Chili con Bambi

Sauté the onions, chiles (if used) and garlic in the oil until well softened.

Add the powdered spices and cook for about 60 seconds.

Add the venison and stir well until it has all (more or less) changed colour.

Add sufficient dry cider or stock to cover, but not too deeply.

Add the stock cube (only if you are using cider), bay leaves, chopped celery, grated carrot and tomato purée, and stir well.

Simmer very gently for at least three hours, stirring occasionally and replenishing the liquid (with more cider/wine/stock or just water) if it gets too dry. The ideal is to have the sauce with little separate liquid when it is served - but not dry enough to scorch. It may be simmered on top of the stove, or in a very low oven, or in a slow cooker. The sauce is edible after about 40 minutes but is infinitely better flavoured and textured after three or four hours. In a slow cooker it can be cooked for eight hours. The flavour is even better if it is cooked, allowed to cool overnight, and reheated for 30 or 40 minutes but this is a council of perfection and not really necessary.

About 30-40 minutes before serving remove the bay leaves, add the oregano and the beans (if you're not Texan) and stir well. [Dried kidney beans are so indigestible as to be considered poisonous unless they are boiled briskly (a slow cooker will not do) for at least twenty minutes to destroy the indigestible phytohaemagglutinin that they contain. If you do use dried kidney beans they must be soaked overnight and then boiled by themselves for at least twenty minutes. They are then added to the chili early enough to cook for at least two hours. All this is tedious - it is therefore much better to use tinned ones as suggested in this recipe.]

Adjust the salt (i.e. taste the chili and add more salt if you think it needs it), stir well and cook for another 40 minutes.

Serve with long-grain rice, or however else you like to serve chili.