True Texas style chili is made with all meat. There are no beans in sight in this chili. Being a paleo eater, this style of chili suits me quite well. Another thing I love about this chili is how it is cooked. Eccentrically, you smoke the meat separately from the sauce allowing the meat to pick up the smoked flavor. I use a large cast iron skillet to cook the sauce in and place it under the meat in the smoker to catch all the yummy drippings.
You got to catch those smoke meat drippings!
Like most of my smoking I cook enough to have leftover through the week. So this was a big batch. For the meat I smoked up two top round steaks as I had these already in the freezer. I also cooked a pound of 80/20 ground beef and a pound of ground pork. Yes, this was a very meaty chili!. The last secret to this chili is beer. You can use any kind of beer, but I love dark beers, so I used a can of Jack’s Abby Smoke and Dagger. Open up two cans, one for the chili and one for your self!
Putting together the Texas Style Smoked Chili
Overall, this batch took one and a half hours to cook on the smoker set at 350F to reach the initial step. Then, after chopping up the meat and adding it to the sauce I simmered for another hour at 325F to really up the smoke flavor. I think this was a little too long as I cooked out all the liquid. I added a cup or so of beef broth to loosen up the sauce. But next time I am going to try the slow and low approach. The recipe below updates the temperature to this approach.
The Chili sauce is ready to be smoked
Serving size: 8 hearty portions
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 2 1/2 to 3 hours
Equipment:
Smoker
Large Cart Iron Skillet or Dutch Oven
Ingredients:
1 lb. 80/20 ground beef
1 lb. ground pork
2 lb stew beef or chuck
1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes
2 28-oz cans diced tomatoes
1 12-oz can tomato paste
1 full beer, plus 1 TBSP (Drink the rest!)
1 medium Spanish onion diced
2 bell peppers (different colors) diced
3 medium carrots diced
1-2 jalapeño peppers diced
2 cup sliced mushrooms (shiitake)
bunch of fresh rosemary
bunch of fresh thyme
2 - 3 bay leaves
2 TBSP minced garlic
2 TBSP smoked paprika
2 TSP garlic powder
2 TSP cumin
2 TSP pink rock salt
2 TSP black pepper
Directions:
Fire up the smoker to 225F to 250F using your favorite wood. I love Hickory
Put peppers, onions, carrots, mushrooms, minced garlic into a cast iron skillet, along with the crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and beer. Add the herbs & spices. Season the meat with garlic powder, salt and pepper.
Place the cast iron skillet on the bottom rack in the smoker. Then place the meat on a rack above. Do not cover the pot.
Cook for about 1-1/2 hours to 2 hours and let the drippings to fall into the chili mix.
Remove meat from grill, break up ground beef and cut the steak into small bit size chunks. Put all the beef into the chili mix
OPTIONAL: continue to simmer for another hour on the smoker.