What is cooking tonight or this weekend?

[iadubber]

I pulled out a butt, brisket, and two chuckies from the freezer for the weekend! Should be a smokin good time!

 

[meatball]

I'm definitely doing a few racks of spares, a bunch of onions and maybe some eggs this weekend on Sunday probably. Not sure what else I'll be smoking this weekend, but it's likely that I'll do something else too! Love long weekends.

 

[deltadude]

Last night cooked up some chili, no recipe just started with what was available. The problem was, no beans, and no one was interested in making a store run.

So here is what I cooked and the whole family liked it.

2 lbs stew beef chopped into 1" cubes trim any excessive fat off.
2 lbs hamburger
2 c chopped onions (I used 3 med )
1/2 c fine chopped carrots (I used 3 large stalks)
3/4 c chopped celery
1/3 c chopped garlic (I actually used more)
1 - chopped bell pepper
1-2 tbsp red pepper flakes
1-2 tbsp fresh ground black pepper
1-2 tbsp kosher salt
1-2 c red wine
2-3 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp Mexican or taco seasoning
2 tbsp Worcestershire
2 15 oz crushed or diced stewed tomatoes
1 15 oz tomato sauce
1 6oz tomato paste
1 tbsp italian seasoning
1.5 15oz can water (seasoned with 2 tbsp beef base or 3 bullion cubes)
1/2 c of olive

The above is rough and from memory, I don't stand there with measuring stuff, I just pour or add.

1st you will need a 2 large pots.

• In pot one, 1/2 olive oil saute, 1/3 of garlic and onion, all thecarrots, bell pepper, celery, season with some of the salt and pepper. When slightly tender, remove and strain the oil, return oil to the same pot. Reserve the cooked veggies.

Stew Beef cooking about 2.5 to 3 hours
• In same pot add 1/3 of garlic, and onion, slightly cook and stir till onion is translusent. Add stew beef, salt & pepper, turn up heat slight and brown meat. When meat is browned, reduce heat, add
-1 tbsp of Taco Seasoning,
-1 tbsp Worcestershire,
-1/3 of red wine,
- 1/2 red pepper flakes
scrape and loosen any meat bits from bottom of pan.
As you cook and stir the mixture and meat will thicken, add more wine to keep it liquidy. About 1 to 1.5 hour after start, add 1/2 can tomato sauce, maybe some more wine. At about 2 hours you want to reduce almost all the liquid back to a watery paste. The meat is still somewhat tough but chewy, during the last hour to hour and half the meat will get tender.

Meat Sofrito,
• In the second pot while stew beef pot is going. Add 3/4 rest of olive oil, 1 tbsp of garlic, 1/4 cup of raw onion, stir for a min. then add hamburger meat, season with salt & pepper & 1/4 taco seasoning. Cook until hamburger meat is completely brown and most of the fat is rendered out.
Drain off the oil and fat, reserve 1/4 cup and return to pot with hamburger, add last 1/4 cup of olive oil, all the cooked veggies from earlier,
- 2 cans of crushed or diced tomatoes,
- 1 can of tomato paste,
- 1/3 cup red wine
- remainder of tomato sauce
- Italian seasoning
- Chili powder
- Cumin
- Taco seasoning 1tbsp
- Worcestershire
- Salt and Pepper
- 1.5 cans of water seasons with either beef bullion

Cook with a slight simmer. 2 hours.
If too much liquid turn up heat and reduce, get down to a watery spaghetti meat sauce like texture, but still some liquid (when combining with stew meat the last reductiion will remove the liquid).

For both the stew beef, and the meat sofrito taste and adjust seasoning as you cook, since this is slow cooking you can't do much adjusting at the end, because it will just taste like something with seasoning thrown on top, rather than cooked in.

2 - 2.5 hours into cooking of both Stew Beef and meat sofrito.
Combine stew meat with meat Sofrito, 1st skim any excess fat in the meat sofrito. Adjust seasoning here, mostly salt & pepper, but if you think it needs something more now is the time to add it.

If after another hour low simmer cooking, it is too watery turn up heat and reduce but stir frequently or you will have stuff sticking to bottom of pan.

My wife and I ate this Sunday night, and Monday the whole family had it for lunch. It was even better after sitting in the fridge overnight.