I've done this twice (smoked both times), but those commercial seasoning packets just make it way too salty. I am eager to see how yours turns out with the home made salt-free ranch!
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Looking great! Never had Mississippi pot roast, and been years since I smoked one as they've gotten expensive compared to brisket. I'll be watching this to see how the results are, with an idea on pursuing this recipe, with the salt free ranch and so on...Comment
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If you've not had the Mississippi pot roast, you really owe it to yourself to try it. I was a skeptic - and now it's a regular for us. -
jfmorris Jim, fwiw this one was $5/lb at Wild Fork, which is a couple bucks per pound cheaper than the Choice chucks our local Harris Teeter sells. They also do an Angus chuck for $8.99/lb. So I'm pretty satisfied with that price, especially if it turns out as well as most WF cuts have in my experience - quite good quality.
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OK, the transfer to the crock pot has been done. Here's the latest.
Last shot of the chuck on the kettle at 1pm, took it off right after this. Not fully barked on top with that liquid pooling, but the rest is pretty barky (not easy to see in this view).
Into the crockpot, leaving one probe in. I was careful not to tip the roast so that those pools of juice came along for the ride.
Doused with the salt-free ranch, the au jus packet, then a stick of unsalted butter and five pepperoncinis. Put a probe into the chamber to monitor ambient temp.
Adding baby red taters, cut-up carrots, and half a large sweet onion quartered.
The meat's temp immediately started to take off, no more stall of course. You can see where I switched over to the CP's ambient temp from the SnS kettle's grate temp.
Now we wait... I'll start poking it when IT reaches about 175/80 to record my subjective impression of its tenderness as it climbs to the final temp. Ambient in the CP is just under 200/90ish, so there is no chance the meat can overshoot the target. I've got the timer set for five hours total, which ought to be plenty, but will adjust as needed. Nice thing about this brand of CP is that it has a metal insert that can go in the oven with no issues, so if I need to hold it in a low oven I can do that (that is, if the "warm" setting on the CP itself isn't too high).
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I've been poking at the chuck every so often as it's been cooking in the CP, and it's gone from nowhere near tender right when it went in to much moreso in more than half the spots I probed a short while ago. Definitely on the right track. Temps have crept up, and it's just under 200/92ish now.
Thinking about Jim's jfmorris comment above, and noticing that the immersed probe was just going to read the same number forever because the liquid controls the temp at this point, I pulled it out, no reason to measure that.
The taters and carrots are starting to get more tender as well. Probably on track to eat in 90 min or so. Thus the next post might be after-action... I wish I could post the aroma that is filling the house!!
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I could go for some of that tonight. Unfortunately, it's a little late to start a pot roast now, at nearly 5PM. lol -
jlazar I have added no liquid... that's juice from the meat plus the butter. I'd say the liquid level is about half the height of the roast. Most of the MPR recipes call for mixing some cornstarch in water and stirring that in for the final minutes to thicken the liquid if a thicker gravy-like thing is what one is after. Undecided whether I'll do that... might play it straight this first time around.
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Here's a smoked brisket twist on the Mississippi pot roast. Looks phenomenal - essentially like EVERYTHING Chef Tom makes!
I don't know if I posted a topic on my Mississippi PORK roast I did or not, but it came out freaking awesome, as well, and I believe that one I DID smoke first, now that I think about it.
I needa go back and look and see if I posted that, but it was stellar, probably even better than the beef version. Try it!Comment
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ATB....I've seen several of his videos. He has some good ideas in there...often just little creative things to elevate the same old traditional BBQ. -
Found the writeup where I did this sorta thing with pork once a few years ago:
But I also know I did a real actually "just like Mississippi pot roast" Mississippi PORK roast recently, too.
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Deliverables! tl;dr: Oh yeah babe.
This came out extremely well! The smokiness really added a great note, and the meat was definitely not too salty with this approach. Super flavorful overall, and distinctly different from our recollection of the usual crockpot style - although with both the smoke step and the homemade ranch mix, too many variables to know for sure which had what effect. And to that end, my lovely bride requested I repeat the experiment, this time doing everything exactly as we have in the crockpot - which did not include dry brining - using the two store-bought mix packets, butter, pepperoncinis after the smoke phase.
But for today, this was a splendid result, couldn't be happier. I had a bit of trepidation as I pulled it apart into large hunks - didn't seem as tender as I thought it should be. But it ate very tender indeed, just didn't fall apart of its own weight.
Sure was easy to plate, just sling it on there with a liberal dose of juice poured over top. Taters came out smooth and creamy, and the carrots especially were incredibly tasty and toothsome. Two big thumbs up.
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This is awesome to follow. Thank you!Comment
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That's awesome results! I'm glad to know the smoke flavor came through, I'm going to have to try this! You never know how some of those really strong, overriding flavors like that may affect something, so it's super cool to know the smoke remained.
