Brisket chili

[B. Foster]

All,

Last night I may have made the best chili that I've ever made.

I smoked a brisket to about 190 degrees and sliced it for my guests. Parts of the flat were a bit to done for my taste(although folks kept picking at it), so I grabbed about a pound of drier brisket and another pound of good brisket and threw them in a bag.

I was making chili anyways...which called for 2 pounds of meat, I substituted the brisket. Lemme tell you, that may be my new secret weapon! I figured that it'd be a bit to smoky for chili, but it worked out beautifully.

Anyways, just a hint so you can use some meat that you might not want to serve otherwise.


-brian

 

[Greg Rempe]

Thanks for the tip Brian...my cousin puts freshly smoked Pork Butt in his baked beans and I've heard its outstanding...I'm gonna try that next time!

 

[K Kruger]

Hi Brian--

I made this one the other day, a Colorado-style chili, with a hunk of brisket point left from the previous night's dinner. Very tasty with brisket, no? And I really like the texture of the meat when the chili's done.

 

[Bill W.]

A local Q place (Tenessee's BBQ) in my area just started doing Brisket chili. It was pretty darn good for kind of a fast foot BBQ joint. I'm going to have to try to make some myself if I can ever locate a place around here that will sell me a decent brisket.

 

[K Kruger]

Have you tried Whole Foods in Swampscott?

 

[Art B]

Great minds think alike. I've tried the same recipe, substituting pulled pork for chopped brisket, and it is still pretty tasty, but not quite as good. And I don't like the texture quite as much with the pork. But the smoke flavor really makes it something special.

 

[Nick P.]

Last time I made chili, I used smoked chuck roast, it was outstanding!

 

[Jeff T Miller]

Someone mentioned that a while back. I tried it the next time I made brisket. Was definately the best chili I ever made. I made another brisket the following weekend just to freeze small chili size portions. No more yucky ground beef in my chili.

 

[Dean C.]

A friend of mine made some brisket chili last week with some leftover point. He used a pound of ground chuck and about two pounds chopped brisket, it was excellent.

 

[Scott Francis]

The best chili I've ever had at a restaurant is from Red, Hot and Blue and they use beef brisket. I think there is something to be said about brisket in chili.

 

[Jerry N.]

When using brisket in the chili, how do you cut it - small cubes? Also, if you use the point, do you chop that?

 

[Steve Petrone]

Is 100% smoked brisket toooo much? Some cubed (unsmoked) beef? 1/2 N 1/2 ?

 

[Dwain Gleason]

I love using BBQ leftovers for chili. WHenever I cook whole briskets, I keep the point, re-smoke it for a while to get it just a little "drier" (get some more fat out of it), then freeze it. My favorite chilis have several different textures of meat - chopped brisket, shredded pork, ground beef or lamb.

 

[K Kruger]

Jerry-- When I use brisket point I cut the meat into larger cubes/chunks. It'll soften and break down a bit while the chili cooks and during stirring. That way I end up will smaller, though still nicely sized, pieces of meat.

Steve-- I don't think all smoked is too much at all. Especially if you're making a mix with lots of layered flavors (dried peppers, spices, tomatoes/fruit, etc.). That said, a half-and-half would be very good. I'd brown the fresh meat very well in an uncrowded pan so that it gets really excellent color (do it batches if need be), reserve it with your smoked meat, and continue with your recipe adding both meats back whenever called for.

 

[B. Foster]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jerry N.:
When using brisket in the chili, how do you cut it - small cubes? Also, if you use the point, do you chop that? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well, in the chili I cooked(and I've made more since), I just cut or tore the brisket into reasonable sized portions. What I found out is that you don't really have to do to much of it. If you simmer your chili long and low, the brisket will start to break itself down according to the grain of the meat.

It's kind of hard to get across what I'm trying to say.

I guess what I mean is, if you cut across the grain of the brisket like you normally would...when simmered long enough you'll end up with 1-2" strings of brisket in your chili when you're done. IANAL, YMMV etc...etc...

-brian

 

[Rick Kramer]

I made my first batch a couple weeks ago using a very plain jane chili recipe. The only thing I changed on the recipe was instead of ground beef I used mesquite smoked brisket, chopped. I noticed that it came out much thicker than the times when I use ground beef. I figure the brisket must soak up more of the juices than the ground beef does. So, I added ketchup, water, (I had no tomato sauce

) and spices to get the consistency/taste I was looking for. It was surprisingly good. Here's the recipe if anyone wants it:

Nothing like Kevin's Chili w/beans

ingredients
2 lbs meat
2 cans beans
2 cans tomato sauce
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can chiles/chopped
2 medium onions
2 TBLS chili powder
garlic to taste

Basically, just put it all together and slowly heat it up in a crock or stock pot.

I play with this recipe a lot. The garlic can be powder or fresh, whatever you got handy. I'll substitute jalapenos for the chiles, use flavored hot tomato sauces, whatever. Next time I'll try bigger chunks of meat. I know some people are probably cringing about now. Kevin? Yes, it has beans, canned beans even. But people never complain when they're shoveling it down.

Enjoy,
Rick

 

[Scott Greenia]

Rick / Kevin,

No cumin?
Not even a hint?
Interesting.

 

[B. Foster]

Yea, he left out the secrets!

BTW, I've tried the beef and brisket deal and it's tasty. Different textures make it awesome. It's all an experiment though...try whatever you'd like!

brian

 

[B. Foster]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by S Petrone:
Is 100% smoked brisket toooo much? Some cubed (unsmoked) beef? 1/2 N 1/2 ? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Nossir, in my opinion NO. Like others have said and like I realized, the other chili ingredients make it somehow not to smoky. Try it, you'll love it. I've tried different combinations now and I've never tasted to much smoke. Lots of folks use chipoltes nowadays...they're smoked but they just add flavor...nothing bad.

Give it a shot..you won't believe the difference.

-Brian

 

[Rick Kramer]

LOL @ secrets! I wish I knew enough to have secrets. I'll try the cumin next time. Thanks for the suggestion. That was a suggestion ... right?

Rick