Sharing family recipes is not only fun, but it is also an important part of a person’s heritage, family history, and tells the story of life through one of the most basic human needs: the foods we eat.
My mother, Beth Skinner, was not an experimental cook. Mom cooked out of need to feed her husband and three daughters. She worked hard all day at a factory most of her adult life, and as soon as she got home from work, she set about preparing dinner. Her dinners may have been "basic," but they were always delicious. We were a meat and potatoes family.
I grew up on a farm in Pomona, in the heart of the Ozarks, where it was the norm to have homegrown grass-fed beef, pork, chicken, and fried squirrels. We ate a lot of pork chops and apple sauce (anyone remember that episode of the Brady Bunch? My sister and I drove my mother crazy with our Peter Brady impersonations.)
I’m sorry to those who’ve never had it--go ahead and make a face of disgust if you must, but there’s not much better than fried squirrel cooked in a cast-iron skillet and served with a side of fried potatoes. My niece, who grew up on or near Army bases, was visiting the farm around the time she was turning 6 and asked my mom for fried squirrel for her birthday dinner.
For years I’ve Dutch-oven prepared many Ozarks foods at the Old-Time Music, Ozark Heritage festival held each year in West Plains. One of my specialties is squirrels and dumplings.
Venison chili is also a big hit with the crowd, and a lot easier to prepare, so that’s what I thought I’d start with for my first food column this week.
The smell of the chili spices can warm the heart as much as it does the belly with this easy one-pot meal.
And I’ll tell you right now, most of my recipes are thrown together with whatever I have in the kitchen, so please excuse my lack of detailed measurements. For me, cooking is a ritual, a very personal journey to find what works best for me and my family.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll talk more about how to season and clean Dutch ovens, but I’ll start out today just letting you know, I use an outdoor camping oven with legs so it’s easier to cook over a campfire or coals. For the indoor kitchen, I use the flat-bottom oven.
This recipe is something you can make your own with what you add or leave out.
I use one- to two-pounds of ground venison depending on which oven I use, the medium 10-inch or large 12-inch Dutch oven.
Warm up a drizzle of oil in the bottom of a deep cast-iron Dutch oven and brown the meat.
Toss in garlic, onion, bell peppers and diced tomatoes (I like the kind that includes basil and garlic.)
I love beans, so I put them all in there: black, chili, kidney – whatever I have in the pantry. I try not to add too much water and just let the juices of the meat, oil and beans create the broth, but if I need to, I’ll add a cup of water and let it cook off while I stir in a few chili spices. Again, this is where you can have your own spin and make it as mild or hot as you like, but I prefer just a dash or two of basic chili powder.
I let this simmer for at least an hour before serving with shredded cheddar cheese, a nice dollop of sour cream, and a few crackers.
Dutch oven cooking in the summertime at a festival is a lot of hard (and hot) work, but it was so rewarding to see the smiling faces of the people who were curious about outdoor cooking, and especially food of the Ozarks. A lot of festivalgoers who visited my cooking stage had never eaten squirrel or venison before, but I can tell you, everyone came back for a second helping.
