Anyone cooked or worked with beef shoulder clod?


 
C

ChadVKealey

TVWBB Pro
Every time I go to the local warehouse store (BJs), I check their meat selection and have recently noticed "beef shoulder clod". While the name doesn't sound all that appetizing, the price (usually right between $2-3/lb.) made me want to look into this cut. I've read everything from "just treat it like brisket" to instructions for breaking it down into more usable cuts (flat iron steaks, various other steak/roast cuts).

I dug around on the forums here and found one post from several years back mentioning shoulder clod, but all the photo links were broken. Most of the "cook it like brisket" folks call for cooking the whole shebang for 20+ hours, which (I think) would be a real challenge for the WSM. I'd definitely need to add charcoal a few times, and the ash buildup could cause issues, so I'd probably need to clean it out at least once.

Given that time estimate, I'm leaning toward the "break it down" approach. Worst case scenario is I end up with a whole bunch of pieces for beef stew or chili and maybe a couple nice steaks.
 
ChadVKealey said:
I'm leaning toward the "break it down" approach
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Congrats on finding a Beef Clod. I can't get them here in the bay area, kalifornia and I wish I could. Basically a Beef Clod is to beef what a Pork Butt is to pork. Cook it just like you would a Pork Butt (figure an hour per pound at 250 degrees) When I have smoked it, I usually pull it off with an IT of about 185 / 190 because I like it sliced over pulled
 
ChuckO said:
Congrats on finding a Beef Clod. I can't get them here in the bay area, kalifornia and I wish I could. Basically a Beef Clod is to beef what a Pork Butt is to pork. Cook it just like you would a Pork Butt (figure an hour per pound at 250 degrees) When I have smoked it, I usually pull it off with an IT of about 185 / 190 because I like it sliced over pulled
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Interesting. I'm guessing you'd season it more like brisket than butt, though? Or, at least more simply (like just S&P and maybe garlic)?
 
ChadVKealey said:
Interesting. I'm guessing you'd season it more like brisket than butt, though? Or, at least more simply (like just S&P and maybe garlic)?
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My favorite beef rubs are:

Stubb's Spice Rub (beef)
McCormic steak rub
McCormic Montreal Steak Seasoning
Emerils steak rub
A1 Bold (original)
 
I've seen the YouTube videos on breaking down a clod and always wanted to buy one and give it a try. You can get many different cuts of meat out of a clod and I can probably grind up my mistakes into great hamburger!! If you are going to break it down, please post pictures so I can make up my mind to try one or not.
 
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I have not found clod nearby yet, but if I were able to, I would want to break out the flat iron steaks from it first to grill. Then would smoke some for chili meat, and make some really flavorful burgers from the rest. Somehow I just cant imagine the clod needing 20 hours of smoke time if you can pull steaks from it.
 
I've had it at Lockhart Smokehouse in Dallas. I loved it. I don't know much about cooking it but they used a simple rub, probably salt and pepper . You probably need a lot of seasoning because you have a low rate of of surface to meat. They cook it whole and slice it. It doesn't seam like they cook it to the same level of doneness as a brisket. I would think it might be more tender. I think ChuckO is right on with internal temp. I'd put some heavy smoke on it.

I've gotten 20 hours on my 22.5 Wsm during the summer with the old KBB but I don't know if you'd need to go that long.
 
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Simply amazing!!! I found one, I was just tripping through Winco and there it was. News (cook) to follow
 
ChadVKealey said:
Awesome! Can't wait to see how it goes.
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I'll start another thread in the photo section, but here's my Beef Clod (my son calls it a false roast)

1A51A0EF-CEAC-4B4E-BFFF-97B67316FD92_zpsg4bylpwu.jpg


It's 8 LBS and I put it on at 10AM so not expecting to see this guy again until 6PM (currently 1PM) although I might wrap it at about 175. I found my notes, and I do cook these until 200, I previously thought only 190 max. It still slices real nice at 200

0DF9FBCF-1555-409A-8005-4224FB8B491D_zps43mhvzul.jpg
 
My hindsight: pit temp at 250 is perfect however I recommend calling it done when IT is 190, 195 max. 200 is overdone. That said, even overdone it tastes good, however it made amazing soup. I hit it hard with smoke, normally I would have used two chunks of Cherry, but for this cook I had 4 chunks deeply buried in my hickory charcoal and 4 chunks on the surface. Heavy smoke is the way to go. I'll probably do another one in a month or so, my 8LBS was less than $20
 
Went to BJ's today, set on getting one, and they were all out :(

They had a bunch of brisket flats and various cuts of round (whole, eye, etc.), but no clods. The butcher says they usually only get a few of them near the beginning of each month, so I'm going to check back on the weekend.

-Chad
 
I've frequently seen beef clod at my local Restaurant Depot. I haven't been there for awhile, but I'll bet they still have them.
 
Chuck that is one awesome looking piece of meat. I'm sure it was outstanding, you can pass a plate of that this way anytime.
 
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