# Chili Meat?



## Mylegsbig

Hey guys last time i made my chili recipe i used ground beef.  The flavor of the chili was delicious but i want to go on and graduate to the better beef chilis. Only thing is i've never used real steak meat to simmer in a sauce like that.  Couple of questions.

Can i use a good Ribeye? Alot of the recipes say cut meat into 1/2 inch cubes, or 1/4 inch cubes, can't recall.  What is the best way to cut the meat like this? Does anyone have any illustrations on how to do it?

Also, when this kind of beef simmers and slow cooks, does it get more tender the longer i cook it?

Because i like to simmer my meat sauces / chilis for around 2 hours or more.

Also any other tips on adding this kind of real steak into the chili would be great.

Thansk in advance.


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## Alix

Don't waste a ribeye that way. A blade steak will soften up nicely and have a lovely flavour in the sauce. I am assuming you will be using some tomato sauce in there which will tenderize the meat.


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## auntdot

You can use a ribeye, but why?

The best part of the ribeye is that it is very tender, and it has a good flavor.

And it is yelling to be cooked with dry heat.

It makes a yummy steak.

But, IMHO, it has no more flavor than the chuck or round.

And those cuts are a lot cheaper.

And you are going to cook the meat to make chili, which means it will be cooked in fluid, and will become tender after cooking.

You do not need the high end cuts.

I agree, prefer chunks of beef in making my own chili, and not the ground stuff. If it says 1/4 or 1/2  inch bits just cut it in pieces about that size.

Enjoy.


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## AllenOK

Save that steak for the grill.  Use some beef stew meat, or get a round steak and cut it yourself into stew meat.

If you really want to try something different, find a BBQ restaurant that will sell you a pound or two of chopped brisket.  If you can't get chopped, go with sliced brisket, and cut it up yourself.

Proceed with your chili recipe, but since the brisket is already cooked, don't worry about browning the meat, just saute the veggies, add tomato sauce, beer, beans, seasonings, or whatnot.  Then, add the beef, stir, and simmer for awhile.


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## Dina

I use stew meat on mine.  A good steak is usually grilled or broiled in our house with a good wine marinade.  I also use a whole bottle of beer to tenderize the stew meat with lots of chili powder, spices, poblano peppers, jalapeños, veggies and fresh cooked pinto beans.  It's a long process but so worth it!


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## Constance

We like to use cubed venison, good ground chuck, and hot style pork sausage. 
I brown off all the meat, drain, set aside, sweat of vegies in same pan, then proceed from there.


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## Andy M.

Chili, like stews and pot roasts a made to make use of otherwise tough pieces of meat.  Good cuts like ribeye aren't meant for stews and chilis.

I use a chuck roast that I cut into 1/2 inch cubes.  It's made for long cooking recipes.


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## Mylegsbig

So if i simmer the chili for 2 hours the meat will be more tender than if i simmer it for 30 minutes?


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## luvs

don't waste your $$$$, i'd get some low-cost chuck or round & make that into chili. & yep, beef gets more tender as it simmers.


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## BigDog

Hmmmmmmmm . . . .  .light just clicked in my head (first time for everything).

Stew meat has been compared/labelled as similar if not identical to a round steak. Often times it is cheaper to buy the uncut steak then buy the precut stew beef! Duh! And I keep going to buy stew beef! Argh! What was I thinking?!?!?

I'm all for the chunks of beef versus ground beef. Mrs Big Dog makes a chili con carne with ground beef. It's good, but not very exciting. I'm one for having chunks of beef and veggies (onions, peppers, maybe garlic) with beans, and maybe a few types of beans. One of these days I am going to start trying to make my own chili, but I haven't had the time thus far.


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## Andy M.

Mylegsbig said:
			
		

> So if i simmer the chili for 2 hours the meat will be more tender than if i simmer it for 30 minutes?


 
Assuming you use the cuts of beef recommended above, yes. A 2 hour simmer will give you tender pieces of meat and a flavorful sauce. Thirty minutes will give you meat that's cooked but tough and a sauce that's watery and not as richly flavored.


