Grill-Smoked Chili
This here is your 2011 Super Bowl Sunday Chili. Get cookin'. I am a big barbecue fan, and a big chili fan. Making a pot of chili is one of my favorite weekend rituals. Like slow-smoked barbecue, making chili is an all-day event unto itself for me. I love to crack open a few beers, have family and friends around the whole day, and gather around the table (er, couch and floor) for a chili feast. This recipe takes the best of the barbecue and chili worlds to create a kicked up batch of beef and bean chili with a rich smokey flavor. In this recipe I’ve described how to “smoke-grill” on a standard gas-grill, but if you have experience smoking over charcoal or in a smoker then please go right ahead and cook the beef as you normally would. You want as much smoke flavor as possible in here, and a gas-grill can only provide so much regardless of how many chips you use. That said, even if the smoke flavor is subtle, the charring and melting of the rub into the meat that happens in a grill/smoke environment is something you can’t really replicate indoors. The Gallery above shows the general process, but for step by step, here you go:
Ingredients:For grill-smoking the meat:
- 3 lb Chuck Roast
- 2 lbs Ground Chuck
- 6 Tablespoons Chili Powder
- 3 Tablespoons Adobo sauce from a can of Chipotle Peppers in Adobo.
- 2 Cups Hickory Wood Chips
- A grill
For the rest of the Chili:
- 3 Poblano Peppers, cored, seeded, and chopped
- 3 Anaheim Peppers, cored, seeded, and chopped
- 3 Jalapeno Peppers, cored, seeded, and finely chopped
- 3 Medium Yellow Onions, peeled, cored, and chopped
- 6 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely minced
- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 28 oz Can Diced Tomatoes
- 8 oz can plain tomato sauce
- 1 Tablespoon Onion Powder
- 4 Tablespoons Chili Powder
- 3 Tablespoons Smoked Paprika
- 2 Tablespoon Dried Oregano
- 1 Tablespoon Dried Basil
- 1 Tablespoon Garlic Powder
- 2 Chipotle Peppers in Adobo, seeded and minced
- 1 Tablespoon of Adobo sauce from Chipotle Peppers
- 2 shots Bourbon
- 3 Beers (ales are best)
- 5 15 oz cans of Dark Red Kidney beans, drained and washed thoroughly
- 3 15 oz cans of Pinto beans, drained and washed thoroughly
- 1-2 Teaspoons Salt
Process:
- The night before you plan to make your chili, shape the ground meat into a meatloaf type form, and place it on a foil-wrapped small cookie sheet (it will need to fit on your grill... I use the tray from our toaster oven). Then coat it with 1 Tablespoon of the chiptole’s adobo sauce and evenly sprinkle 2 Tablespoons of Chili Powder on the meat, pressing it in gently with your hands.
- Do the same to the chuck roast (omitting the cookie sheet as the roast will go directly on the grill grates), using 2 Tablespoons of adobo and 4 Tablespoons of Chili Powder.
- Wrap each of the meats snugly with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
- The next day, soak 2 cups of hickory wood chips in water for an hour.
- Preheat your grill to very hot, and take the meats out of the fridge to bring to room temperature.
- While the grill is heating, make two “pouches” out of foil and place the drained hickory chips into each pouch. To do this, lay out two pieces of tinfoil in 2 foot segments. Place 1 cup of hickory chips in the center of each piece of foil. Seal the pouch by bringing the two long ends of foil over the chips, and crinkling the now touching ends of the foil together. Then roll up the open sides to form a tight pouch about 10 inches long by 5 inches wide. Then poke 6 penny-sized holes in the top of each pouch. Smoke will escape through these holes.
- When the grill is real hot, place the foil pouches, holes facing upwards, directly on the vaporizer bars or lava rocks of your gas grill (You will need to remove the cooking grates to do this). Keep the grill on high for 10 minutes or so until you see smoke beginning to generate.
- Once there is proof of smoke, reduce the heat of the grill to very low, and wait for the temperature to settle between 225-275. In my gas grill, I only have 2 of the 3 burners going on the lowest setting to achieve a 250 degree temp.
- Remove the plastic from the meats.
- Place the chuck roast directly on the cleaned grates of your grill, with the fattier side facing up. Place the Foil-wrapped cookie sheet with the ground chuck on the gill as well.
- Close the grill, and grill-smoke the meats for 3 hours.
- After 3 hours, remove the ground chuck, and loosely cover with foil. Let stand for 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, continue grill smoking the chuck roast for another hour or until the meat reads 150-160 degrees with an instant-read thermometer. Remove the chuck roast, cover loosely with foil and let stand for 15 minutes.
- While the meats are resting, start up the chili.
- In a large stock pot with a heavy bottom, heat the 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions, poblanos, anahiems, and jalapenos, and saute for 10 minutes, until the onions are translucent.
- Add the garlic, and saute for 2 more minutes.
- Add the diced tomatoes (with juices), plain tomato sauce, 1 Tablespoon Onion Powder, 4 Tablespoons Chili Powder, 3 Tablespoons Smoked Paprika, 2 Tablespoon Dried Oregano, 1 Tablespoon Dried Basil, 1 Tablespoon Garlic Powder, 2 Chipotle Peppers in Adobo, seeded and minced, 1 Tablespoon of Adobo sauce from Chipotle Peppers, 2 shots Bourbon, and 3 Beers.
- Cook covered for 20 minutes, once it starts to bubble, reduce heat to very low.
- Meanwhile, its time to prepare the meat.
- Slice the ground chuck meatloaf in half along its length, keeping the knife parallel to the cutting surface (think layer cake). Then cube the two layers of beef into 1-inch or ½-inch cubes.
- Pull the chuck roast apart along the fat lines, this should yield 2-4 large chunks of beef. Trim away any large pieces of fat and discard (eat). A little fat is ok, but you don’t want to sink your teeth into a large chuck of fat in a spoonful of chili. Then cut the meat into ½ inch cubes. You want to keep as much of the darkened rub as possible intact. It will add a ton of flavor to your chili!
- Stir in both piles of smoked, cubed, and delicious meat into the pot of chili. Once well mixed, add all cans of rinsed beans and stir thoroughly.
- Take a taste, and add salt to your liking. Start with 1 teaspoon, mix thoroughly, and taste again. I usually let it cook for a while before adding more. I will typically add another ½ teaspoon or maybe as much as another full teaspoon (so 1.5 - 2 teaspoons total), but its up to the chef!
- Cook covered on ultra low for 2 hrs, stirring every 15 minutes.
- Taste for salt again, and add if need be. Continue to cook for 2 more hours, uncovered, or until the consistency is to your liking. I prefer a a moderately thick chili, but its ready to eat after the first two hours of cooking if you like your chili more on the soupy side.
- Serve in warmed bowls with the toppings of your choice. Shredded cheddar cheese and diced red onions go perfectly.
