What to Do with Chuck Beef?


 
H

Howard V

TVWBB Member
I was hoping to do some pulled pork this weekend but Costco did not have any butts left on the shelf. My wife picked up one slap Chuck Beef steak cut that is on the smaller side (~3lb). I am thinking about my options below:

1) Pulled Beef - I can smoke it low and slow then make sandwiches out of them. I wish my wife grabbed two steaks instead of one....seem like a waste of charcoal fuel to cook one small slab of meat.

2) Ground Beef for Burgers - I was thinking of using the food processor to make ground beef for burgers. Since this is a smaller slab, the yield will be good for about 6 to 8 patties. I can cook up half and freeze half for another cook. Only downside was my wife told me she was "all burger out" since we have it a bunch lately and wanted to skip them this weekend.

3) Beef Fajitas - we have a bag of tortillas laying around. This is probably not the best cut for fajitas. We usually do Hanger or Skirt Steak and sliced thin for quick grilling.

Advice? Ideas?
 
For that small size, make chipotle barbacoa in your crock pot. Makes great tacos or burritos. If you want some bark, crisp the meat on a cookie sheet under the broiler before serving.

Lots of recipes for that on the internet. Easy and tasty.

Save the charcoal for a bigger cook.
 
Howard, I would still grind it up. There are a lot of other things you can do with ground meat besides make burgers. I for one like meatloaf with mashed potatoes, gravy and a real good green vegetable. Our local store had a great deal on chuck and one of the things we are going to do is grind some of it up.
 
Howard, what are the dimensions of the beef? If it's thick enough you could slice it in half horizontally and cook one half as a chuck steak, and use the other half for ground beef. You could also slice it thin for bulgogi.
 
Brad Olson said:
Howard, what are the dimensions of the beef? If it's thick enough you could slice it in half horizontally and cook one half as a chuck steak, and use the other half for ground beef. You could also slice it thin for bulgogi.
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It's about an 2 inch at the thickest section in the center and gets thinner towards the edge so it's not evenly thick thru out.....I am not sure if that's enough to slice in half and get multiple usage

I am intrigue by the idea...I never had a chuck steak before....I usually do NY Strip or Ribeye.....does it taste like a Sirlion steak?
 
Agree with Ed. Today I just picked up 8 lbs. of chuck roast on sale and some of that will definitely become PSB. The rest will be ground.
 
Howard V said:
It's about an 2 inch at the thickest section in the center and gets thinner towards the edge so it's not evenly thick thru out.....I am not sure if that's enough to slice in half and get multiple usage

I am intrigue by the idea...I never had a chuck steak before....I usually do NY Strip or Ribeye.....does it taste like a Sirlion steak?
Click to expand...
1" would be about as thin as I'd go for a chuck steak so the piece you have might not be the best candidate.

If you like sirloin then I think you'd like chuck. An added benefit is that it can take a little more cooking than some of the other cuts and still be juicy, so it's a good choice for people who like their steaks more toward medium. Just remember to slice it across the grain and fairly thin.

For a few weeks my local grocery store had chuck roasts on sale for $2.99/lb, and most of the ones I bought got cut into steaks. And back when I was buying bulk beef (split half) from a co-worker I always had the chuck roasts cut into steaks.
 
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Barbacoa is a great use of chuck, as are all the other ideas mentioned. You could also cook as you would a brisket and slice it up.
 
I smoked a Chuck roast about two weeks ago in a similiar manner you would cook a brisket. Pepper based rub, wrapped at 165 with a little beef broth, continued cooking to 205. The roast was really good but did not shred quite as easily as I would have hoped.
 
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