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## Constance

I never buy stew meat. I get a chuck or arm roast and cut my own. I haven't made a pot of chili all winter...next chilly spell, I think I'll do that.


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## Mylegsbig

i'ma use sirloin. It's not that expensive.  I will let you know how it turns out.

Thanks again as always very helpful.


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## AllenOK

BigDog said:
			
		

> Hmmmmmmmm . . . .  .light just clicked in my head (first time for everything).
> 
> Stew meat has been compared/labelled as similar if not identical to a round steak. Often times it is cheaper to buy the uncut steak then buy the precut stew beef! Duh! And I keep going to buy stew beef! Argh! What was I thinking?!?!?



Now you're thinking!

Basically, the more a piece of of meat is process and broken down from primal cuts, sub-primal cuts, and then to consumer cuts, the more the price/lb goes up.  This is why round steaks, per pound, are cheaper than than stew meat.  Along the same lines, it's cheaper to buy a whole tenderloin, and peel/cut it into filets yourself, as well as buying a whole Prime Rib Roast, and cutting your own ribeye steaks from it.

The only drawbacks are, you have to spend more, as these bigger cuts of meat weigh more, but if you properly package the cuts and freeze them, you'll do better in the long run.  Also, you have actually work a bit to process the meats yourself.


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## BigDog

I'm all for bigger cuts of meat, and have a freezer to put 'em in.

Usually, a steak for me is no less then a pound. T'is a rare occassion that I indulge in steak, so in the wise words of somebody, "if you're gonna go, go all out!"

Typically it is a 1.25 pound ribeye, and it is cooked on the GF Grill. Sometimes larger, but I always buy the largest/heaviest rib eye on display. Hasn't ever exceeded a pound and a half, though.

Back to topic, I'm gonna start doing that, not just buying the steak to cut to chunks, but utilizing my Sam's Club membership to buy the bulk meat and break it down myself!


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## BlueCat

I've competed in my share of chili cookoffs, and I use good chuck. Sometimes I have it ground, sometimes I cube it. Round isn't a good meat for long cooking times. There's no need to use an expensive cut of steak for chili. You just need to use a meat that will stay flavorful when it's simmered for a long time.  Also, stew meat in these parts is chuck.  If I can find that cheap enough, I buy that and then cut the chunks into small dice.

BC


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## Gretchen

Use cuts like chuck or round for the chili and cut them in small dice. Do not boil, but simmer for a long time. All that said, I just don't care for chili made with diced meat--much prefer ground. Coarse ground pork is also very good in chili as is venison.


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## AllenOK

There was an eppy on AB's _Good Eat's_ about chili.  I've adopted a few of the things he mentioned in that (using some beer, tortilla chips as a thickener).  He also mentioned using several different kinds of meats, and I think maybe different cuts as well.  I know it had cubes of beef, and lamb of some kind.  I can't remember if he used any ground meats, or pork of any kind.


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## BlueCat

Gretchen said:
			
		

> Use cuts like chuck or round for the chili and cut them in small dice. Do not boil, but simmer for a long time. All that said, I just don't care for chili made with diced meat--much prefer ground. Coarse ground pork is also very good in chili as is venison.


 
I prefer chili made with ground meat too, but the championship cookoffs almost exclusively use diced.  And no beans.  The friendly competitions use ground more than any other kind.

BC


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## buckytom

heya legs?

i made chilli last week using veal shoulder chops, and it came out great!
the veal was on sale, about $3.50 per pound, so i bought a whole bunch of packages of regular veal shoulder and round bone veal shoulder chops.

most of them were destined for veal and peppers in tomato sauce, but i used 2 of them, about 1 1/4 pounds each, to make chilli. i pulled the sections of meat apart by their natural seperations in the fat, removed and discarded any silverskin or big chunks of fat, then proceeded to cut it up into 1/4 to 1/2 inch cubes, including the marrow.

they were browned, and used as the base of the chilli, adding (browned)onions, garlic, peppers, canned beans, freshly ground cumin and black pepper, worcestershire sauce, beer, and about 1/3rd of a bottle of goya salsita smokey ancho chilli sauce. 

it was the best chilli that i've ever made.


