High Heat Chuck/Pulled Beef

[K Kruger]

I have a 4.4-lb boneless chuck roast in the cooker as I type. Started it at 1:50 EDT with some apple and hickory and an MM start with about 22 lit; empty foiled standard pan. Temps rose to 225 within the first couple minutes. Over the next hour temps rose to 300, helped halfway along by cracking the door about 1/4 inch.

The rub:




In the center, a pile of Aleppo pepper atop a generous grinding of coarse black pepper and, clockwise from left: thyme, ground hot Chimayo chile, grated nutmeg, ground ginger, marjoram, Chinese cinnamon, granulated garlic, ground clove (in the shadow), ground cumin, granulated onion, ground coriander.

I salted the chuck first, as usual, both sides, then waited for the meat to moisten due to the salt. Then I applied the rub fairly heavily.







I left the ranch for a while and when I returned the temp was 325. About 15 minutes later (2.25 hours into the cook), I foiled (no additional liquid or aromatics) with a single piece of HD, then cracked the door open to 1/2 inch. I got temps of 350 within 10 minutes. It has since started raining. 5 min into the rain and temps had dropped to 325. Just now checked again: windy but rain is very light; gray, pleasantly cooler. Temps 315. Good enough. I'd like 350 but will not mess with it for now.

Well, 10 min later now and it is pouring out. (I REALLY need to get a shelter for the cooker up!) Cool hard rain. We'll see what's what when it lets up. Just before it started I through a couple pieces of smokewood in there (and a couple whole eggplants) so that the wood would ignite quickly and boost temps before the rain hit again.

Rain now stopped; 3.8 hours into the cook; temps 290. Checked the beef. I think it has maybe 10-15 min more and it will be ready.

 

[Craig Castille]

I fought the torrential downpours yesterday with a high heat brisket cook.

First downpour drommped temps from 350 to 290.

Second downpour dropped temps from 350 to 275.

Both times though, temps quickly recovered. Yours should too.

The bottom section was about 1/2 full of water and ash this morning. Yuk.

Good luck. I'm going to put on a 4 lb flap steak in a few minutes.....but I have to move the kettle to the garage....it's pouring again.

 

[K Kruger]

Yeah, gotta do the shelter thing. I just never make the time; I simply deal with it/make adjustments on the fly. I'm so used to that but a shelter would be a good idea!

The chuck was done right at the 4:10 mark. Drained the juices and they totaled about 3/4 c. After settling it looked like 40% fat. Fine. I added about 1/4 c V-8 juice, 1 T Dijon, 3 T or so of vinegar finishing sauce I always have on hand for pork, whisked it well, then stirred in abot 3/4 t xanthan gum.

 

[K Kruger]

Here we go:







I am not a huge fan of Q sandwiches and rarely ever make them. Tonight I decided to for the helluvit. I made a cabbage-red pepper-white onion slaw with a dressing based on buttermilk, with a bit of mayo, shallots, chives, and finely chopped dried pineapple and dried papaya, with a squeeze of lime and a little sugar.







For the pic I went with the pulled shown above. Then I scraped the meat back into the bowl, then pulsed the meat in a processor to make it finer, a texture I prefer for beef, shown below.



Nice little meal.

 

[r benash]

Nice ring on that roast Kevin. BTW I really liked the way you did the photo for the rub contents. Excellent way in lieu of any actually measurements. You can get a good visual of related quantities.

 

[Larry Wolfe]

Great looking chuck Kevin!

 

[David Lohrentz]

I am not a huge fan of Q sandwiches and rarely ever make them.

Kevin, just curious, what are your more typical ways of serving chuck and pork butt?

 

[K Kruger]

As 'plates'--similar to what one might get if ordering the 'pork plate' or 'beef plate' at a barbecue place--except that the sides I prefer aren't typical.

I love beans but don't make sweet beans as a side for Q. Instead, I'll make savory beans of various types (scarlet runners, pinquito, marrow, yellow eye, turtle, navy, et al.) and vary the aromatics and spicing depending on the rub and sauce I'm planning for the meat and my choices for the other sides. I like rice as well and will make addition/flavoring choices based on the same criteria. (I'm quite fond of brown rice varieties as sides for beef.) I like pilafs with Q.

I love slaws but often vary the ingredients (I don't use cabbage as the base all the time).

I'm a big fan of greens (and lament the dearth of greens as side choice in Q joints in the South, where one would expect it). I also like maduros (fried ripe plantains), various types of vegetable fritters or cakes, mashed, roasted or grilled potatoes, sweet potato fries or cakes, fried potato skins (without cheese and other fillers--I like to fill them with the Q'd beef immediately before service). I like roasted or grill-roasted vegs with Q--everything from Brussels sprouts (with beef, usually) to sauteed zucchini to braised butternut to whole roasted shallots. I like all sorts of relishes and veg 'jams' and include one of them on a Q plate from time to time.

I do often like a bread item on the plate but don't particularly care for Q sandwiches, as noted. Instead, depending on what's going on with the rest of the plate, I'll do biscuits or various types and sizes (catheads can be used as a bread for a sandwich if people prefer), cornbread, cornsticks, corn muffins, corn cakes, corn fritters, puff pastry twists, mini empanadas, grilled or fried flatbread, and so forth.

Definitely not the typical barbecue plates most think of, I suppose, but this is typical for me.

 

[Bryan S]

That looks fantastic.