Thanks for sharing, this is now on my VERY short list!Comment
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One question of mine - making your own Ranch mix - do you think it's worth a damn using already dried, commecial seasonings? I mean, is it really any difference from using a prepackage seasoning mix at that point? Don't get me wrong, I know your intention was at least partially to reduce the sodium, and in that respect, having control of the composition is important. But from what I've heard about 'homemade ranch seasoning' in the past, most people rave about it because they use higher quality ingredients and/or fresher ingredients. Personally, I use some of those things so infrequently (i.e., NEVER - like dill) that it would be a one-time purchase and then sit in my cabinet for years.
Anyone's thoughts? Maybe I should broach the topic in its own thread in the spices area....?Comment
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Re: “Anyone’s thoughts?”: I live in a household where, when I make short ribs, Mrs Mosca brings home a jar of Campbell’s Beef Gravy that she wants me to use. (There’s no harm in spooning a quarter cup into the jus and ditching the rest, that way I’m not lying when I say “I mixed them together.”)
Ranch dressing has to be Marie’s Ranch. I’ve made it from scratch and it gets ignored. Same with countless other things.
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Good question. To be clear, I am not a salad dressing kinda guy at all, I have never liked any dressing. Literally the only thing I use ranch dressing mix for is this pot roast. So I have no basis for comparison, and it's part of why my lovely bride requested a repeat to try to isolate the effect of the smoke by using the exact same process as before - no salting ahead of time and just the packets of ranch and au jus. As you say, my goal here was simply to avoid all the salt, I've got nothing against the store-bought stuff in general.Originally posted by DogFaced PonySoldier View Post
That said, she also said she's going to try mixing some up from this recipe and making actual salad dressing from it by mixing with sour cream as directed on a store-bought package. If you do start that thread I'll report back there in due course with her review after she does that
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Nicely done. Looks delicious!Comment
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DaveD That looks great, I always enjoy your cooks, especially the sciencey aspects. If I had ten temp probes I'd use them all, especially in the KBQ which has 5 shelves. Better yet, 20 probes: two for ambient on each shelf front and back and two for the meat on each shelf.
I've never done the Mississippi pot roast recipe, I just season and sear the roast then add to the crock pot with beef stock or water, carrots, onions, and potatoes, and sometimes a little beer. When done I pull the meat and veggies out and make gravy from the liquid than add everything back (meat is coarse shredded/ chunked) and serve.
Next time I'll try smoking the chuck roast then sear over the coals. When I smoke meats for recipes like this I usually bring the meat to an IT of 135o or so. That gets enough smoke for me but keeps most of the juices inside the meat - I've made goat birria, elk birria, and pork carnitas this way and the flavors blew me away. I might try the Mississippi version but I like DFPS's Mississippi recipe using a pork roast so I'll try that before using beef.
I have several chuck roasts in the freezer and they are all wagyu: Feller's Ranch and Click. I have been hesitant to use a wagyu chuck for pot roast (seems like a waste of wagyu) but two of the Click roasts are more like big thick steaks than a big chunk of meat so I'll use one of those. The other I'm toying with grilling like a Central Texas pork steak: 1 1/2" thick or so slow grilled about 2 feet over the coals.
Ultimately you convinced me to smoke a chuck this weekend so I have a 3.5lb Feller's Ranch chuck thawing for pulled beef right now.Last edited by 58limited; October 5, 2024, 10:39 AM.Comment
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This is a great write up, and I appreciate the effort and the education on Mississippi Pot Roast, DaveD ! I'll do it soon, but think I will just go with the store bought ranch, and skip the dry brine, since I in fact have a big jar of ranch seasoning in the pantry, along with a box of those 1 ounce packets.
A thought I have is to smoke it with a drip pan beneath, or boated in foil, or just in a foil pan, so that any juices that are lost on the smoker can be added to the crock pot when the cook moves from the smoker to the crock pot. I'll probably try it, and see if enough juice is caught to make that worth doing.Comment
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Thanks Jim! Glad to have your inputs along the way - I love it when folks chime in!
If you look at the last photo from the grill, you can see that there really is very little juice collected in the foil under the cooking grate. There was a lot more juice pooled on top of the meat than had dripped below, at least at that point about four hours in. If you cut up a brisket flat as you mentioned, those would probably pool juice on top too...
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I have done a few smoked Mississippi pot roasts in the past and they always turn out great. That extra bit of smoke flavor on the chuck is a nice addition. For most of the ones I have done I have smoked the chuck and then since the grill is already hot I will throw the roast and other stuff in a dutch oven on the smoker. Might as well use that heat if it is still there.Comment
No brain, no headache!
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