Pulled Beef question


 
JustinL

JustinL

TVWBB Pro
Hey Everybody,

I have a family recipe that we've made for years and comes out great but I am thinking about mixing it up a little to do it in the WSM but was hoping to get some input first.

The original recipe is:
------------------------------------------------
3 – 5 lb roast
4 Tb. Worschteshire sauce
2 Tb. Liquid Smoke (I know, not originally my recipe)
2 Tb. Mustard
3 Tb. Brown sugar
1 12 oz. can of regular coke
1 12-14 oz. bottle of Ketchup
Dash of Tabasco sauce optional

Cook the roast in a slow cooker with about a cup of water all day, until the roast falls apart. Drain the water and get rid of the fat.

Put all the ingredients besides the beef together and simmer 15-20 minutes. Mix sauce and beef. Simmer together 15 minutes. (But longer is better)
------------------------------------------------
So based on this original recipe I was thinking of doing a chuck roast and rubbing with mustard and wolfe rub bold, injecting with the Worschteshire sauce, brown sugar, coke, and ketchup simmered to combine and then smoking in the wsm. Any thoughts? I haven't notice a lot of difference in the past when injecting butts compared to not injecting but I'd rather not simmer in the sauce at the end and lose the bark.

Oh yeah, this will be my first time smoking a chuck roast but reading the reviews of it I'm looking forward to it.

Thanks,
 
Justin, your plan sounds good. Pulled beef off the WSM is so much better than what you get out of a slow cooker. You may end up with a new family favorite.
 
Justin,
it sounds like a plan. One suggestion though. I have done several Chuckies and have found with my last couple that this is one piece of meat that really can benefit from foiling at the 160-165 degree mark. in fact, this is the only meat I foil. I find it not only produces a juicier meat but the Chuck has a tendency to develop a very hard, maybe too hard bark when left on its own. Foiling has helped my chucks develop a nice but not rock hard bark.
Good luck and if you need a tast tester I am right down the street!
icon_biggrin.gif
 
Chuck roast is my favorite beef off of the WSM, even over brisket. When I do mine, I do them high heat, ~300-325 unfoiled, until I like how they look and the bark is where it needs to be. Then, I get a foil pan, out a nice layer of peppers an onions on the bottom of the pan, then throw the chuck in the pan and cover with foil. I leave it foiled until it is fork tender, as in, can put a fork in and twist it like you would for spaghetti. I use my usual rub, applied to a slather of Thick Woosty sauce. I don't mess around with any injections or anything, but you are welcome to, I won't stop you! You'll know when they are done by the feel with the fork, and I've never temped one. I like to pull them when they are still hot, seems to be much easier and you can separate any fat that has not disappeared. Your peppers and onions will be all but gone.
 
I'd likely skip the injection since you'll be pulling the meat, and use salt, pepper, the sugar (and probably a couple aromatics like granulated onion and garlic or the Wolfe) for the rub, then turn the other ingredients into a sauce (skipping the nasty Liquid Smoke and subbing some smoked paprika, chipotle, or both, for it). Mix into the beef when pulling, if desired, along with some juices from the rested meat. I too would foil at ~165.
 
Sorry, I don't mean to hijack the thread. But I wanted to ask a question to the people who've made chuck rolls before. I've been dieing to smoke one for months since someone here made that one original thread. But the rolls are always 15lb's or bigger. And I'm only feeding 3 people. So could I swap a full chuck roll out for something like a 5lb roast?

I would think the weight is a big reason as to why rolls are so good. So you can slow cook forever without it drying out. I just really wish the chuck rolls were around the 9-12lb mark.

Thanks.

Joe
 
You can easily cut them in half (many here do) and smoke one half, freezing the other for a later cook.

Long, slow cooking is the method of choice for chuck roll, but one risks dryness in the more exterior portions of the roast because of this. That is one reason why foiling is recommended after a particular internal temp is reached. (The other reason is to shorten what otherwise would be a very long cook.)

The same approach can be used with chuck roasts (which are simply chuck rolls or shoulder clods cut into smaller pieces): cook to an internal of ~165 then foil and cook till very tender. You can cut a chuck roll in half or just buy a smaller chuck roast. Your choice.
 
Hey guys,

Thanks for the info. I ended up going with a 4.5lb chuck roast rubbed and injected with half of the sauce(I agree with kevin, I dont think ill inject anymore. Havent noticed any difference when I have) and cooked it at about 260 for most of the cook. At 160ish I foiled and added the rest of the sauce in the foil. Cooked it to 190 and pulled to rest. This is where I should have checked for tenderness but due to ignorance with this type of meat I didnt. I let it set for 30 mins and then unwrapped. I ended up slicing most of it because it was still pretty firm. Overall still turned out great though. Definately different than the original recipe but still good. Will cook longer and possibly at a lower temp next time.

Ill also add that this was my maiden voyage with my ET-73 and it worked great, no problems with range. I need to verify the temps though as it seemed to be reading a little high.

I'll try to get pics up tonight.

And Steve, there's always enough for guests so come on over!
 
For pulled beef, you have to cook those roasts until they are falling apart as you mentioned in your original post. Otherwise, you probably will end up with lots of stuff still inside the meat holding it together and it will be hard to pull as you experienced. At the end, don't temp the meat. Wait until it is falling apart. Besides, temping foiled chucks doesn't necessarily give you an accurate reading because of the cooking dynamics within the foil. 190*, even if accurate, is very often not high enough. JMO.
 
It was good. As I mentioned above this was my first chuck so there are definitely some things that I will do differently next time, ie. not focusing on temp so much and relying more on feel of tenderness. But overall it was good.
 
Looks good Justin! As for relying more on feel, those are some words to live by IMO. That's probably the #1 thing I've learned from this site, is to trust how it feels versus what the therm says, especially on tough cuts like chuck and butts. Take it to spaghetti tender and you'll be very happy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top