What The Chuck

[DaveD]

Today I'm smoking a 4.3 lb / 1.95 kg wagyu chuck roast from Click Akaushi, my second CA cut and first chuckie from them. Beautiful morning for it, with a crisp 40F/4C temp at sunup - although gusty winds of 10-20 mph / 16-32 kph are expected as the day goes on. The ol' vertical p-smoker hasn't shown any ill effects from that level of wind thus far. Target IT is the venerable 203F/95C, but of course subject to an early pull once probe-tender if warranted.



Seeing the color difference from overnight dry brining never gets old for me...




Applied only a light dusting of my Steer Prudence beef rub, don't want to overpower the beef on this cut... instrumented with the Meater+ dead center and two wired probes on either side. Data for the win! It went in at 7am on the low-T Smoke setting, where it sat for one hour at about 115F/46C. The meat heated up only about one degree. After that hour SP is now at 250 for the rest of the way.



After an hour on Smoke:


Stay tuned, more to come...

[klflowers]

What time should I stop by?

[smokin fool]

Pick me up on your way....

[texastweeter]

I think the difference in color is it being exposed to oxygen, no the salt. Got enough probes there? You'd think you were a rocket scientist or something, lol. I didn't have that many wires coming of me the time I was in the hospital with malaria! Bet thats gonna pull exceptionally. Expect it to be probe tender before 203° though. I'd stat checking around 185°, my guess...probe tender at 195°.

[DaveD]

"Think you used enough dynamite there, Butch??" What can I say, you can take the nerd out of the lab, but you can't take the lab out of the nerd... Indeed,185-190F/85-88C is where I plan to start checking for tenderness.

[pkadare]

Over instrumenting, typical scientist. 🔬ðŸ”🧪

[texastweeter]

No, pretty sure you can't cross streams, haven't you seen ghosbusters...

[DaveD]

pkadare - my colleagues call me "Data Driven Dave D"... !

[Dr. Pepper]

texastweeter If the probes 'touch', and DaveD is lucky, he may end up with a litter of baby probes!

[58limited]

I agree with texastweeter Wagyu is often probe tender at 195^o - even brisket. I've cooked two Click chuckies and they were wonderful. A great alternative to brisket if you don't need a lot of meat. How much does your chuck roast weigh?

[DaveD]

Oooo, good catch, forgot to include the weight, editing the OP now. It's 4.3 lb / 1.95 kg.

[58limited]

That is a good size. My first two were 4.5 and 4.3 lbs. The one in the freezer now is 3.6 lbs.

[DaveD]

Here we are at 3.5 hours in, IT is 122F/50C at the Meater+ (as close to dead center as I could get it), and reading 8-10F warmer toward the margins at the moment. Fully expect those differences to close by the time all is said and done.

[DaveD]

Oh, and just because I feel like I should, I will point out that I have lined my water pan with the foil shiny side up.

[58limited]

Makes for easy clean up, I use foil a lot but if I plan ahead I like to put some beans under it - the drippings really make for a great pot of beans.

[klflowers]

Well, with all the probes, at least you got the foil right lol. I will have to show a brisket pic sometime. I have not only lots of probes, but since I only have 2 meat probes for the maverick xr 50, sometimes I pull out my old maverick et setup…

[DaveD]

58, I actually still have a couple portions of beans in the freezer from the Bonesy cook... beans wasn't in the mix for this time around

[DaveD]

Afternoon update!

No surprises, ol' Chuckie hit the outskirts of Stallsville right on schedule. I gave it an hour til the bark was looking sufficiently barky, then wrapped it up in butcher paper for the rest of the way. It's interesting to watch how it takes a little while for the layers of butcher paper to heat up so that the meat can continue its T increase. Things cool a bit at first, then turn around and it's off to the races.

BTW, by the time IT got to the high 160sF/mid-70s C, all the T probes converged to read the same to within 2-3 deg F/1-2 C, as expected.

T + 4.5 hrs, IT = 135F/57C.


T + 5.5 hrs, IT = 149F/65C.


T + 7 hrs, IT = 161F/72C.



T + 8+ hrs, IT = 168F/76C. That's a set bark right there. Pulled and wrapped after this pic, then back in the box.



Here's the Meater+ temp profile thus far. The initial dip after wrapping (the most recent deep trough in the green curve) and the turnaround clearly visible.

[DaveD]

And here's the deliverable report. Fan-freaking-tastic! OMG. Super beefy flavor, juicy as all get-out, melt in your mouth tender. The amount of juice in the butcher paper and baking pan I sat it in, while in the FC, was astounding. Next time I'll find a way to collect all that. Glad I went very light on the rub, it was just enough to help make a killer bark but not enough to muddle the glorious beefiness of this cut. Current status: Food Coma.

After resting an hour wrapped in the FC:



Plate me!




Final temp profile.

[ssandy_561]

Beautiful! Chuck roasts are my favorite cut of beef to smoke low and slow. I’ve stopped buying briskets. My chuck roasts always turn out better. Unless briskets are incredibly cheap I don’t think I’ll ever chose one over a chuck roast any more.

[DaveD]

I'm cooking for just my wife and myself, so I really can't see doing a full brisket when these chuckies turn out so great. I don't need 12 pounds of meat!

[Troutman]

Try SVQ medium rare next time.

[DaveD]

Interesting idea for a chuckie... probably a good 10 to 12 hours in the hot tub?

[Troutman]

22 hours at 130*F for the win

[DaveD]

Yowza! Well alrighty then.