Making Chili "The Old fashioned Way"

[The OutDoor Chef]

Hola everyone.

I have a Griswold Dutch Oven A full bag of coal left over from my comp.

I like to dig a big enough hole to drop about a chimney and a half full of Lump coal in to the hole, And lower my dutch oven in there for making Chili?


Any tips?

 

[pacanis]

Good luck.
I have never been able to cook any kind of bean dish that way. Not one that used dry beans anyway. I could never keep the coals from snuffing themselves out long before the beans tuned soft. I finally resorted to setting the DO by the campfire. I imagine I was doing something wrong, but I played with it four times before giving up.
I'm interested in your results.

 

[The OutDoor Chef]

Good luck.
I have never been able to cook any kind of bean dish that way. Not one that used dry beans anyway. I could never keep the coals from snuffing themselves out long before the beans tuned soft. I finally resorted to setting the DO by the campfire. I imagine I was doing something wrong, but I played with it four times before giving up.
I'm interested in your results.

Did you Bury the char coal and the dutch oven?

They seemed they didn't get enough oxygen?

Mine will be a shallow hole. And I will show some results.

 

[pacanis]

Yes, the recipe I was using called for coals in the hole, then set the DO in the hole, then coals on the lid, covered with a thin layer of dirt. Everytime I took the DO out of the hole the coals were only 3/4 burned, the DO was warm, but the beans were always hard still. I will say it retained heat 12 hours later... but never cooked enough, obviously due to the charcoal going out. I played around with the hole size and depth some, but could never get the charcoal to stay lit and still bury the DO like I was supposed to.

ETA: without soaked navy beans that were still basically hard, it may have worked. Or if I precooked them first. That would not have stopped the coals from going out though.

 

[The OutDoor Chef]

Pecanis,

I am cheating I am going to use canned beans.

I may just use my weber grill to do them properly.

 

[Andy M.]

Pecanis,

I am cheating I am going to use canned beans...

Wouldn't that make it semi old fashioned? Sandra Lee might be interested.

 

[The OutDoor Chef]

Wouldn't that make it semi old fashioned? Sandra Lee might be interested.

Ok you got me Andy. You are right. That would be semi old fashioned.

 

[Andy M.]

Ok you got me Andy. You are right. That would be semi old fashioned.

...but still good. Nothing wrong with canned beans.

 

[pacanis]

Semi old fashioned would be good, just so it doesn't come out semi cooked ;^)

 

[The OutDoor Chef]

Semi old fashioned would be good, just so it doesn't come out semi cooked ;^)

I hear you Pacanis.

 

[justplainbill]

Glad to hear a favorable discussion about chili with frijoles but I think the use of charcoal for grilling meat or baking pizza is more rewarding. I can make good chili on a stove but can't say the same about grilled meats or pizza.

 

[Andy M.]

Glad to hear a favorable discussion about chili with frijoles but I think the use of charcoal for grilling meat or baking pizza is more rewarding. I can make good chili on a stove but can't say the same about grilled meats or pizza.

Didn't someone recently post an article discussing the authenticity of beans in chili?

 

[justplainbill]

Didn't someone recently post an article discussing the authenticity of beans in chili?

Either I missed that article or the article was consistent with what appears to me to be the generally negative tone on this forum regarding the use of beans in 'real' chili.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Every-time I make chili it starts with, "Soak one pound of beans..."

 

[pacanis]

Well, to be honest, I can't remember the last time I made chili with beans
I'm in a "chili has beans" area, and I like beans in chili, I just don't add them anymore. Probably because I don't set out to make chili and then buy the ingredients. Chili is always a by product of smoked pork or brisket, so I use what I have on hand... and I don't got no beans in the pantry

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Well, to be honest, I can't remember the last time I made chili with beans
I'm in a "chili has beans" area, and I like beans in chili, I just don't add them anymore. Probably because I don't set out to make chili and then buy the ingredients. Chili is always a by product of smoked pork or brisket, so I use what I have on hand... and I don't got no beans in the pantry

No beans??? How do you have fun after the meal??? Yes, life in an Ogre fambly!

 

[pacanis]

No beans??? How do you have fun after the meal??? Yes, life in an Ogre fambly!

I have progressed beyond the need for outside stimuli

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I have progressed beyond the need for outside stimuli

 

[Andy M.]

Either I missed that article or the article was consistent with what appears to me to be the generally negative tone on this forum regarding the use of beans in 'real' chili.

On the contrary. The article was arguing that beans in chili were authentic. The argument sounded valid to me. It stated cooks on the trail would use beans as a filler to stretch meat meals. Dried beans would have traveled well and provided needed nutrients.

 

[justplainbill]

I'm a big fan of beans. They were a mainstay in my paternal grandfather's diet and he lived to be 96.