Spare Rib Over-the-Top Chili - A Variation on KiterTodd's Recipe

divided_wood

Of all the chili recipes I've ever made (including my own), the one I keep going back to is KiterTodd's over-the-top giant meatball chili. (Original post here.) 

That said, I'm not as hot on ground meat in my chili and prefer chunks... brisket especially. I thought I'd try to experiment and look for a way to use the same technique--which really yields smoky flavor in the chili, and melds the meat fat into the chili--with whole cuts of meat. Obviously not going to do a whole brisket as the timing of that doesn't work out for how long the chili needs to cook.

I went to the store with the intention of looking for a chuck roast and... it was $9/lb. Not being all that into a $60 chili, I looked at what was on sale and saw St. Louis spare ribs. Bit of a weird cut, but hey, life's about excitement, right?

So without further ado...

Started with 2 racks of spare ribs, coated with my favorite rub. I skipped the green peppers and corn from the original recipe and added some hotter chiles to spice it up. Ribs went over the top after blooming the spices and cooking down all the onions.


Ribs came off after about 3 hours. Here's how they looked. Starting to get some nice bark and absorbed plenty of smoke flavor, but were still pretty chewy. It was a pain in the ass cutting around all the bones and cartilage in their semi-cooked state. 


Chopped up and back into the dutch oven for another couple hours. 


How it looked after skimming off ~1/2 cup of fat. Notice the change in color from cooking down over the smoke versus how it looked when I first mixed the pork in (above). 

The finished product...

Overall, I'm pleased with how it come out and think it would've been even better with the chuck roast I originally set out to get. Ribs/pork are a bit of an odd choice for chili (in my opinion), but the chunks got super tender after braising for a few hours and taste really good and smoky inside the chili.

Would I make it again with ribs? Not sure. The flavor was really good, but it was a pain cutting the semi-cooked ribs and I think there are probably better cuts for what I am trying to accomplish. All in all, in my pursuit of a variant on my favorite recipe with whole chunks of meat in it, I'm pretty pleased with this experiment...

StillH2OEgger

Thanks for sharing. It sure looks good!

WeberWho

This to me is cooking at its best! Great post. I love seeing people experiment or push the envelope of not "normal". Fantastic!

Thatgrimguy

OTT chili took the Facebook groups by absolute STORM a few years back. It was all anyone posted. 

I agree, the @KiterTodd had a real winner with his. I need to make it again!  One suggestion I have for coarse meat, is to grind or even cut your own meat. You can make a meat ball out of coarsely cut up beef well enough to work and get the bigger chunks you desire. 

divided_wood

Never made the transition over to grinding up my own meat... I should probably give that a try. Sounds like that could be the winning ticket. 

Hook_emHornsfan_74

I have a thought on this.  Have been thinking about it for a day or so.  What if you smoked the ribs over the chili, then placed the ribs still on the bone into the chili to let them simmer/stew.  The bones would be a lot easier to remove and the meat would be tender.

lkapigian

divided_wood said:

Never made the transition over to grinding up my own meat... I should probably give that a try. Sounds like that could be the winning ticket. 

Opens the door to a lot more opportunities to make delicious food items 

fishlessman

divided_wood said:

Never made the transition over to grinding up my own meat... I should probably give that a try. Sounds like that could be the winning ticket. 

if you have a kitchen aide mixer theres big grinding plates on ebay that fit the grinder attachment, 1/2 inch and bigger. i dont use the standard plates much at all. 1/2 inch is a good chili grind

divided_wood

Hook_emHornsfan_74 said:

I have a thought on this.  Have been thinking about it for a day or so.  What if you smoked the ribs over the chili, then placed the ribs still on the bone into the chili to let them simmer/stew.  The bones would be a lot easier to remove and the meat would be tender.

I was thinking that actually. Would probably get some really good flavor from the bones simmering too. I considered it this weekend when I cooked but my dutch oven wasn't big enough to fit em all. Only other thought I had was just letting the chili cook longer with the ribs on top until they were fall off the bone. Might have to add more liquid but otherwise I don't see why that wouldn't work.