Barking Good Chili

[Sid P]

Great post and pics, Jim! I need to try a Frito Chili Pie sometime; I know I’d love it.

[Jim White]

Gonna need pics when it happens!

[Michael_in_TX]

I can feel the texture of that chili!

I've also experimented with varying degrees of smoking a chuck roast for chili. My conclusions are very close to what you did. Let it go until the bark is decent. The meat will have taken on probably as much smoke as it will by then, and then let it go the rest of the way in the chili itself.

One thing did confuse me.....

...moderately Texas...

I do not understand. Is this not a contradiction? We are Texas. We are not known for moderation.

[Jim White]

Well, it referred to putting in tomatoes, which made it not a pure Texas approach. Kind of like be almost crazy...

[Michael_in_TX]

Jim White But we are Texans. We are crazy.

[DennyWoo]

That looks amazing, and probably tastes better!

[DaveD]

Great work!! I've made chili only a handful of times, and always with leftover beef from a low & slow cook where the bark factor was pretty extensive. Might have to try making something without bark to see the difference!

Great writeup sir!

[Jim White]

Or start with a big piece of meat divided in two, have one piece only get smoke and the other get bark, but simmer both to fully tender.

[DaveD]

Not sure how I could get bark without also getting smoke, at least on my cookers. I think a good comparison would be to cleave a chuck roast in twain, and do one half on the smoker for smoke & bark, and the other in the crock pot for a more pot-roast style, then make the two pots of chili from that. It would be quite controllable I reckon...

[Jim White]

I was thinking the variable was smoke plus bark vs smoke alone.

[realdocBBQ]

Great writeup, I love this. I've got a fundraiser chili cook coming up in a couple of weeks, I might have to do something like this.

[shify]

Have you also done it with a chuck that was smoked for a bit? Not fully smoked like using leftover brisket/chuck but smoked for an hour or three and then used in chili? If so, wondering how it compared. I started smoking my chucks for about 3 hours before using in chili. This give it a good smoke profile and also a bit more bark than just a 30-60 min smoke but certainly nothing like you got and just curious if you have opinions on the comparison

[Jim White]

Yes, I've done the just smoke version. That is also good, but I think I convinced myself there was more flavor this time. It's possible that came from the prime brisket tallow, though.

[drobinson]

Super!! I just made a pot of my Texas Red (no beans!!) last Sunday and wish I had seen your post before. I would add that I make my own chili powder and find that it produces a much better result than store bought stuff.
My recipe for chili powder: 5 ancho chiles--1 tsp cumin seeds--1 tsp dried Mexican oregano--1/2 tsp garlic powder

remove stem and seeds from chiles and flatten them and lightly toast them in a cast iron skillet--let cool--put cumin seeds in hot pan and stir and shake until fragrant--pour into bowl and let cool--cut chiles into small strips and, using spice grinder, grind into a powder---pour into bowl--grind cumin seeds into a powder--pour into bowl--add oregano and garlic powder and stir.

can be stored in air tight container for up to a month after which it will lose much of its aroma

bon appetite!

[bbqLuv]

The chili looks great and the plating even butter.
A game-day treat.
You done good, PBR good.

[randy.56]

Great wright up and pictures, NO beans, oh well, made my first batch of chili last weekend. Double batch, two chucks, and a lb of medium sausage in each. ect. ect ect. I did cook my chucks a little longer to IT of 160. It's a good thing your wife was not sleeping with you that nite.