Set up your Weber Kettle for indirect smoking – Fill your charcoal chimney fire starter with charcoal briquettes, and when ready, empty the chimney in the center of the charcoal grate. With tongs, move the charcoal to both sides of the Weber Kettle, creating two equal piles. Add three more charcoal briquets and two small pieces of soaked wood or wood chips to each pile. Add more briquets and soaked wood or wood chips as needed to maintain the maximum smoke.

Prepare the meat – Mix the baking soda and cornstarch together, massage into the beef chuck pieces, and set aside. In a Dutch oven, cook the bacon until crispy; remove and set aside. Sauté the ground beef in the bacon fat for 5 minutes. Add and thoroughly mix in the beef chuck, soy sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt and pepper, and sauté until well browned. Remove the meat mixture from the Dutch oven and set aside.

Sauté the vegetables – Add the olive oil to the Dutch oven and sauté the onion, green bell pepper, and garlic. Add the meat mixture (not the bacon yet) to the vegetables in the Dutch oven and thoroughly mix.

Add the spices to the meat and vegetable mixture – With the Dutch oven on low heat, add all of the spices to the meat and vegetable mixture in the Dutch oven and thoroughly mix together.

Add the bulk ingredients – With the Dutch oven on low heat, add all the bulk ingredients to the Dutch oven one at a time and thoroughly mix together, including the cooked bacon. Bring all the ingredients to a low simmer in the Dutch oven.

Taste for seasoning and adjustments – This is a very important step in the chili cooking process. This is where you make the chili taste just how YOU like it. Taste the chili, and add any of the spices and bulk ingredients to the chili you want until you are satisfied that you like the taste of your chili.

Transfer the chili to the Weber Kettle – Place the uncovered Dutch oven directly on the grill grate of your Weber Kettle, equidistant between the two piles of charcoal and wood. Close the lid and smoke for two hours, stirring the chili every 15 minutes.

Take the smoked chili off the Weber Kettle – Carefully and with oven mitts, remove the Dutch oven from the Weber Kettle. Spoon the chili into bowls and serve with your favorite toppings.