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smoked chuck in chili?

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Craig in Indy:
My standard chili recipe calls for cubed chuck, browned in a heavy dutch oven with oil, onions and garlic, before the rest of the chili ingredients go in, and it's always been great. But about a year ago I smoked my first brisket flat, and while it was a reasonably good effort for a first time (great flavor), it was dry enough that I knew I needed to do something different with the leftovers. So I cubed it up and used it as the basis for the next batch of chili, and it was fantastic - the smoke was still there, and the tenderness of the cubed brisket after simmering in the chili was so much better than the usual cook-in-the-pot chuck.

Well, the time has come for an office chili cook-off, and I was going to get a flat and smoke it for this batch, but my wife says we don't need any more brisket - use the chuck roast that's in the freezer. And she's got a point (no brisket-pun intended). Now, I tried this once before, after the great brisket chili, but was disappointed. I smoked it bare for a couple of hours, then cut it up and cooked it with the rest of the chili, and the final product had almost no discernible smoke profile, and the chuck was tough.

So now I'm thinking I need to change what I do with the chuck. We've had great success smoking a chuck roast bare for two hours, then putting it in a foil boat with beer, onions, garlic, potatoes and carrots. When it's done, it's fantastic, but it pretty much has to be shredded - it can't be sliced, at least not easily, as it tends to fall apart. So I'm looking at one of two choices, and would like opinions. Do I:

1. Smoke it like our regular chuck roast with the beer, garlic and onions (no potatoes or carrots), with the meat shredded and chopped instead of cubed; or

2. Smoke it like a brisket - leave it bare and take it to whatever IT makes it probe-tender, then slice and cube it? Assuming the chuck behaves like a brisket, which I don't think is necessarily a given.

In both cases, the meat is essentially done before it's added to the chili, though the whole thing still cooks for some time to meld the flavors, just like I did with that old brisket batch. Your thoughts?

Brushpopper:

--- Quote from: Craig in Indy on November 23, 2017, 02:01:55 PM ---1. Smoke it like our regular chuck roast with the beer, garlic and onions (no potatoes or carrots), with the meat shredded and chopped instead of cubed

--- End quote ---

I would say.  Hate to waste a good beverage, though.  Let us know how it turns out regardless of your decision.

GREG-B:
What about slicing it up b4 smoking, or cubing it so more surface gets exposed to the smoke?

Darwin:
I have smoked the vegetable that I use in chili and I like the added taste. I usually smoke a bunch of onion, serrano, garlic and tomatoes for salsa or to freeze.  This year I am going to smoke diced chuck before I brown the meat and finish the recipe.

Craig in Indy:
I ended up smoking it all the way, just like would a roast (in fact, my wife insisted we add some potatoes and carrots so we could have a bit of it for dinner instead of putting it all in the chili pot. Here it is post-shred, but before a light chop:

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