Joe Milczewski
TVWBB Fan
Sorry, don't have any pics. But I'm curious as to any shared wisdom as to how my chuck roast went so wrong.
I had never done a chuck before but liked the idea of having something to pull for sandwiches and tacos. I had a chuck roast of about 4 pounds. That was my best guess as my beef comes from a local rancher and usually isn't labeled for weight.
Rubbed with salt and pepper over a layer of yellow mustard. Rested it for an hour in the fridge and then put on the WSM at 9:30 am at 225 with several pecan chunks. The WSM held between 225 - 254 throughout the cook.
I took chu8ck's temp at 1:30pm (after 4 hours) and it had come up to 145. This was much behind my anticipated schedule. At 3:30pm it hit 164 and appeared to be stalled. I wrapped tightly in foil with a little beef broth, half an onion and some garlic and put back on.
At 4:45pm I took the temp again and it was up to 185. I wanted the bark to reset so I unwrapped at this point and put it back on the smoker (at 245) thinking another half hour or 45 minutes might get it up to 195 and ready to rest for a bit.
I was getting very worried at this point as I was already WAY past when I thought I'd be done and a probe test was nowhere near tender.
At 5:15 I checked again and the chuck hadn't come up hardly at all. It was only at 188 and still nowhere near tender. Out of time and options I put it in a pan with some more broth, wrapped in foil and threw in the kitchen oven at 300.
At 6:15 the roast had come up to 192 but still not tender. Out of time I pulled it and let it rest for a half hour and then tried to pull it.
Ha ha. Hardly any connective tissue had rendered. The roast was still tough like a balled up dish rag. There was no way to pull it apart so I sliced it thinly on a bias and poured some reserved juice on it. Flavor was great and it ate fine on a sandwich, but it was nowhere near what I expected in terms of tenderness.
It was certainly cooked well done in the middle so I have confidence that my temperature readings were good. And all told it was on the smoker at a relatively stable cook temp for a little over 8 hours, plus another near hour in the oven. To get to fork tender I'm guessing I would have needed several more hours on the smoker.
Is this just part of the deal with BBQ that sometimes what you think will be necessary for time turns out to be wrong by like 50% given the vagaries of different cuts of meat? Or do cuts like chuck and brisket often take a long time to get to the point where that connective tissue renders, but once it starts relatively quickly? Or am I missing something more obvious because I'm dumb?
Thanks for any help.
I had never done a chuck before but liked the idea of having something to pull for sandwiches and tacos. I had a chuck roast of about 4 pounds. That was my best guess as my beef comes from a local rancher and usually isn't labeled for weight.
Rubbed with salt and pepper over a layer of yellow mustard. Rested it for an hour in the fridge and then put on the WSM at 9:30 am at 225 with several pecan chunks. The WSM held between 225 - 254 throughout the cook.
I took chu8ck's temp at 1:30pm (after 4 hours) and it had come up to 145. This was much behind my anticipated schedule. At 3:30pm it hit 164 and appeared to be stalled. I wrapped tightly in foil with a little beef broth, half an onion and some garlic and put back on.
At 4:45pm I took the temp again and it was up to 185. I wanted the bark to reset so I unwrapped at this point and put it back on the smoker (at 245) thinking another half hour or 45 minutes might get it up to 195 and ready to rest for a bit.
I was getting very worried at this point as I was already WAY past when I thought I'd be done and a probe test was nowhere near tender.
At 5:15 I checked again and the chuck hadn't come up hardly at all. It was only at 188 and still nowhere near tender. Out of time and options I put it in a pan with some more broth, wrapped in foil and threw in the kitchen oven at 300.
At 6:15 the roast had come up to 192 but still not tender. Out of time I pulled it and let it rest for a half hour and then tried to pull it.
Ha ha. Hardly any connective tissue had rendered. The roast was still tough like a balled up dish rag. There was no way to pull it apart so I sliced it thinly on a bias and poured some reserved juice on it. Flavor was great and it ate fine on a sandwich, but it was nowhere near what I expected in terms of tenderness.
It was certainly cooked well done in the middle so I have confidence that my temperature readings were good. And all told it was on the smoker at a relatively stable cook temp for a little over 8 hours, plus another near hour in the oven. To get to fork tender I'm guessing I would have needed several more hours on the smoker.
Is this just part of the deal with BBQ that sometimes what you think will be necessary for time turns out to be wrong by like 50% given the vagaries of different cuts of meat? Or do cuts like chuck and brisket often take a long time to get to the point where that connective tissue renders, but once it starts relatively quickly? Or am I missing something more obvious because I'm dumb?
Thanks for any help.
