I've been voluntold that I'm cooking chili for a competition within my Sunday school class. There will be 5 entries, mine will be venison, and I'm trying to think of ways to make it a lil more.
My first two thoughts were smoking the meat before putting it in the chili, and my 2nd was getting better spices instead of the small batch McCormick that we'd normally use. I'm looking forward to any and all suggestions. Thanks in advance.
1) Fire Roasted Tomatoes, as well as the fire roasted Rotel mix
2) Use the jar of chopped chipotle peppers to add smoke & heat. You can spoon as little or as much as you want
3) Bacon. I always chop about 1/2 lb to a full pound depending on the size of the batch. Cook the bacon first, remove the meat, and start cooking your onions and garlic in the bacon grease
4) Roasted poblano peppers instead of bell peppers. Add it to the veggies after you've softened the onions.
5) Before you add liquid, but right after all your veggies have cooked, mix it all around with double-concentrate tomato paste. Cook it until it becomes gummy, then add the liquid in.
6) Use chicken or beef stock for liquid
7) Some folks use a bit of cocoa powder to add depth. Cinnamon is an option too.
8) If you're using beans, only add them at the very end, long after the stew has come together. I like using a can of each: pinto beans & black beans
As for the meat, you can either go the "normal" ground meat option. But if you have a whole roast, then cube up the meat & brown it. Brown your meat before you do the bacon even. Pull the meat once it's all browned, cook your bacon with a wooden spoon & scrape up all the bits leftover from your browned meat. Once you've cooked all your onions, garlic, tomato products, etc., add all the meat back in
