White-On-White Chili
 | Author:
Eileen Clarke - Rifles and Recipes
Author: Rifles and Recipes |
White-On-White Chili
Serves 6
Eileen Clarke
Rifles and Recipes
With hunting season only, a month away, I’ve been thinking about a group of guys we used to join for an Old Gun Hunt. Firearms used on the hunt had to be a minimum of 100 years old, and mid-day we’d have a shooting contest: 50 yards, a group of three, and the best group won a prize. I’ve always wanted to add a chili cooking contest to that. Chili seems to be the Number 1 wild game recipe discussed on internet chat rooms and the Old Gun Hunt always split the cooking duties anyway, so why not offer a prize to the camp cook who served the best chili?
The only reason we don’t do the Old Gun Hunt anymore is that the rest of the folks were based in Missoula, and they, logically, wanted to hunt closer to home. My husband and I prefer a higher success rate, so eventually quit going. But the chili contest still intrigues me.
This is the version I would make. Inspired by a white chili that O’Brien’s catered at a Helena Gun Show many years ago, it’s a delicious variation on the tomato and red meat-based classic. Make it with any pale-meated game: from that great big gobbler, you got last spring to the last couple of pheasants hanging out in the freezer, even a chunk of wild pig. And, of course, if you’re in a contest, it’s a good idea to practice. Start now, using chicken or pork from Bob’s, and tune up your favorite recipe. Then cook up the grouse, Hungarian partridge and turkey you take this September, and pheasants in November, and blow everyone’s socks off. FYI: This is a great recipe for turkey thighs.
*Recipe Note: If you’d like to use dried beans rather than canned, follow the directions on the packaging for 1 cup of dry beans, adding 4 teaspoons bouillon granules, ½ yellow onion chopped, and 1 clove garlic to the cooking water, after the soak.
Ingredients
2 tablespoons oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1 teaspoon dried leaf oregano
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 pounds white meat, diced
3 cups white beans
2 whole canned chili peppers, chopped
1/2 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
1/4 cup cream
Cooking
1. In a 3-quart Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium heat, and sauté the garlic and onions until tender. Add the oregano, cumin, salt, chili powder and cayenne pepper, and stir well.
2. When you begin to smell the spices, add the diced meat and sauté until the meat is opaque. Add the beans, and chili peppers and bring the saucepan back up to a simmer. Add the cream, and cook until the chili is hot again.
3. Serve hot in soup bowls, with a generous sprinkle of cheese on top.
This recipe is from Eileen Clarke’s Upland Game Bird Cookery, with 87 upland bird recipes and lots of color and black and white photos of game care from shot to table. https://www.riflesandrecipes.com, 406-521-0273.
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