Hey folks, been looking at some chili how-to vids and reading recipes and so forth, and many show the pot of chili being cooked in a smoker or grill of some kind, either indirect in a 2-zone or just in the main cooker chamber. Malcom Reed's oft-used recipe comes to mind.
What is the goal for cooking it that way instead of on a stovetop? I can see one difference, of there not being a direct heat source on the bottom of the pot. Does the chili take up any noticeable flavor from cooking in a smoker? So many questions
You can definitely get smoke flavor if you leave it uncovered in a smoker. I often cook it in the oven at about 275 just because I can leave it in there for 3-4 hours without it burning on the bottom.
Sometimes I think it really does come down to cooking outside is more fun.
I split the difference. 99% of the time I am using chuck roasts in my chili, so I'll smoke them until they hit 170 F or so internal on my PBC, then take them inside and cube them up and add them to a pot on the stove and let that do the simmering for a few hours.
I've not done chili in the oven or a smoker but I've done bolognese that way and there seem to be two advantages. First, the heat coming from all sides seems... softer? You don't worry about burning etc at the bottom of the pan. Second, the top of the sauce (and chili, I imagine) caramelizes since it's being exposed to hot air and that deepens the flavors. In a smoker, I'd imagine you'd also get some of that flavor.
Last edited by rickgregory; November 6, 2022, 07:18 PM.
In the pit! We assemble stew and chili in the kitchen, then move it to the pit…
Take the lid, but leave it off at least half the time…
Smoked chili is best…
It really breaks down to the flavor profile you are seeking. Personally, I like to smoke and then cube Chuck roast and add it to everything else in the pot on the stove top. I’ve done plenty of stovetop only and have cooked lid off in the big kettle. My favorite is what I described first. A nice hybrid.
personally, I think it depends. I think smoking all the ingredients then cooking on the stovetop is ideal for a pellet cooker effort to results wise. If you had a large surface area exposure (which I don't have a pot/pan that would for chili) then maybe it would be worth the pellets?
If another smoke method is used and you stir regularly, likely more smoke is imparted.
I haven't made chili any other way since trying Reed's recipe. The smoker is already going after you smoke the chuck roast and you definitely get extra smoke flavor finishing it on the smoker. I have finished it in an instant pot before but prefer just letting it ride in my Kamado.
Right at the moment I'd be using leftover vac-sealed smoked chuck roast, so there'd be no smoker already going, but I get that if I were to have cooked them to a lower IT as in Malcom's version it wouldn't take as long. Thanks for the datapoint on picking up smoke in the pot
DaveD When I check on my chili to stir it you can see the smoke flavor on the surface. I don't use lots of wood typically just a small piece buried in the lump. Really, the lump is enough to add that smokey flavor by itself.
I pretty much just follow a personally modified version of Meathead's recipe (I smoke all the vege's, make my own chili powder; and don't add the carrots). I find that with smoking the meat in a few large chunks I can skip the browning step. Then I finish in the oven instead on the stovetop (for the even cooking and not having to worry about burning my bottom). That being said, I have never finished higher than 2nd Place in any of the at-work Chili Cook-Offs. Pictures from this weekend.
Smokin' on the Weber (peekin' in)
Thickening on the stovetop after 3 hours in the oven.
I just did my first chili with smoked chuck roast and it was amazing. No more browning meat for me. What’s PIA. I have a pound of leftover pulled pork that I froze I was thinking of adding to my next batch. I recently bought an enameled Dutch oven that I thought I could put on one of my smokers but after finding out that’ll dirty the outside I’m take a hard pass. I’m just going to smoke the meats and then add them to my chili. I don’t have room for a cast iron Dutch oven let alone a need.
I use Malcom Reed's recipe for smoked chili. The only difference is that I use the oven in the kitchen for the cooking part and leave the top off the dutch oven. It's just easier for me and the heat is more consistent. With his recipe it calls for sugar which can risk burning/scorching if you were to cook it on a burner directly.
Hey folks, thanks for all the great input, I've learned a lot. Sounds like there is a tradespace with levers for smoke input, consistent temperature, ingredient prep... I can see that on a day when the plan from the start was to make a chili, I could smoke the chuck to a lower IT than usual since it'll cook more later on, shortening that step by enough time that there's still a fighting chance to have the chili ready for dinner. (My experience has been that almost anything I make in a pot takes hours longer than I expect because it has to cook down/thicken up more...)
Right now I have a fair bit of vac-sealed leftover smoked chuck, so I think my first experiment will be to use that with some grilled or smoked veggies, and run it in the dutch oven using the kitchen oven and see how that goes. I'm a "yes to beans in chili" kinda guy (furthest thing from a Texas purist, on anything), so maybe this would be an opportunity to try out some Rancho Gordo beans, as I've been meaning to do...
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