I'm going to be cooking a large pot of chili down at the creek this weekend. I like to use the walmart great value seasoning mix mild and venison instead of beef.
What I use is the above ingredients and also plenty onion and canned tomatoes, I like the tomatoes whole and also diced along with chili beans.
I'll heat it up with cheyenne peppers from my garden which have been chopped very small in a blender.
The point of my post is to ask if anyone has any suggestions for other ingredients that might make this even better, thanks Glenn

green peppers

Celery and mushrooms
here's my recipie, its mild so if you need heat add peppers to your own taste, as is its a crowd pleaser but I prefer more heat and add some hot sauce to my bowl.

Moose Chili


1 1/2 lb. ground moose
1 large onion chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped
2 ribs celery chopped
1 green pepper chopped
3 cans kidney beans drained 15 oz.
1 lb. mushrooms quartered
1 can tomato sauce 28 oz.
1 can tomatoes 28 oz.
1 can tomato paste 6 oz.
1 tbs. chili powder
1tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 tbs. beef bouillon powder
salt and pepper to taste

Brown meat with half of onion and garlic in a little oil. When done add meat to crock pot with all other ingredients , stir and simmer 8 hr.

It sounds like you have it in hand. I do like to add some of the onions (I use a lot of them) towards the end, as well as red bell peppers. They retain a bit of a crunch and nuggets of flavor variety in each spoon full. Your tomatoes add pieces of flavor too. I sometime add some tomato juice but not so much that the chili is soupy. If it needs salt (taste it first) I often add beef bouillon, it adds flavor with the salt.

I always brown the meat before adding any other ingredients. I think that the carmelization adds flavor that you do not get just dumping the meat in with everything else.

Chili started as poor people's food probably with beans instead of meat or to stretch the meat. I like beans in it too and think with beans is more authentic. I think the meat only crowd is a bit snobbish.

Celery does not add anything for me but that is just my personal preference.

I have added cocoa powder (unsweetened) to chili to help keep it bitter.(which I like) I usually do not have the cocoa on hand though. I have had chili that had a bit of sugar added to it. I almost spit it out. It made the chili taste like spaghetti sauce which was not what I was expecting.

Chili means pepper (in Spanish) so if it does not have at least some heat then it is not chili at all.

The nice thing about chili is that it is a personal dish and rookie chefs should give it a try. They should just make sure that the hot spices and salt are added gradually and should taste test as they go. This way they stop when it is right for them.

As I said, it sounds like you already know how to make chili, most of what I have written is to encourage others to try chili. It takes some time but it is hard to go wrong. Steaks, cakes, and pies are all easy to ruin, chili will make a new cook feel like a chef.

Bob

Robert, I also cook the meat first and then add some onion before the other ingriediance. I also agree with you about the celery, I love it in deer stew but not in chili.
I like to do chili both with beans and without, but in either case not too many beans.
I'm going to make about 10 gal this time and I'll dip out two 8 qt dutch ovens full and season them seperately for the children and the less adventerous souls that show up.
I also have two quarts of Alabama moonshine that could help liven up the meal, or maybe put some of them to sleep

I like celery in most other things too, just not chili. Go figure. Once I made chili, cleaning out hte fridge. In went some hamburger, venison breakfast sausage and some cubed venison roast. My boy asked me where the goose was. I had no idea. He said that the brest filets were on the plate with the thawed venison. I had to tell him that the goose was in the chili too then.

A lot of people ate that chili and there were no complaints. I did not tell thaem what was in it until we were done eating though.

Bob

Well I have 18-20 lbs of venison burger thawing in my shop frige, 5 lb of onions 5gal tomatoes, the wife will buy the beans at wally-world tomorrow, 16 packs of seasoning mix and enough minced cheyenne pepper to heat the entire eastern half of the USA to the boiling point. Now ifI just had the fire started, wish you guys could be here.