Grandma's Elk Chili Recipe

I have to admit up front that this recipe originally called for beef, but in this batch, I substituted the second pound of ground elk given to me by a friend. I am also a day late for Chilli Day. Please forgive me.

My grandmother's typewritten recipe

I will be making several minor changes this recipe. The marked out shortening instructions are probably due to the Mother Thing using fattier beef, rendering the shortening unnecessary. Or maybe she just didn't want to use shortening. For my batch tonight, I started by sauteeing a chopped onion and some garlic in a generous splash of olive oil.

The garlic cloves I had on hand were pathetically tiny. I don't think they even added up to one proper clove. Later on, I will explain how I attempted to overcome this.

After the onions had some time to offgas more of their eye-watering chemicals straight into my eyeballs as I stirred, I crumbled in the mostly-thawed lump of elk chunks.

To address the lack of garlic, I added 1 teaspoon of garlic salt instead of the 1/2 teaspoon of salt the recipe calls for. I also added a full 3 teaspoons of chili powder because more spicy is more manly. If you're from the southwest, I'm sure this is wimpy by your standards, but I will be sharing this with people who can't handle truly spicy food, so please forgive my weakness here. Pepper was sprinkled over the whole works in a properly unmeasured dash. I stirred it all up until the elk meat was browned and then added the soup, beans, vinegar, and water. I used apple cider vinegar, but I suppose white vinegar would also work.

After the half hour of heating in the covered skillet, I tried a taste test. It was a bit bland in my opinion. I added about another teaspoon of chili powder on the assumption the store brand stuff I had was just weak. I also added a second unscientific dash of black pepper and some garlic powder.

And here is the glamor shot of the result, along with a piece of cornbread. It is still not very spicy, but quite hearty.

So, what are your rules for good chili? Beans or no beans? How hot should it be? Do you have a secret ingredient you're willing to share? Do you add sour cream and/or cheese to the dish? Comment below, please!