the chili sauce base at the scale noted above.
- Season venison with salt and pepper, then add cooking fat to a frying pan and brown the venison well. Set aside, reserving any rendered fat.
- Deglaze the frying pan with a splash of the chili sauce base’s stock, then stir the deglazing liquid back into the sauce base.
- Set the Instant Pot to Sauté mode and add about 4 tbsp cooking fat to the liner. When hot, add onion and cook until translucent, stirring well. Add garlic, Thai chili (or jalapeño) pepper, and oregano, and cook until fragrant.
- Add the chili sauce base to the Instant Pot liner, then add the beans, venison, bay leaves, crushed tomatoes, and vinegar. Seal the Instant Pot and set to the Meat/Stew setting, then let it run the full cycle and release pressure naturally, about 1 hour 30 minutes.
- Remove and discard the bay leaves, then stir in the vodka/bourbon, hot sauce, and brown sugar. Season to taste with salt, black pepper, and/or extra vinegar.
- Serve as is or with toppings like minced green onion, shredded cheddar, sour cream, minced jalapeño, diced red onion, diced avocado…
Notes
- Use homemade soup stock when available.
- Use flavourful cooking fat (e.g. bacon drippings) when possible.
- Start with whole spices when you can; toast them in a dry frying pan, then grind them.
Sources
López-Alt, J. Kenji. “The Best Chili Ever.” Serious Eats, 22 Jan. 2010, www.seriouseats.com/the-best-chili-recipe.