Chili Meat

Whats the best type beef to use for chili?

Smoked?
Some sort of marinade?
Dry aged?

Italian Sausage.

Wait that’s not beef. I’d still say use italian sausage, sorry.

I used left over smoked brisket and 90% lean hamburger meat.
What’s the best? What ever you like to eat. Can’t really go wrong once it’s in chilli with all the other stuff in chilli.

I use the cheapest Ground beef I can find and just drain off the fat after browning it. I also add Italian Sausage to my Chili. A smoked Ground beef would probably be Great as well. Just never took the time to smoke ground beef.

Ripjiggen wrote:

I used left over smoked brisket and 90% lean hamburger meat.
What’s the best? What ever you like to eat. Can’t really go wrong once it’s in chilli with all the other stuff in chilli.

Brisket in chili is amazing. I havent done it in a while since I havent made brisket in about 6 months, but its on the agenda soon. Chili weather coming up starting this weekend where it wont even get above zero for a few days.

Ripjiggen wrote:

I used left over smoked brisket and 90% lean hamburger meat.
What’s the best? What ever you like to eat. Can’t really go wrong once it’s in chilli with all the other stuff in chilli.

Smoked Brisket sure does sound yummy in Chili. May have to save some the next time I smoke some just to add to my next batch of Chili

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Ripjiggen wrote:</div>
I used left over smoked brisket and 90% lean hamburger meat.
What’s the best? What ever you like to eat. Can’t really go wrong once it’s in chilli with all the other stuff in chilli.

Brisket in chili is amazing. I havent done it in a while since I havent made brisket in about 6 months, but its on the agenda soon. Chili weather coming up starting this weekend where it wont even get above zero for a few days.

I second the brisket!

Chili, meatballs, and meatloaf I use an equal part blend of beef burger, veni burger, italian sausage 95% of the time. If not, a combo of whatever else I have thawed out or ready to use. Throwing in some leftover brisket or pulled pork is never going to make the taste of the chili go down that’s for sure.

I use venison in my chili. I have never tried the italian sausage, but that does sound good, might have to try with the venison burger.

Why confine yourself to just one “best”?

Not to go all Food Network on you, but the great thing about chili is there are no rules and it’s basically a culinary blank canvas. Create away. Also, IMO chili is like donuts–are there really any bad ones?

I like to use venison because chili doesn’t need a lot of fat. But as has been mentioned above, I also use a veni-italian mix of my own creation, basically, it’s venison and pork with seasoning.

Brisket, again as mentioned, makes great chili. However, I would question the sanity of taking perfectly good brisket and, basically not eating it just so that you can put it in chili.

I’ve used venison, beef, pulled pork, chopped pork and brisket in chili. Any meat is always good in chili

I use cubed up steak – good & fatty cut, not filet.
Sear all sides. Smoke for ~1 hour at lowest emp your smoker can handle.
Cook the onions, garlic, tomatoes and peppers a bit – then add the meat.

Searing off and smoking a chuck roast would be pretty dang good I think.

Whatever is in the fridge as a left over and 90% ground round here.

Good chili is highly spiced, and any meat will work and while I’ll toss a little left-over chicken or turkey in there, I will never use either as the base meat.

BigWerm wrote:

Searing off and smoking a chuck roast would be pretty dang good I think.

It is, Ive done that a few times.

Another vote for smoked brisket. Actually a lot more votes. I won the office chili cook off a couple months back. Used about 25% brisket to 75% 85/15 ground beef. There were nine chilis and 26 votes altogether. I got 17 votes, three others got the rest of the votes, and five people got zero votes. I tried them all and they were all good enough to eat, but only a couple were great. Using dried chilis makes most of the difference to me. I used ancho, guajillo, and chili de arbol. Seed them and toast them in a dry skillet then soak them in hot water about ten minutes. Blend them with some of the soaking liquid to make a paste then fry that paste until it darkens a bit before adding onions and meat.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Why confine yourself to just one “best”?

Brisket, again as mentioned, makes great chili. However, I would question the sanity of taking perfectly good brisket and, basically not eating it just so that you can put it in chili.

Yeah don’t do that. Eat the brisket. Save some for left overs the next two days. Anything left gets vacuum sealed for chilli.

May have to go with three meats next time I make with the Italian sausage as the third.

Damn now I want chilli for dinner.

picklerick wrote:

Another vote for smoked brisket. Actually a lot more votes. I won the office chili cook off a couple months back. Used about 25% brisket to 75% 85/15 ground beef. There were nine chilis and 26 votes altogether. I got 17 votes, three others got the rest of the votes, and five people got zero votes. I tried them all and they were all good enough to eat, but only a couple were great. Using dried chilis makes most of the difference to me. I used ancho, guajillo, and chili de arbol. Seed them and toast them in a dry skillet then soak them in hot water about ten minutes. Blend them with some of the soaking liquid to make a paste then fry that paste until it darkens a bit before adding onions and meat.

Similar to what I do but I use beef stock instead of water.

Re hydrated chilies make a very rich flavorful chili.

Has anyone used beef tenderloin? Would the tenderness of the cut be appealing?

I know it doesn’t have the most flavor but it may pick up the peppers flavor during a slow cook.

I’ve used venison backstrap and would expect similar results from beef tenderloin. I didn’t care for the texture of it as a chili. Sort of like canned venison, really fine meat fibers. Good on a cracker or mashed taters, but odd for chili. If you’re going to slow cook it or do it in a pressure cooker, cheaper meat is the way to go. Another good one for chili is skirt steak. Sear it over hot coals then chop it up. That charcoal char on the onions and some fresh peppers and tomato amps things up, too.

As others have said, it’s just my wife and I so after a few meals of smoked brisket, I portion out the rest into about #1-2 chunks, wrap tightly in foil, then into freezer bags. They last for months if I happen to accidentally bury one. It’s a nice surprise when you find one you forgot about.

I need to go digging in the freezer now. We’re finishing off a pot of chicken and rice soup I made on Sunday tonight. Made the stock from some older local chickens my neighbor’s dad raised. Best chicken soup I’ve ever had.