Jan 22 2013
Nothing better for cold weather than some good chili. I have made a lot of chili over the years and never had a recipe I followed. I always told my wife this is the best batch I ever made; well sometimes it wasn’t! One batch I made awhile back she said now that was the best write down the recipe if you can. I remembered the recipe so I now have a basic recipe I follow.
I thought now if I can smoke the meat it should make a better chili. I made a few batches using a Weber stainless veggie grill pan that has slots in it. I was able to crumble it up in there and smoke it and that was good but you had to watch so you didn’t dry out the meat too much. Then I thought why not just smoke a chub. My butcher has ground chuck and ground pork in frozen one pound chubs and I think this works best. This is a good way to get some smoke flavor into any soups or stews.
I soaked some small red beans overnight. I smoked a one pound each of ground chuck and ground pork to use. I also had soaked some crackers overnight for smoking. The smoked Cajun crackers would taste good with the chili.
I got the chili on cooking and it simmered for four hours. It made for a tasty supper on a cold night. My wife had hers with buttered crackers. I put some rice in the bottom of a bowl, chili on top, then topped it with some shredded sharp cheddar cheese and sour cream, some sliced green onions over it. I had some Cajun crackers with mine. I thought it was great.
I think this is a pretty good basic chili recipe. I make mine fairly mild since my wife and Mother doesn’t like it too hot. I always save some to take to my 91 year old Mother. You can make as hot as you want by playing with the chili powders, peppers or adding more hot sauce.
Some of the ingredients
Beans soaking
Crackers and meat ready to smoke
On the smoker at 1 1/2 hours
Meat resting
Ground chuck on the left pork on the right
Meat crumbled up
Meat sauteing with the onions and garlic
Chili powder and seasonings added
Chili simmering
My bowl my supper
Smokin Don
Recipe:
Smoked meat chili vIII
1 lb. ground round chuck chub
1 lb. sausage or ground pork chub
1 lb. small red beans or pinto beans soaked overnight
1 pint beef broth
½ bottle dark beer
1 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes
1 15 oz. can of fire roasted tomatoes, I mash these up
1 Tbs. smoked paprika (optional)
1 tsp. Cumin
3 TBS. mild chili powder or hot if you prefer
3 or 4 drops hot sauce
1 onion chopped
1 pablano pepper diced or one can mild green peppers
Garlic to taste
Salt & Pepper to taste
Water, or broth to thin if needed
Rinse and soak beans overnight in enough water to cover a couple of inches.
Smoke the sausage and ground chuck chubs at 175 deg. until you get an IT of 140 deg. usually 1 ½ to two hours. While the meat is smoking put you beans in water to cover, bring to a boil then simmer for at least an hour.
When the meat is done let cool awhile then shred up. Heat some oil in a large stock pot. Sautee the onions and garlic, when onions are soft add the meat and sauté until it begins to brown up sticking to the bottom, add the chili powders and seasoning, stir a couple of minutes. Add the half bottle of dark beer to deglaze the pan. Add the pablano pepper or chili peppers. Let heat a few minutes.
Drain the beans and add to the pot along with all the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a boil then down to simmer. Simmer 3 to 4 hours; chili needs to simmer at least 3 hours to meld all the flavors. Stir every 15 to 20 minutes. Add water or broth if needed and check for seasoning; add more if needed.
Serve with shredded cheddar and sour cream and some sliced green onions for on top. I like some rice in the bottom of the bowl sometimes.
This is my basic chili recipe and is pretty mild to me. If you want more heat add more hot sauce and use hotter chili powders
