We have a crew in the yard laying sod today. There are 4 young men out working their butts off so we are going to feed them at the end of the day. I have gotten spoiled by how easy a chunky is to get just right. It wasn’t always that way though. There was a learning curve helped along nicely by the friends here. Some good pulled beef sandwiches and cold potato salad should fill the bill. I’ll get pictures when I take them off the smoker. It was too busy when I put them on to get any good shots.
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Good for you Lynn! It’s always good to take care of your workers/contractors. Whether it’s just giving them water or soft drinks, I always try to keep them happy. Occasionally I’ll buy their lunch. -
I did two Thursday night. One was 3" thick. Equal parts 16 mesh, granulated garlic, and onion powder.
Smoke on!!!!
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I do the same. Feed and water them.
There was a crew putting in the new water line on my street, we had a cooler with bottled water in it for them.Comment
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Good on you sir! That's a class move for sure, and I know that crew will really appreciate it! No doubt it will drive them nuts smelling that aroma all day though...!
And your timing is uncanny - today I am smoking a chuck roast as well in an attempt to finally hit that place you're at, where it always turns out just right. I'm not quite there, sometimes they are completely awesome and other times dry and unappetizing. In fact I'm just here to start a thread documenting this cook so that I can capture what I'm doing and get helpful (or snarky!) suggestions.
My first few were great, and I thought, hey, these are easy - but after that I'm batting no better than .500, and that's not good enough...Comment
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I shoot for pulled beef with mine these days. If I wrap them at 180 F after the bark is set with a quarter cup of liquid they braise beautifully into melt in your mouth beef. I’ve used both broth and just water for the liquid. I can’t tell any difference. With all the moisture my kamado holds I go at 300 F to get good bark. On a predictable day they are usually ready to wrap at 4.5 hours with a 2 hour braise afterward. As we all know not all days go as predicted. -
Oak Smoke I have never fully wrapped a chuck; my first several just ran straight before I started doing the boat thing, which gives some liquid contact but not as much as you'd get in your approach. A braise isn't what I'm after here, we get that doing the Mississippi pot roast in the crockpot. I'm probably going for pulled as well, unless it probes tender in the 190s/90ish, might be sliceable if so. We shall see! -
DaveD if you set the bark well at 180°ish, and use only 4 oz or so of liquid in the foil double wrap, you won't have a pot roast--at least that's been my experience. The bark on top will still be barky in the end.
I prefer Meathead's BBBR. It has a little bit of sugar in it that helps with the crust. Plus it has a great peppery flavor.
Kathryn
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I was common when I lived in California to head down to Home Depot early on Saturday morning and hire a group of workers to do projects. We would have a cookout when they got done and I would make carne asada and my wife would fix a big pots of pinto beans and rice. We'd sit around eating tacos and drinking cold Bohemia beer.
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Ain't nobody hanging around looking to want to work these days.... much easier to just sit and ask for handouts. Day laborers are a thing of the past, it seems. -
DogFaced PonySoldier day laborers where I've lived tend to be undocumented. Today's climate is not exactly friendly towards them and I think it makes sense that they'd stay off the radar. -
DogFaced PonySoldier Every year after hurricane season it's Mexican and Central American immigrants who put the majority of roofs on. If we waited for the labor pool of indiginous Americans to get it done it would never happen.
Work hard, keep your nose clean, be a decent neighbor and pay payroll taxes and you're welcome here. That's my feeling.
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Very nice gesture and you can never go wrong with a chuck.Comment
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I’m sorry to admit that when those chucks came out of the cooler the sod crew descend on them like ants at a picnic. There are no pictures. I was too busy with getting everything else out before the roasts were gone. I think they liked them. All I heard was some guttural noises and an occasional “damn man”. No leftovers of any kind to deal with. What I’ve learned here has served me well. I’m pretty sure I could get that crew back again.Comment
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Could you indulge us with details of your smoke??Comment
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Jared49 I’d be glad to share the details. These were both well marbled chuck roasts about 3 inches thick. I use a SPG rub that’s pretty pepper forward. I like that flavor in the bark. I’m a kamado user so details will lend themselves to smoking on one of those. I put the roasts on about 8 this morning at 300 F pit temperature. I get the best bark at 300 with all the moisture the kamado holds in. I wanted a mild smoke profile so I used 3 fist sized chunks of apple wood for smoke on top of B&B lump charcoal . With my smobot watching over things I didn’t look at them again until I pulled and wrapped them at 190 F. That was 4.5 hours into the cook. I had intended to pull and wrap at 180 F but got distracted. In order to keep distraction from rearing its ugly head again I double wrapped and slipped them into a 230 F oven with 1/4 cup beef broth added to each roast. Chuck roasts are the only thing I add liquid to. They just need a bit of a braise to be as tender as I like. At 2 hours in the oven they went into a cooler with old towels for about 2 more hours. When they came out they were devoured on the spot. I had intended to shred them but didn’t get the chance. It looked like a win to me! The crew had worked through lunch to make sure they were finished in time to go to the local rodeo tonight. I have to admit at their age I would have done the same thing. There are some very good looking cowgirls here.Comment
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Smart. When we were pumping the entire backyard concrete we kept everyone hydrated with free sodas, water, and ice tea. For lunch we did pulled pork, charro beans, potato salad and a few other sides. We fed the workers, the concrete truck drivers, the concrete pump operators, the inspector, and there were even a few eating I think just moseyed in from somewhere else. Those guys threw in a lot of little extras I wasn’t expecting, and people still comment on what an outstanding job they did. They were all happy, and it showed in the finished project.
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