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Chilindron is a Spanish stew, and is one of my favorite dishes, so versatile that it stands outside the normal categories of venison, upland birds, etc.
Chilindron (chill-in-DRONE) Â is dominated by roasted red peppers, paprika and onions. Most recipes also call for rosemary, olive oil, garlic, some tomatoes, good stock and wine.
The stew originates in Aragon, a part of central Spain. I first heard about this stew in the late, great Penelope Casas’ Delicioso! The Regional Cooking of Spain, but I’ve since read about a dozen other recipes for this classic in other Spanish cookbooks.
It is rich, woodsy, and bright, a perfect combination of the “red food” many of us crave (spaghetti sauce, chili, etc – think about the colors in your favorite foods and you’ll find many of them are reddish) with the slightly austere, piney flavors that mark European wild game cooking.
I make this stew every few weeks I love it so much; it is one of the few “standards” I will repeat on a regular basis.
As for what meat to use, the Spanish stew typically features lamb or chicken. This hints at the range this stew possesses. I have made chilindron with good results from chicken, pheasant, rabbit, beef, venison and antelope, wild boar and pork. There is no reason you cannot toss in whatever you like.
I suppose you could even make a vegetarian version with mushrooms. When switching from light to dark meat, switch from white to red wine, too. Other than that, I use this basic recipe.
I also have a recipe for a similar Spanish stew – caldereta – that’s thicker and cooks longer, making it well suited for meats with a lot of connective tissue, such as a venison neck roast.
Chilindron, a Spanish Stew
Ingredients
- 3 pounds chicken, pheasant, lamb, venison or rabbit, in serving pieces
- 2 large onions, sliced root to tip
- 10 cloves chopped garlic
- 2 tablespoons sweet paprika
- 1 tablespoon hot paprika
- 1 jar (15 ounces or so), or 5 roasted red sweet peppers, chopped
- 1 cup crushed tomatoes
- 2 cups red or white wine
- Stock if needed (whatever goes with your choice of meat)
- 1/2 cup diced cured meat: Bacon, pancetta, ham, etc.
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
- 4 bay leaves
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- Large handful of dried mushrooms (optional)
Instructions
- If using, put the mushrooms in a container just large enough to hold them and pour hot water over them. Cover and set aside.
- Salt the meat and set aside for 20 minutes at room temperature. Use this time to chop the veggies.
- Pat the meat dry and pour the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or other heavy pot that has a lid. Heat the pot over medium-high heat. Brown the meat on all sides in batches. Do not overcrowd the pot. Set the meat aside in a bowl when browned. Take your time and do this right. Add more oil if needed.
- When the meat is browned, add the onions and stir to bring up some of the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle the onions with a little salt. Cook until they begin to brown, then add the garlic, the cured meat and the mushrooms, if using. Cook until fragrant, then add the meat back to the pot and mix well.
- Pour in the wine and turn the heat up to high. Stir and boil furiously until the wine is half gone. Turn the heat back down to medium and add the tomatoes, the roasted red peppers and all the spices and herbs (except the parsley). Stir well. The level of liquid should be about 2/3 the way up the sides of the meat. If it is low, add the stock. I typically need about 2 cups.
- Cover and cook at a bare simmer — just barely bubbling — until done. How long is that? Depends on the meat. Rarely is any meat done within an hour, but I’d check a store-bought chicken then. I find pheasants and rabbits take about 90 minutes, boar, pork and hares about 2 hours, and venison and beef up to 3 hours or more. Use your judgment.
- Right before serving, test for salt and add some if needed. Add black pepper and the parsley and stir well. Serve with mashed potatoes, rice, polenta or bread. Simple sauteed greens are a good accompaniment. A big red wine is also a must, ideally something Spanish, like a Rioja.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Made this last night with Venison and it was absolutely amazing. I used dried Porcini Mushrooms and Rioja Wine. I cooked for 3 hours on low simmer and the meat was so tender. You have to try this!!!!!!!
Made this with pronghorn – very nice!
I’m thinking of making it with bear meat. . What are your thoughts? Was thinking I could also cover the pan and put it in the oven at 300 for few hrs to finish instead of on stovetop. I usually do this for stews as it’s simple
Just to say thank you for posting this recipe – it’s absolutely brilliant, and I love it! I’ve made it twice very recently, once with chicken (when I couldn’t get hold of any rabbit) then again with a couple of rabbits, which was absolutely superb!