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## AllenOK

buckytom said:
			
		

> heya legs?
> 
> i made chilli last week using veal shoulder chops, and it came out great!
> the veal was on sale, about $3.50 per pound, so i bought a whole bunch of packages of regular veal shoulder and round bone veal shoulder chops.
> 
> most of them were destined for veal and peppers in tomato sauce, but i used 2 of them, about 1 1/4 pounds each, to make chilli. i pulled the sections of meat apart by their natural seperations in the fat, removed and discarded any silverskin or big chunks of fat, then proceeded to cut it up into 1/4 to 1/2 inch cubes, including the marrow.
> 
> they were browned, and used as the base of the chilli, adding (browned)onions, garlic, peppers, canned beans, freshly ground cumin and black pepper, worcestershire sauce, beer, and about 1/3rd of a bottle of goya salsita smokey ancho chilli sauce.
> 
> it was the best chilli that i've ever made.



Why, *WHY?!?!*  Must you tortore me with ideas like this?  Now I need to make a note to myself, sometime this summer, to get some Ancho Chiles, and smoke them, along with some Jalapenoes, to make some chili with?  Now you've got my mouth watering!!!!


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## buckytom

lol allen, this stuff was really good. i can  only imagine how much better it will be with homemeade smoked chilis. in that case, i'd probably add a little red wine vinegar along with them to pot.

one of the foodtv's chilli cookoff shows described that the recent years winners all cubed up pieces of meat instead of ground, so i adopted the idea and i must say it makes all the difference, especially in texture. you get to enjoy all of the chilli flavor, and the beans too, but you also get to bite into pieces of meat instead of the ground meat disappearing into the sauce.


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## AllenOK

I may have to try this, then.  The past several years, it seems like my basic chili recipe has been a constantly evolving thing, getting better each time.  I may have to try a small batch with some diced meat, just to see what the texture would be like.  Who knows, maybe after trying some smoked chile peppers and smoked brisket, I'd have something capable of winning a competition somewhere.


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## Andy M.

Allen, Once you try the diced meat in place of the ground meat, you'll never go back. The chunky texture really seems to personify chili. I'll bet the old time chuck wagon cooks didn't use ground meat.


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## AllenOK

You're probably right, the problem will be convincing my family to eat it.  They aren't really hip to modifying something that they've made for years a certain way.  Especially my MIL, as she's VERY set in her ways, not to mention that she doesn't have any teeth or dentures right now.


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## jennyema

Mylegsbig said:
			
		

> i'ma use sirloin. It's not that expensive. I will let you know how it turns out.
> 
> Thanks again as always very helpful.


 

Chuck is, IMO, more flavorful than sirloin.  Perhaps try it next time?


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## Mylegsbig

I made another batch of chili using a mix of 1/2 Prime Sirloin and 1/2 Prime Ribeye.

First i prepared the base. I reconstituted 4 ancho chillies, 3 new mexico chillies, and 5 chipotle chillies in about 3 cups of Spring Water. I then threw this whole mix in the blender and pureed it.

i browned up about 1 1/2 pounds of meat, then set it aside.

  I then sauteed onions and red bellpepper in sunflower oil until soft.

  Then i added in tomato paste and sauteed that. 

 then i added  tomato sauce. 

Then i added in my pureed chili water, a cup of Dark beer, 1/4 cup of Coca Cola, freshly ground cumin, 4 diced Red Jalapeno Peppers, some chili powder, some cayenne powder, some paprika,some worchestershire, some Franks Red Hot,cracked pepper, salt

then i added in the 1 1/2 pounds very small cubed meat. Diced the meat very fine.

i simmered this covered for like 2 hours and 30 minutes, then uncovered for a final 30 minutes.

came out fantastic.  i may be missin a couple of steps i did but you get the gist of it


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