Since I'm still getting used to operating my LSG Adjustable, today I wanted to put it through its paces on a chuck roast for some chili. I especially wanted to play around with my timing for starting the fire and then later with managing a sear.
But wait! You serious Texas chili-heads will already see something here: typically, as seen in Meathead's recipe for Texas Chili Con Carne, the meat is cooked indirectly and only long enough to get some smoke flavor. I thought it would be a fun variation to get a good hard sear on a chuck roast and then cube it into chili. Yeah, the texture from the bark won't survive the long simmer, but I reasoned that lots of flavor from the flame kisses would come through while any dried out bits would rehydrate.
Picked up a USDA Choice chuck roast that was 3.5 pounds. It had moderately good marbling.
I dry brined overnight then hit it with cooking spray and Meathead's Red Meat Rub. My last few cooks on the Adjustable, I had been a bit too fast to load the meat and close up the cooker, resulting in it taking an hour or so to get up to cooking temp. In the case of some long low and slow cooks, that's even almost desirable (and gives more time in the temperature range where the meat takes on smoke flavor), but I wanted to let the fire progress to the point that we'd be close to cooking temp when I closed it up.
The plan was for cooking directly over the lump at about 275. I let the fire progress just a bit too long before closing up, so even after closing the exhaust some and dropping the fire grate down lower, we ran at 340 or so for the whole hour it took to get the meat to an internal temp of 140.
When I opened the cooker up, I found that there already was a great sear and beautiful bark on the side that had faced the fire. I flipped the meat and with the fire door down and fire grate raised, flames jumped to life immediately. Here's the money shot:
It only took a couple of minutes for a good sear on that side, too, and then it came into the house to rest.
Meanwhile, I removed stems and seeds (yeah, we don't want them in chile, either) from two Guajillo, two Ancho and four New Mexico Red chile. I bloomed them in a hot dry skillet and then put them into a glass vessel with beef broth where they got microwaved for 3 or 4 minutes and then allowed to steep a half hour. Then they went into the blender to make a chile paste.
I remembered that I had some beef tallow from a prime brisket, so I retrieved it from the fridge and used it to saute the cumin seeds, onion and garlic paste. Here we are with just the cumin.
Even though I was going moderately Texas on this chili (no beans, a rarity for me!), I decided to add a big can of Muir Glen fire roasted tomatoes so that the sweetness could dampen the bitterness from the chile. I like where the chili wound up on that front. The only other ingredients needed were a pinch of Kosher salt and a bit of Rancho Gordo Mexican Oregano. Well, of course I also did my best to pour all that jus from the cutting board into the pot, too!
It took a full four hours of simmering to get the beef tender throughout.
And of course, since Lisa is out of town for the week, I went full Frito Chili Pie with it tonight!
At any rate, I like the flavor effect of putting a bark on a chuck roast for chili. Give it try some time, you might like it, too.
Even though I detailed what went into this cook, I decided to post it as a discussion because the main point I wanted to make was that a bark can do something for the flavor of chili. So, yes, I detailed exactly how this batch was cooked, but I think the idea would work with your favorite recipe, too. (But mods feel free to move if you feel it belongs in recipes)
But wait! You serious Texas chili-heads will already see something here: typically, as seen in Meathead's recipe for Texas Chili Con Carne, the meat is cooked indirectly and only long enough to get some smoke flavor. I thought it would be a fun variation to get a good hard sear on a chuck roast and then cube it into chili. Yeah, the texture from the bark won't survive the long simmer, but I reasoned that lots of flavor from the flame kisses would come through while any dried out bits would rehydrate.
Picked up a USDA Choice chuck roast that was 3.5 pounds. It had moderately good marbling.
I dry brined overnight then hit it with cooking spray and Meathead's Red Meat Rub. My last few cooks on the Adjustable, I had been a bit too fast to load the meat and close up the cooker, resulting in it taking an hour or so to get up to cooking temp. In the case of some long low and slow cooks, that's even almost desirable (and gives more time in the temperature range where the meat takes on smoke flavor), but I wanted to let the fire progress to the point that we'd be close to cooking temp when I closed it up.
The plan was for cooking directly over the lump at about 275. I let the fire progress just a bit too long before closing up, so even after closing the exhaust some and dropping the fire grate down lower, we ran at 340 or so for the whole hour it took to get the meat to an internal temp of 140.
When I opened the cooker up, I found that there already was a great sear and beautiful bark on the side that had faced the fire. I flipped the meat and with the fire door down and fire grate raised, flames jumped to life immediately. Here's the money shot:
It only took a couple of minutes for a good sear on that side, too, and then it came into the house to rest.
Meanwhile, I removed stems and seeds (yeah, we don't want them in chile, either) from two Guajillo, two Ancho and four New Mexico Red chile. I bloomed them in a hot dry skillet and then put them into a glass vessel with beef broth where they got microwaved for 3 or 4 minutes and then allowed to steep a half hour. Then they went into the blender to make a chile paste.
I remembered that I had some beef tallow from a prime brisket, so I retrieved it from the fridge and used it to saute the cumin seeds, onion and garlic paste. Here we are with just the cumin.
Even though I was going moderately Texas on this chili (no beans, a rarity for me!), I decided to add a big can of Muir Glen fire roasted tomatoes so that the sweetness could dampen the bitterness from the chile. I like where the chili wound up on that front. The only other ingredients needed were a pinch of Kosher salt and a bit of Rancho Gordo Mexican Oregano. Well, of course I also did my best to pour all that jus from the cutting board into the pot, too!
It took a full four hours of simmering to get the beef tender throughout.
And of course, since Lisa is out of town for the week, I went full Frito Chili Pie with it tonight!
At any rate, I like the flavor effect of putting a bark on a chuck roast for chili. Give it try some time, you might like it, too.
Even though I detailed what went into this cook, I decided to post it as a discussion because the main point I wanted to make was that a bark can do something for the flavor of chili. So, yes, I detailed exactly how this batch was cooked, but I think the idea would work with your favorite recipe, too. (But mods feel free to move if you feel it belongs in recipes)
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