Cold weather here and a good time for a hot bowl of chili! For years I never had a recipe for chili, each batch was different. I always told my wife this is the best chili I have ever made, sometimes it was not! Awhile back I made a batch that my wife thought was extra good and she said write that down, so I did and now I have a basic recipe to use.
I like a mix of 1 ½ pounds of ground chuck and ½ pound of sausage. Lately I have been smoking it on my Traeger; I think it adds to the flavor. I was doing it in a Weber veggie pan that was slotted, and smoked it for one hour. My butcher has one pound chubs of ground chuck & I thought why not just smoke two of those for the chili.
I seasoned the thawed chubs with a little salt, pepper and chili powder, smoked them for one hour at 175 deg. then went to 275 deg. In another 35 minutes they were at 140 deg. IT. I let them rest while I sautéed my onions and garlic. I used some garlic flakes; I was too lazy to chop some fresh!
I placed the onions in a five quart Crockpot; broke up the ground chuck and added. I set the Crockpot on high. I added the tomatoes and seasoning and about a cup of beer. For the chili powders this time I used 1 Tbs. of ground ancho chilies, 2 Tbs. of mild chili powder and ½ tsp. of cumin. I let that cook for two hours and added the beans and a little more beer. I usually like to use plain little red beans or pinto beans but this time I tried some of Bush’s chili beans. I checked for seasoning and added some more salt.
My chili had cooked at least four hours by the time we ate supper. I read once where chili needs to simmer at least three hours to meld all the flavors. We like our chili topped with cheddar cheese and sour cream and some buttered crackers to eat with it. I had a bottle of Yuengling Lager with mine and added a little Cholula hot sauce. The chili sure hit the spot.
Printable chili recipe
Chili ingredients and toppings
Seasoned chuck
Chuck done on the smoker
Resting
Onions and garlic sauteed
Chili is ready
My bowl, my supper
Smokin Don
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