Over the Top Chili

[Red River Smoke 73]

I posted this on the Facebook page a couple of weeks ago and someone asked for the recipe, better late than never I guess. If you have a recipe of your own for traditional chili that you like and want to try this method, just separate the meat and spices from the rest, make the meatball and cook accordingly. This one is a pretty big hit, even with my wife who claims she doesn’t like smoke that much. An enameled Dutch oven is recommended, but if you have a well-seasoned cast iron or other heavy pot that is ok to go in the kamado, that would be fine.

One other side note, I won't say the Oktoberfest was the best pairing, but it's what I had. Normally I like a Negra Modelo or Sol with chili.

 

Over the top Chili (Giant meatball chili)

2 lbs. Ground beef (we like 90/10 you can go less lean if you like)

1 lb Hot Italian bulk sausage

1 tube of Chorizo (I get the Supremo from Costco, think it’s about 8 oz.)

3 T Chili powder

2 t cumin

1 T Garlic powder

1 T Onion powder

½ t Black pepper

 

1 large onion, diced

3 bell peppers chopped (I like to use red, yellow and orange)

1 Jalapeno chopped

3 or more garlic cloves, diced

2 14oz. can diced tomatoes (I had frozen diced cherries that I used this time)

1 14 oz. can tomato sauce (I had homemade this time)

2 cans of Rotel

2 cans of chili beans

12-20 oz of beer or broth (cheap beer, I usually have some High Life around for just such an occasion, Modelo works, I imagine an IPA would too)

12oz or so of frozen corn

It’s all to taste, if you want it heated up can add more jalapenos, rotel, chili powder, cayenne whatever.

Bring grill to 275-300 F with heat diffuser in place with some kind of spacer for the Dutch oven to sit on, I use ½” copper elbows. I usually just have 1 or 2 chunks of wood in my lump for this, that ground meat will take on smoke flavor pretty easily.

Sauté onion and peppers in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil until starting to soften in Dutch oven over medium heat on stovetop, add rest of veggies and cans except for the corn and transfer to kamado uncovered.  Mix all of the ground meats together in medium mixing bowl with all of the dry spices, try to get a fairly even blend, form into a giant meatball and place on wire rack that will fit over the dutch oven in the kamado. (I use a bowl that will pretty much be the right size for the ball, so I just kind of plop it onto the wire rack.) Put meatball directly over DO on grill and bring to an internal temp of 150 F, (should be a couple of hours) remove meatball and chop into bite size chunks, add meat back to DO with the corn.  I usually decide to add more liquid at this point and will generally have a pounder of cheap beer to throw in, I imagine chicken broth would work nicely too. Cook an additional 1-2 hours or you could eat it now, bring back to the stove and skim any fat off the top, add any spice you think it needs.

Fits pretty perfectly in my 6 qt. DO.