Smoked Chili Recipe
Adapted from Stephanie V.W. Lucianovic
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Smoked beer is the result of infusing a weightier style of beer, such as brown ale, porter, or stout, with smoking agents. It has ancient roots in Germany but has been recently revived by American brewers aiming to put their own twist on the old style. This recipe combines the fireside flavor with a classic chili.
What to buy:
Look for smoked chicken and apple sausage at better grocery stores. We used Aidells brand.
Chili powder is available in the spice section of grocery stores or you can make your own with this recipe.
Smoked beer is available at many gourmet markets and liquor stores. We used Schlenkerla Smokebeer.
Game plan: The kidney beans need to soak overnight, so plan accordingly.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 12 ounces ground beef
- 4 ounces ground pork
- 3 ounces smoked apple and chicken sausage (about 1 link), medium dice
- 1 large yellow onion, medium dice
- 1 small fennel bulb, medium dice
- 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped red chile peppers, such as Fresno peppers
- 4 medium garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more as needed
- 1 teaspoon whole fennel seeds
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
- 1 (22-ounce) bottle smoked beer
- 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
- 1/2 cup dried kidney beans, soaked overnight in water and drained
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 6 medium scallions, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced
- Sour cream, for garnish
INSTRUCTIONS
- Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven or large, heavy-bottomed pot with a tightfitting lid over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the beef, pork, and sausage and cook, stirring to break up the meat with a wooden spoon, until the meat is browned and no bits of pink remain, about 5 to 6 minutes.
- Stir in onion, fennel, chiles, garlic, chili powder, cumin, 1 teaspoon of the salt, fennel seed, cayenne pepper, and tomato paste, and cook until the vegetables are softened, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add the beer and bring to a boil. Simmer until the beer flavor is cooked off, about 5 minutes. Stir in the remaining 1 teaspoon salt, tomatoes, kidney beans, and sugar.
- Bring the chili to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer until beans are tender, about 1 1/2 hours. Taste and season with salt as needed.
- Serve the chili garnished with the scallions, sour cream, and, of course, a glass of smoked beer.
made it last night with ground turkey substituted for the ground pork and it was yummy. i might make sure the meat is a bit more crumbly, but thumbs up.
Just a suggestion- you will get a better texture if you take the time to dice the beef and pork rather than use ground. Slice the meats into 1/4-inch slices and then cut up into 1/4-inch cubes. What the heck- work on your knife skills! Or have your butcher give you the meat in 1/4" slices to start with, then cross-cut on your own.
We attended the 2001 International Chili Cook-Off in Terlingua, TX, (observers, not contestants) and the favored technique was cubed meat. Of course, beans are not allowed in the professional competition.
I like 'em anyway. Going to try the "smoked beer" approach to chili elsewhere on the site.
Mike
I've made chili with Alaskan Smoked Porter. It was very good, although I like to get the smokiness from chipotle chili instead. I use beer in a lot of recipes and you've really gotta watch out for how much bitterness it might impart, especially with west coast microbrews. I might have to give it another go with this recipe though, the german style smokebeer seems like it would be pretty nice in a pot o' beans.
More years ago than I care to remember, Leff and I served a chili at the NJ Chili Cookoff that was the first "smoked chili" that many of the tasters had sampled. Rather than smoked beer, the recipe called for smoking a pork shoulder the day before, using dark beer as the liquid in the drip pan, and after the shoulder was a wonderful memory, using the liquid left in the pan as the base for the next day's chili. IMNSHO, a more potent and pure method of putting smoke into chili.