Big A's Smoked Brisket Cook-off Chili

If you are like me, as the days begin to get shorter and you start to feel the hot stickiness of the Summer heat fade into the coolness of Fall and the green lush leaves on the trees start to turn different hues of red, orange and yellow, you start to crave the warm comfort of chili.  Chili is one of the most versatile soups, if you would even put it in that class, because it can be made in so many different ways. Chili is more in a class of its own. In an internet search of chili recipes, you will find ones with beans, no beans, no meat, meat, differing kinds of meat and so on.  That is what makes it so versatile and why so many communities have Chili Cook-offs during this time of year. These cook-offs allow home cooks and/or restaurants to highlight their recipe and how they make it their own.

In anticipation of one of these cook-offs, a friend of ours mentioned that he wanted to try out his recipe prior to the actual event which was a smoked brisket chili without your traditional chilli beans.  As he explained his process and what made his different, it sounded so appetizing that I asked his permission to share the recipe.

The prep and cook time for this recipe is a little longer than most recipes but it will be well worth the wait.  In fact, John (my husband) said that it was the best that he has ever had and he is not a huge fan of chili.

The meat in the recipe is cooked in a smoker however if you don’t have a smoker or access to one, you can cook the brisket on a normal grill and use a smoker box or add smoked paprika and cumin and/or liquid smoke to get the smokey flavor,  it won’t be quite the same but it is a work around and won’t take quite as long.

Prior to putting the meat in the smoker there are a couple of things that need to be done that are not included in the prep time but are necessary for the flavor.  If you are using wood chips in a smoker, you will need to soak your chips according to the package instructions. The flavor chip that you use is up to you however we used applewood to maintain the sweetness that we were going for.

It is important to maintain a temperature of 225 degrees in your smoker in order to get a good smoke on the meat.  In addition, you will need to add wood chips and spritz the meat periodically to avoid drying out. We used a spray bottle filled with apple juice to spritz the meat.

The meat will need to be in the smoker for approximately 8-10 hours dependent upon the size.  The ideal internal temperature of the meat that you want it to reach is 155 degrees taken in the meatiest part of the brisket.  

Prep Time: 25-30 Minutes

Cook Time: Approximately 16 hours dependent upon the size of the brisket

¼ cup chili powder

⅛ cup salt

2 tbsp garlic powder

2 tbsp onion powder

1 tbsp of sugar

Dash of Cumin

Cayenne to taste

5 lb Beef Brisket - Rub ingredients listed separately above

1 medium to large sized Onion, diced

15 Bean Soup Mix - minus the seasoning packet

2 cans of crushed tomatoes plus 1 large can of juice

3 Tbsp Chili Powder

1 tsp of the following (this is to taste, you can add more or less as needed)

        Garlic powder

        Paprika

        Salt

        Black Pepper

        Jalapeno Juice

        Crushed Red Pepper

½ tsp or to taste of Sugar

Apple Juice and Water added to preferred consistency

        NOTE: The apple juice will add sweetness

1. Rub brisket with “love rub” and place in smoker until internal temperature is 155°
2. Place 15 bean soup in water soak per instructions
3. As meat is cooking, add additional wood chips and spritz with apple juice to keep meat from drying out
4. Once meat has reached optimal internal temperature, place in crock pot along with apple juice and rendered fat that has been collected during cooking
5. Cook until meat is fork tender
6. Caramelize the onions to a nice golden brown
7. Add all other ingredients and cook on low for at least two hours to allow flavors to meld together

STEP ONE

STEP TWO

STEP THREE

STEP SIX

Cook the diced onions to a nice brown caramel color and add to meat and bean mixture.

STEP SEVEN

Add tomatoes, juice and all spices to crock pot and allow to simmer for at least 2 hours.

After it has simmered, check your beans for the desired tenderness and adjust spice levels as needed.  

Be prepared that the longer it sits, the better it gets - which means it will get hotter the longer it is allowed to sit.  

To bring down the heat level, you can add some additional apple juice or sugar.

Since this was being made for a Chili cook-off and not everybody can tolerate really spicy foods, we didn’t add as much heat as we would normally.  The measurements on the spices as well as the jalapeno can be adjusted to your individual tastes. Other options for making it a little spicier would be to substitute the jalapeno for a hotter pepper such as habanero or to go less spicy or you could leave out the jalapeno completely.

Garnish with Sour cream, cheese, chives or as preferred.  

Pictured garnish is spinach, cheese and sour cream.

This recipe is the perfect warm up on a cold Fall day.  We did the trial run for the cook-off on the first day of Fall, the days of above 90 degree weather were finally behind us and the cool crispness of Fall was beginning to creep in.   It was the ideal beginning to the season and made for a great gathering of friends to prepare and visit. Honestly, I can’t wait to have it again when the temperatures drop even more.