Smoke first. Bacon next. Then leave the pot alone.
Jack’s beans already have their own recipes. They do not need to be in this one.
This is beef, smoke, peppers, red wine, and enough time for a tough cut to become dinner. There is chocolate in the pot. There are crushed tortilla chips. There are even carrots at the end.
The Texas delegation can file its objections. Dinner will still be served.
The beef
Chuck roast is the original. Brisket point works here too. Fat is part of the job. This is not the place to turn a lean package of stew meat into a character-building exercise.
Salt it ahead. Smoke the meat and the onion. Then cut the beef into chunks and brown it properly before it goes into the chili.
Yes, smoke it and then brown it. Those are different jobs.
Ingredients
For the smoke:
1 chuck roast, 2½–3 pounds
Kosher salt, ½ teaspoon per pound of meat
2 tablespoons AmazingRibs Big Bad Beef Rub
1 medium onion, peeled and quartered, root end left attached
Oak for the smoke
For the pot:
The smoked beef and onion from above
½ pound bacon, diced into roughly ¼-inch pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil, if needed
4 garlic cloves, minced or crushed
1 serrano pepper, seeded and diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 can diced tomatoes, or 1 pound fresh tomatoes, peeled and diced
4 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 ounce dark chocolate
2 cups red wine
3 cups beef stock
20 whole tortilla chips, crushed
2 carrots, peeled and diced
Salt to taste
Extra stock, water, or wine as needed
The night before
Salt the beef and put it on a tray in the refrigerator. Give it at least an hour. Preferably twenty-four.
That is preparation, not cooking. It still counts.
The smoke
Set the grill or smoker for two-zone cooking, about 250°F on the indirect side. Add a chunk of oak.
Rub the beef with the Big Bad Beef Rub. Meat and quartered onion go on the indirect side.
Pull the onion after thirty minutes. Pull the beef when the center reaches 150°F, roughly two hours. Use the thermometer. The clock does not know how thick your roast is.
The beef is not finished. The pot will handle that.
The pot
Cut the smoked beef into roughly one-inch cubes. Remove the big chunks of fat and gristle. Roughly chop the smoked onion, cutting away the root end.
Bacon into a Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Render the fat until the bacon starts to get crisp. Pull it and hold it.
Raise the heat to medium-high. Brown the beef in batches in the bacon fat. Give the pieces room. A crowded pot steams meat. Jack wanted browned meat.
Reserve the beef with the bacon.
Heat back down to medium-low. Smoked onion, serrano, and bell pepper into the pot. Add the olive oil if it needs it. About ten minutes, until the onion is translucent.
Garlic next. One minute.
Cumin and chili powder. Thirty seconds, stirring.
Immediately add half the wine. Scrape the browned bits off the bottom with a wooden spoon. You spent time putting flavor there. Do not leave it behind.
Return the beef and bacon. Add the tomatoes, lime juice, stock, remaining wine, chocolate, and crushed tortilla chips. Stir well.
The liquid should just cover the meat. Add stock or water if it does not.
Bring it to a boil. Then turn it down, cover, and hold it at a very bare simmer.
About three hours. Tender beef, not beef falling apart into strings.
If the chili gets too thick, add a little stock, wine, or water. Too thin, add a few more crushed tortilla chips. Start tasting for salt after two hours.
When the beef is tender and the chili is where you want it, add the diced carrots. Ten more minutes.
The carrots keep a little bite. That is why they went in last.
The plate
Crusty sourdough. Sweet-and-sour coleslaw alongside. A bowl of chili that does not need decorating.
Cheese, sour cream, diced onion, avocado. Put them out if you want them. Taste the chili first.
Use a rustic red in the pot. Chianti or Rioja works. Have a glass of the same wine with dinner, or open a Shiner Bock.
The rule
This takes an afternoon. Not an afternoon of hovering. An afternoon of doing each part properly and letting heat and time do theirs.
Standards are portable. So is a Dutch oven.
In the apocalypse, we shoot the Walkers. Then we go back to dinner.
Bougie Apocalypse
A serial about heirloom beans, carbon steel skull-crackers, and refusing to let the apocalypse win.
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