Everyone at my house was home today thanks to the President's Day holiday. This means it was an extra day to cook. Today was my first attempt at chuck roast in the Pit Barrel Cooker.
I tried to follow this recipe: http://grilling24x7.com/pulled-smoke...-bbq-chuckies/
Dry-brined last night with PBC Beef and Game Rub, then into the fridge.
Started the charcoal according to fzxdoc 's instructions. Dropped in a couple chunks of cherry wood in the last step. Put the chuck roast on the grate at 11:30 AM.
The Pit Barrel settled in at about 290. By 1:15 PM the chamber temp was about 270. Internal temp of the chuck roast showed around 160-164 in a couple spots ab 1:15 (1 hr 45 min into the cook). Sooner than the recipe predicted, but the thermometers agreed (so did the eye-test) so on to the next step.
Dumped the chopped onions, peppers, and garlic into a foil pan. Added a bottle of Dr. Pepper in place of the imperial stout. Put the chuck roast on top, foiled the pan, and into the PBC.
After 30 minutes we realized we forgot to add the jalapenos. Chopped them quick, added them to the pan. Also added a couple handfuls of charcoal to the PBC. The coals looked like they were burning down quickly.
Checked internal temp at 2:45 PM (90 minutes into the covered part of the cook). IT was 203 in a couple places. I thought the fork-test went well also (in hindsight, not so well...). Removed the chuck roast from the foil pan into a pyrex/glass pan to pull. It didn't pull well, coming off in chunks. Pulled as best I could, dipped out most of the juices of the foil pan, returned the chuck roast to the foil. Then I added the sauce.
At this point I started worrying about tenderness, so I broke from the recipe. I re-covered the pan and put it back into the PBC. I wanted more time braising. This caused the sauce to thin, instead of caramelize. I figured that wasn't too bad in exchange for increased tenderness. I left it covered until 4:00 PM (another 1 hr 15 min).
At 4:00 PM I removed the foil cover and returned the pan to the PBC. I added another handful of charcoal because the coals were way down and the chamber temp was lower than I wanted, around 230 or so.
The chamber temp didn't come up the way I wanted. I think the foil pan I was using was big enough to mess up the air flow. I removed the pan, took it inside, and turned on the oven. Moved everything back to the pyrex pan, covered it and did 30 more minutes at 300. After that set the oven to Warm and let it sit until a 6:00 PM supper.
The results were far better than I expected after getting so far away from the recipe. The chuck roast chunks were tender and pulled into smaller bites easily. The sauce was spectacular. The overall flavor surprised us all. This one will make it into the regular rotation.
Overall, this was a 5 1/2 hour cook:
1 hr 45 min on grate, 1 1/2 hour covered without sauce, 1 hr 15 min covered with sauce, 1/2 hr uncovered, 1/2 hr in 300* oven.
The full basket of Kingsford Blue Bag coals were mostly burned out by hour 5. I may need to read the sticky post about other charcoals in the PBC...I'm not knowledgeable enough yet to know if the KBB is burning too fast or what variables I may be missing but if this had been a longer cook I would have had to stop and reload the basket.
Anyway, the cook turned out well. Brownie points from the wife and kids for me!
I tried to follow this recipe: http://grilling24x7.com/pulled-smoke...-bbq-chuckies/
Dry-brined last night with PBC Beef and Game Rub, then into the fridge.
Started the charcoal according to fzxdoc 's instructions. Dropped in a couple chunks of cherry wood in the last step. Put the chuck roast on the grate at 11:30 AM.
The Pit Barrel settled in at about 290. By 1:15 PM the chamber temp was about 270. Internal temp of the chuck roast showed around 160-164 in a couple spots ab 1:15 (1 hr 45 min into the cook). Sooner than the recipe predicted, but the thermometers agreed (so did the eye-test) so on to the next step.
Dumped the chopped onions, peppers, and garlic into a foil pan. Added a bottle of Dr. Pepper in place of the imperial stout. Put the chuck roast on top, foiled the pan, and into the PBC.
After 30 minutes we realized we forgot to add the jalapenos. Chopped them quick, added them to the pan. Also added a couple handfuls of charcoal to the PBC. The coals looked like they were burning down quickly.
Checked internal temp at 2:45 PM (90 minutes into the covered part of the cook). IT was 203 in a couple places. I thought the fork-test went well also (in hindsight, not so well...). Removed the chuck roast from the foil pan into a pyrex/glass pan to pull. It didn't pull well, coming off in chunks. Pulled as best I could, dipped out most of the juices of the foil pan, returned the chuck roast to the foil. Then I added the sauce.
At this point I started worrying about tenderness, so I broke from the recipe. I re-covered the pan and put it back into the PBC. I wanted more time braising. This caused the sauce to thin, instead of caramelize. I figured that wasn't too bad in exchange for increased tenderness. I left it covered until 4:00 PM (another 1 hr 15 min).
At 4:00 PM I removed the foil cover and returned the pan to the PBC. I added another handful of charcoal because the coals were way down and the chamber temp was lower than I wanted, around 230 or so.
The chamber temp didn't come up the way I wanted. I think the foil pan I was using was big enough to mess up the air flow. I removed the pan, took it inside, and turned on the oven. Moved everything back to the pyrex pan, covered it and did 30 more minutes at 300. After that set the oven to Warm and let it sit until a 6:00 PM supper.
The results were far better than I expected after getting so far away from the recipe. The chuck roast chunks were tender and pulled into smaller bites easily. The sauce was spectacular. The overall flavor surprised us all. This one will make it into the regular rotation.
Overall, this was a 5 1/2 hour cook:
1 hr 45 min on grate, 1 1/2 hour covered without sauce, 1 hr 15 min covered with sauce, 1/2 hr uncovered, 1/2 hr in 300* oven.
The full basket of Kingsford Blue Bag coals were mostly burned out by hour 5. I may need to read the sticky post about other charcoals in the PBC...I'm not knowledgeable enough yet to know if the KBB is burning too fast or what variables I may be missing but if this had been a longer cook I would have had to stop and reload the basket.
Anyway, the cook turned out well. Brownie points from the wife and kids for me!
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