Longest cook ever ?
I put a small roast in my electric smoker at 9:00 AM yesterday. I didn't weigh it but it had to be under 4LBs. It's 221/2 hours now and the meat is at 180. I wrapped it at 157 degrees around hour 4 of the cook. The roast was at 157 for a couple hours before I wrapped it. I was just wondering it any of you guys had experienced such a long cook ? This cut of beef was called a heel roast out of a 1/4 beef I bought last fall. I had never heard of that cut before either. I've smoked a couple of briskets before and it took up to 15 hours but that was a lot of meat. I wish I had taken a picture of it before it went in.
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I've seen some that just won't seem to get up to temp. If it won't budge for hours after coming out of the stall, especially after wrapping, I use the probe test and sometimes just pull it.
Happened to my beef ribs the other day - I wrapped about 175-180ish and temp started going down and for 2h never really came up. I just pulled it and rested about 10 minutes before cutting. It felt good probing through the paper. But to answer your question I've never let one go quite that long, but if it seems inordinately long to get up to temp but probes nicely, I'll pull it. You can always stick it in the oven, you've gotten all the smoke you're gonna get on it.
What's your cooking temp and what kind of cooker? I'm thinking after that long on the pit, your little 4lb roast is gonna be jerky.
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A 4-pound piece of meat took 22 1/2 hours to cook? That doesn't sound right at all. Do you have pics you could post? Have you ever tried cooking the same meat on a smoker? My briskets average 12 pounds and can take anywhere from 10-12 hours to cook, not including any rest time. I am not a fan of electric smokers, just a personal choice, so I cannot address the cook times of one versus a traditional wood/pellet smoker. But if you have the latter, I would definitely cook the same meat on one and compare cook times, tenderness, flavor etc. Hope this helps. Keep us posted.
Peace.Comment
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Don’t pay attention to the weight, because the thickness of the meat determines the cook time. A four pound piece of meat 1†thick will cook much faster than a four pound piece of meat 4†thick. In your case I think I would be checking my temperature gauges for accuracy. The meat thermometer could be off or the cooker temperature or both. You didn’t mention at what temperature you were cooking. That would be a factor, too, but I doubt that 225 would take 22 + hours.
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I didn't see a cooking temp but after wrapping I will sometimes bump the cooking temp to 275 if it's not moving quickly enough. That will get it to push past any extended stall and to probe tender around 203. Would like to see some pics.Comment
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I’d like to see what ya’ll ended up with. 🕶Comment
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Never heard of a heel roast either.
Googled it and got conflicting write ups.
One said low and slow for a long time in a moist cooking area, didn't really give a IT that I saw.
Second said to cook like a round roast, again with moisture, to an IT of 130-140. Warned anything over a medium cook and it will get tough and stringy.
Sounded like a cut done better by braising in a Dutch oven.
Looks like your all in now, I'd re-wrap in foil adding in broth or beer and see where it goes.
If nothing else cubing for chili or stew is still an option.Comment
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Sounds to me like the cooking temp is too low. That is a long stall if that is what is happening.
The heel of Round? So now I know, I googled it. Beef Meat Identification | Animal Science (unl.edu)
The Beef Heel of Round represents a cut from the beef round immediately above the hock.
Happy BBQ to you and smoking tooComment
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