Pellet smoked a couple of chuck roasts which were too dry

[big_mack]

Did my first long cook on my first real smoker, a Chimp pellet cooker. And it wasn't that great. The meat was pretty dry. I followed a recipe that smokes and then braises a chuck roast.

Dry brined for a couple of hours. Used a foil pan with the two smaller roasts sitting on a rack. Smoked them at 225F for 4 hours to about 140F. Then I pulled them off and put in a braising liquid and wrapped the pan and roasts in foil and put it back in the smoker in a foil dutch oven. There seemed to a bit of a stall at this point and then the Chimp temp dropped and I struggled to get it back up so I moved it to the kitchen oven. The stall at 140F was going to impact whether we starved to death or not on Sunday night so I turned up the oven. In the end the roasts were 180F after 7 hours of cooking.

I'm not sure what caused the roasts to dry out. Could have been steam from the braise in the foil dutch oven. Could have been the higher temps at the end to speed things up.

Anything I mentioned raise a red flag? I would like to do some more chucks while I work on technique and consistently produce a nice moist, rendered roast and could use some tips for how to do this. I definitely will skip the braising next time and focus on just smoking. And maybe wrap each roast at the end for a couple of hours.

[MBMorgan]

Biggest factors were most probably some combination of a very short dry brine (you should consider 12-24 hours for chuckies) and a salty (I'm assuming that there's salt in it) braising liquid. Then there's the relatively low (180F) temp at which it was pulled (chuck roast is tough like brisket and should go to something closer to 200-205F ... if you don't SV it first).

[big_mack]

MBMorgan I'm all in for SV to get maximum tenderness. Is there a recipe you like for that? and do you chill back to cold after SV before putting it on a smoker?

[MBMorgan]

big_mack - Over at SeriousEats.com there's a pretty good article that might help: https://www.seriouseats.com/sous-vid...f-chuck-recipe

Kenji talks about finishing after SV on the grill or in an oven. Take the "in an oven" info as a guide and finish on your pellet cooker instead.

Also this book: https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/fo...books-for-free

[big_mack]

MBMorgan thanks for that. Kenji's recipe looks great and Meathead's SV guide had good info on SV and smoking after. returning roast to room temp is what Kenji states and Meathead says go ahead and chill it after SV. Sounds like SV is better than braising. I'm going to find some chucks with good marbling and give this another go.

[Steve R.]

I'm a big fan of smoked chuck roast. I can tell you it just needed more cooking. I wrap once the bark looks the way I want it after it has stalled for awhile, then take it to 210 IT and keep cooking for another hour. Then give it at least an hour hold.

Most recipes I see don't adequately emphasize that you just have to cook the hell out of those things if you want a pulled beef result.

[big_mack]

this blows me away. I would have thought that the roasts would only be dry if I overcooked them. But then again I know tough meats need slow and low. I honestly thought chucks were more tender. I'm tempted to throw the leftover partial roast in the oven at 250F and take it up to 210F just to see.

[Polarbear777]

Yep dry and crumbly means overcooked. Dry and tough means undercooked.

I find most chucks can dry too much so I wrap them after the stall when the bark looks good, so that the last bit of cooking from say 175-208 doesn’t dry them out.

[Potkettleblack]

This. My first one, I only took to 200 or so, and was disappointed. I took the next one to 210, and it was gold.

Now, I just probe it and don't even look at the thermometer. If it probes like warm butter, it's gold... Gold, Jerry, Gold.

[radiodome21]

I’ve had mixed success with chuck roasts. I have done a total of 4 and 2 of the 4 were fantastic and the other two were dried out pieces of badness. The first two were choice cuts from Costco that I smoked low and slow, wrapped with foil and added beef broth when I did that. The other two were done differently. One was put in a pan and then covered with foil with broth. The most recent was wrapped in butcher paper sans anything. My goal on all four was to pull them for sandwiches. I wrapped them when they came to about 160-170 and took them to 205ish. I know it also comes down to the cuts as well. The last two had very little marbling which certainly didn’t do me any favors. Kroger puts chuck and rump roasts on sale frequently but I’m not going to throw away anymore money on those. I might try Costco again or pick up one from click in the fall.

[big_mack]

at least two of four were great! I'd be happy with that right now. I'll make sure I pay more attention to the quality of meat. Mine were from Costco but I've noticed the quality (marbling) of our local costco stores beef have been across the board very low in marbling. It started to happen about 1.5 years. One person said its because the good beef is now getting top dollar overseas and get the second tier beef.

[rickgregory]

A few thoughts...

