Slow-Cooked Elk Chili

Ingredients

• 2 lbs ground elk
• 2 tbsp bacon fat or olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp salt, plus more to taste
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes
• 2 15-oz cans black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup beef or game stock
• 1 tbsp cider vinegar
• Sharp cheddar, sour cream and green onion, to serve

Directions

1. Heat the fat in a heavy pot and brown the elk in two batches, breaking it up as it goes. Crowding the pan steams the meat and you lose the browning that carries most of the flavour.
2. Set the meat aside and cook the onion and pepper in the same pot until soft, about 8 minutes, scraping up whatever stuck to the bottom.
3. Add the garlic, chili powder, cumin, paprika and oregano and stir for a minute until they smell toasted. Blooming the spices in fat rather than tipping them into liquid is the difference between depth and dust.
4. Stir in the tomato paste and cook another minute, then return the meat with the crushed tomatoes, beans and stock.
5. Bring to a bare simmer, cover part-way, and cook 90 minutes to 2 hours, stirring now and then. It should thicken enough that a spoon leaves a track.
6. Finish with the cider vinegar and salt to taste. The vinegar is not optional — elk is lean and mild, and a little acid at the end lifts the whole pot.
7. Serve with cheddar, sour cream and green onion.