If you live in South Carolina, you might have a freezer full of wild game meat. This recipe takes wild boar meat, or venison, and transforms it into a delicious treat worthy of inviting the neighbors over for a casual dinner. You might have most of the ingredients in your pantry.

Wild Boar Chili
2 pounds ground wild boar meat or ground venison
1 large sweet onion (such as Vidalia), diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
½ cup celery rib, diced
1 to 2 red bell peppers, diced
10 ounces fresh cremini or shiitake mushrooms, quartered
3 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons smoked paprika
½ teaspoon chipotle chili powder (or more to taste)
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper (or more to taste)
6-ounce can tomato paste
2 cups beef or chicken stock
2 16-ounce cans fire roasted tomatoes
2 15-ounce cans black-eyed peas
4 green onions, chopped (optional)
½ cup fresh cilantro leaves and stems, rough chopped (optional)

Start cooking onions while chopping your other vegetables; saute in olive oil over medium to low heat until translucent and golden, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes. Add garlic, celery, and peppers. Saute until softened. Set the cooked vegetables aside in a bowl.

Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to the pan. Add the mushrooms and saute until the mushrooms brown a little. Set aside the mushrooms with the vegetables. Add another tablespoon or so of olive oil to the pan, if needed, and the boar meat. Season and brown the meat. Drain some fat if needed. Add chili powder through pepper. Stir for a minute. Add tomato paste. Stir and cook for about 3 minutes until the tomato paste darkens a bit. Add the cooked vegetables and stir to combine everything. Then add stock, tomatoes, and black-eyed peas and simmer about 30 minutes. Add cilantro and green onions just before serving. Serve with rice and cornbread.