1) They need to be well marbled. Chucks can have thick veins of fat but have little in t he way of intramuscular marbling. Those dry out because the marbling isn't actually good.

2) They need to go, low and slow, to about 203F or so. LIke a brisket you want it to probe like butter.

3) I don't like to braise them - I want smoked chuck, not a smokey pot roast.

4) Once you wrap in foil, smoking is done and you might as well put them in a 275 or even a 300F oven or crank the Chimp to there to get them done

5) AND MOST IMPORTANT... 225 isn't a special temp. Too often I see people smoking at 225F then running into the "OMG I gotta get this done for dinner!" thing. I don't know the smoke the Chimp puts out at 250-275, but those temps will be just fine and shave literally hours off a long cook. If you can't get good smoke that high, go 225 until the stall, then crank it to 275F.

[big_mack]

awesome tips/points Rick. I'll find a source for better marbled chuck roasts. And I'll up the cook temp to somewhere between 250F and 275F.

[smokin fool]

Not a pellet guy and never done a chuckie but wondering out loud if a can of water in the smoker or a water pan may have helped with keeping some moisture in the meat.

[big_mack]

The roasts were cooked in a tray with a lot of liquid braise. I don't think you have to put vessels of water in a pellet cooker to get moist/tender meat. I think its more about the meat and the technique.

[smokin fool]

Ok, you would think being braised in liquid would make for a moister roast.
In our kamado we do use a diffuser filled with water to augment moisture in the cooker.
Having cooked with and without it, it can make a difference imho.

[bbqLuv]

Try and try again. This recipe shows a braise of 4-5 hours at 275F. "Place the lid on the Dutch oven and transfer to the grill. Close the lid and braise until the meat is very tender, 4-5 hours." Gravy is a cure for dry meat.


Smoked Pot Roast Recipe - Traeger Grills

[big_mack]

I had a look at that one when I was searching. I always search their website. But I didn't have enough room for the veggies with two roasts in a smaller foil tray.
Try and try again is a for sure. But with the price of beef these days, I am a bit anxious to get it right very early on.

[DavidNorcross]

I start braising at 140 to 150. At that point the meat is not going to take on any more smoke. I put in a pan pour in 32oz of warmed beef broth. You can use most anything like red wine or dark beer, but I always use the broth. At this point, I totally agree with Steve R and keep cooking. I try and take to at least 205, but you are not going to hurt it. When finished pour of some of the juice and pull in that pan with the remaining juice and that will help with your moisture.

[big_mack]

pretty sure part of my problem was I stopped braising to early along with less than great marbling. I have the second leftover roast in the oven at 275F now and will cook it to 210F and see if it pulls apart. did not bother adding a braise. hoping more time, wrapped in foil, will yield something tender.

[Red Man]

I’ve found marbling to be the key to a good pulled chuckie. Proper finishing temps (around 205) are important but no matter how perfectly it’s cooked, it will be dry if it’s too lean. This is an example of what I look for in a chuck roast. I keep an eye out for them and pick one up whenever I see one like this.

[Steve R.]

Yep, that's what I'm looking for in a chuck roast.

[big_mack]

Red Man that is one sexy looking chuck roast. Good to see what I should be looking for.
The two I cooked definitely lacked marbling. I found a local butcher that can fit the bill. The website lists "well marbled chuck roast" for about $6/lb.

[Potkettleblack]

Yeah, selection is the first step in good cooks.

[Potkettleblack]

I recently did one of these as a smoked pot roast, but the idea is the same.

Smoke until the bark looks right, then wrap with some liquid. If you want pot roast, add some potatoes, some onions, whatever veg you like in the foil, and add a braise amount of liquid, but you want the full wrap, not a boat or a tray. If you want something more like brisket, just a shot of liquid, and wrap fully. My next one, I'm gonna wrap with pink butcher paper, go for straight pulled.

[big_mack]

there are a few things that were in play for this cook not being good. No marbling. Undercooked. and the wrapping I did was an issue too. I had two roasts and I just kept them in the foil tray and put a foil cover over the top of them with braise in the bottom. I should have wrapped them individually. Next time will be better.....

[glitchy]

I probably smoke chuckies 1-2 times a month. I follow pretty much what Steve R does. I don’t usually hit 210°, but 204-208, then turn the smoker down to 225 and leave it on another hour. For traditional BBQ shredded beef I wrap in butcher paper (adding a little tallow like a TB or two. For Mexican style I wrap in foil to soften the bark some. Both methods get wrapped around 160°. I’ve only had 1 or 2 that I thought were kinda dry and blamed that on the cow.

[Panhead John]

Oh sure, blame it on the cow..😂