Michael Gelinas
TVWBB Fan
A week or so ago I went to a new butcher for the first time. I asked for two chuck-eye steaks and what I got was two 2 inch steaks labeled as "Chuck Steak". They totaled to about 3 pounds. I had a strong hunch that they didn't know what they were doing and gave me two steaks cut out of straight chuck meat rather than chuck eye, but I gave them the benefit of the doubt since they were a dedicated butcher shop and I typically get my meat from the local grocery store.
Well, as I expected, it was definitely not chuck eye, the fat was thick and not nicely marbled. I seasoned one up and tried grilling it anyway. It turned out ok, but as soon as I was done eating it, I knew I wanted to smoke the other ~1.5lb steak so I could try to render the fat and get a better outcome.
Fast forward to this past Saturday night, I prepped the chuck by slathering it with yellow mustard and liberally applied some leftover armadillo rub I had from a prior pork butt smoke. After rubbing it down, it went into the fridge to soak in the flavors overnight.
When I got up on Sunday, I started prepping the mini for it's maiden voyage at around 10am. I laid down a single layer of Kingsford directly on the Smokey Joe's charcoal grate as I have not yet built a charcoal chamber. On top of that first layer I sprinkled on some apple chips I had on hand. I then poured some more Kingsford on top of that and nestled in ~4 small chunks of cherry wood.
I started 8 briquettes of Kingsford, spread them around the bowl, and got ready to put the middle section on.
Since it was drizzling out and predicted to rain on and off all day, I set the mini up on out patio table with the umbrella up. This ended up working well, but I do have concerns that over time smoking this way could season our lightly colored umbrella. But so far, no staining
Didn't take long before we were up to my desired temp of ~225 and smoking' away
I put the meat on at 11am and assumed it would get to my goal temp of ~195-205 in 3 hours or so due to the fairly small size of my chuck. That assumption proved to be incorrect. At first the temp came up quite quick, but then we stalled at 154 for about 2 hours. After it powered thru the stall and started climbing again I continued to maintain 225.
Around 3 or 4 I pulled off the mid section, stirred the coals, and moved any unlit to a section where they could light and work for the cook (there weren't many that were unlit)
As we approached dinner time, I bumped the temp up to 250 and kept it there for the remainder of the cook. I ended up taking the meat off at about 6:15pm when it hit 194. I chose to put it in the oven to bring it to 205 since it wasn't probe tender when I pulled it.
Here's how it looked after it came out of the oven and I was letting it rest:
I ended up slicing/chopping the meat as it wasn't super tender and pullable.
Overall, I was very pleased with how the beef turned out and my experience of cooking with the mini. I thought the beef tasted just like brisket and had some nice burnt ends! Plus, since it wasn't some huge piece of meat, every morsel had bark on both sides!
The beef was a bit dry and on the spicy/salty side. I'm thinking when I added more rub in the morning prior to smoking I overdid it. As for the dryness, I may try foiling the meat earlier in the cook next time and adding a broth of some sort to help with moisture.
The mini cooked quite well! It required a bit more vent adjusting that my 18.5" wsm does, but that may be due to me not using water in the mini. If I were to estimate, I'd say I used about a chimney's worth of charcoal, or less for the cook, and it easily held 225-250 for my 7.5 hour cook. I likely could have gone an hour or two more before having to add more fuel, and this was on a rainy/slightly breezy day.
Well, as I expected, it was definitely not chuck eye, the fat was thick and not nicely marbled. I seasoned one up and tried grilling it anyway. It turned out ok, but as soon as I was done eating it, I knew I wanted to smoke the other ~1.5lb steak so I could try to render the fat and get a better outcome.
Fast forward to this past Saturday night, I prepped the chuck by slathering it with yellow mustard and liberally applied some leftover armadillo rub I had from a prior pork butt smoke. After rubbing it down, it went into the fridge to soak in the flavors overnight.
When I got up on Sunday, I started prepping the mini for it's maiden voyage at around 10am. I laid down a single layer of Kingsford directly on the Smokey Joe's charcoal grate as I have not yet built a charcoal chamber. On top of that first layer I sprinkled on some apple chips I had on hand. I then poured some more Kingsford on top of that and nestled in ~4 small chunks of cherry wood.
I started 8 briquettes of Kingsford, spread them around the bowl, and got ready to put the middle section on.
Since it was drizzling out and predicted to rain on and off all day, I set the mini up on out patio table with the umbrella up. This ended up working well, but I do have concerns that over time smoking this way could season our lightly colored umbrella. But so far, no staining
Didn't take long before we were up to my desired temp of ~225 and smoking' away
I put the meat on at 11am and assumed it would get to my goal temp of ~195-205 in 3 hours or so due to the fairly small size of my chuck. That assumption proved to be incorrect. At first the temp came up quite quick, but then we stalled at 154 for about 2 hours. After it powered thru the stall and started climbing again I continued to maintain 225.
Around 3 or 4 I pulled off the mid section, stirred the coals, and moved any unlit to a section where they could light and work for the cook (there weren't many that were unlit)
As we approached dinner time, I bumped the temp up to 250 and kept it there for the remainder of the cook. I ended up taking the meat off at about 6:15pm when it hit 194. I chose to put it in the oven to bring it to 205 since it wasn't probe tender when I pulled it.
Here's how it looked after it came out of the oven and I was letting it rest:
I ended up slicing/chopping the meat as it wasn't super tender and pullable.
Overall, I was very pleased with how the beef turned out and my experience of cooking with the mini. I thought the beef tasted just like brisket and had some nice burnt ends! Plus, since it wasn't some huge piece of meat, every morsel had bark on both sides!
The beef was a bit dry and on the spicy/salty side. I'm thinking when I added more rub in the morning prior to smoking I overdid it. As for the dryness, I may try foiling the meat earlier in the cook next time and adding a broth of some sort to help with moisture.
The mini cooked quite well! It required a bit more vent adjusting that my 18.5" wsm does, but that may be due to me not using water in the mini. If I were to estimate, I'd say I used about a chimney's worth of charcoal, or less for the cook, and it easily held 225-250 for my 7.5 hour cook. I likely could have gone an hour or two more before having to add more fuel, and this was on a rainy/slightly breezy day.
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