Whole Wild Hog Chili

Late last century, in the mid 1990's, the Department wanted to have a fall feast just for kicks.  They had always heard me talk about how good wild hog chili was.  So they asked me to cook a batch of wild hog chili to feed everyone in the building.  I said sure, as long as I was successful in procuring a wild hog at the hunting club ("procuring" is a politically correct way of saying "if one ended up in my cross-hairs").  Otherwise, we would have to use beef, I said. 

Well sure enough, I procured a 250 pound wild boar (only click on link if you want to see a dead hog hanging on the skinning rack) the week before the date set for the chili cook.  The hog yielded about 40-50 pounds of ground meat, and it all went in one pot.  I modified the Camp Chili recipe to feed the masses and the recipe appears below.  Of course I have not been successful in procuring a wild hog in every succeeding year, and on those "hogless" years we have used beef  to cook the chili. feral pig
Thank goodness they taste
better than they look!

Ingredients

 
Serves 6
Serves 60
Serves 120
  • ground wild hog
  • smoked sausage
  • Rotel tomatoes & green chilies
  • diced stewed tomatoes
  • tomato sauce
  • onion
  • bell pepper
  • minced garlic
  • green onion tops
  • parsley
  • Worcestershire sauce
  • chili powder
  • cajun seasoning mix (homemade,

    • hachere's or Zatarain's)
2 lb
0.5 lb
1 can (10 oz)
1 can (14 oz)
2 cans (8 oz)
1 chopped
0.5 chopped
1 tbs
0.5 bunch chopped
0.25 bunch chopped
1 oz
2.5 tbs
0.5 tbs
20 lb
5 lb
10 cans (10 oz)
10 cans (14 oz)
20 cans (8 oz)
10 chopped
5 chopped
10 tbs
5 bunch chopped
2.5 bunch chopped
10 oz
25 tbs
5 tbs
40 lb
10 lb
20 can (10 oz)
20 can (14 oz)
40 cans (8 oz)
20 chopped
10 chopped
20 tbs
10 bunch chopped
5 bunch chopped
20 oz
50 tbs
10 tbs
chili cooking crew The crew cooking chili in the steam kettle in the Food Science teaching lab.

Browning meat: 

  • The chili is cooked in a large steam kettle in the Food Science Lab.  That steam kettle can bring that big old pot of meat to a boil in about 5 minutes.
  • Heat the meat until brown, stirring constantly.
Simmer:
  • Add all ingredients, except the green onion tops and parsley, and stir well.
  • Simmer for about 2 hours, or until the meat is tender. 
  • Stir as needed to keep the chili from sticking and burning.
  • Towards the end, taste and add more cajun seasoning mix (homemade, Chachere's or Zatarain's) and chili powder if needed.
  • Let the chili set on low heat for about 1/2 hour, then skim off grease. 
Add the garnish: 
  • When almost done, add the chopped green onion tops and parsley.
Serving:
  • Due to a variety of individual's tastes, the chili was served straight or on crackers, fritos, tortilla chips, tamales or rice, and cheese, diced fresh onion and hot sauce was available for toppings.
©David Wm. Reed