Looks great! Want to try it. How would it work with boneless breat of pheasant? Would you flour it first? How about quail or dove breasts? For dove & quail, would you leave the meat on the bone or cut it off also?
Keith: It’ll work with pheasant. And yeah, not a bad idea to flour it. I’d use quail breasts, but not dove breasts, which will overcook. Remove the bone.
If I was to do this with venison, would you use a little juniper? Also would you deglaze with grated onion as per your other stews and what would you say to a little tomato paste? Cheers, cooking this soon, Lee
Lee: Sure. You could do either. Don’t go overboard on tomato, though.
Hank,
Would this recipe work with organ meats? I have heart, kidneys, pancreas, etc. mostly from wild boar, that I have wanted to use but don’t have any recipes.
Ponzio
Ponzio: Yes. My advice: Cut the weirdest stuff the smallest. I’d cut the heart into nice chunks, the kidneys a little smaller, and I’d mince the pancreas.
Made this today with some venison shoulder. Could not have been better! Through in a dash of smoked paprika and drank a nice glass or two of tempranillo. Thanks Hank!
Growing up … this was a house specialty done only by my uncle on a Saturday night and in mostly a drunken state …. the fun kind! And the meat was always GOAT! Chivo!
Came a across some Goat today …. just cause it was there!!!! And remembered those long Saturday nights of people coming and going – but mostly coming and staying for a midnight CHILINDRON ….. it was always rich, dark, mysterious and it was always Spicy and so good!
This one for you TIO!
Any suggestions for using fresh mushrooms? We don’t have any dried, and I’m snowed in. I have crimini.
Also, should I add a lb of pork to my 2 lbs of venison stew meat, or just break out the big pack of backstrap? I’m wondering how the flavor combo of pork (loin) and venison might be. Can’t be too bad, right?
Stella: Crimini are fine, as is the combo of venison and pork. Go for it!
Made this tonight… A-mazing!
I made this stew with venison gifted to me by a hunter who hunts part of my property. I used duck fat I had rendered earlier this fall for browning the venison chunks. I took the liberty of adding carrots and celery and it was incredible. It just so happened that we had a cold front move through on the weekend I made this dish. Perfect for a chilly winter evening. I will be making this again, guaranteed!
I’ve made this a couple of times with elk and deer, red wine option. I usually have a problem following recipes to the letter but made a special effort on this one. Rave reviews both times. Definitely pushes that ‘red’ button that you mention. Mmmm :).
Simply awesome even with grass fed beef and store bought Wright Brand bacon. Agree with Hank it’s a great way to use my jarred piquillo peppers
I can not wait to try this with the pheasant in the fridge!
OK, I made a batch of this with a half-breast of a wild turkey. I used bacon grease to brown the meat and I used a slotted spoon to take the pieces out. I then put in my sliced onion and when they got to where I wanted them I added the paprika and the rosemary so that the fat I’d cooked the onions in would extract the flavor of the spices (similar to my comment on the goulash). Wow, what a recipe. Very flavorful and rich and the cooking time produced bites of turkey that were tenderized by the cooking process. A keeper.
How come whenever a recipe tells me to brown meat in olive oil I instinctively reach for the bacon grease? I’m making up a batch of this tomorrow with wild turkey. Can’t decide whether to use red or white wine. Conventional wisdom would say to use white but my instinct is saying red (thinking coq au vin).
This was just delicious! And I, too, totally understand that craving for red – I get it a lot. Thanks for sharing a great recipe. I’m afraid to admit I made it with store-bought meat, given I live in the middle of London, England… but it was amazing all the same!
I’m Spanish, I love cooking, I live in the US and I could not stop laughing reading this post and the comments. They bring so many good memories and it is great that you love it.
I had forgotten about Chilindrón, but I will certainly bring it back into my repertoire. It might be a little too much for sunny Florida, but I will lower the temp of my AC if necessary to enjoy this great dish.
This is a really great site.
Thank you Hank
Made the chilindron last night, “According to Hank”, with last fall’s mule deer. We had “Paprika” and “Smoked Paprika” in the spice cabinet so I ran with the smoked version, and we used fresh crimini mushrooms since we had no dried ones on hand. It’s so good! Thanks, Hank!