Help with skinny chuck steak

[Burntfood]

It's officially bbq season up here again. I often smoke for myself so I need a plan 'B'. My favourite food is brisket so small cuts of chuck are the obvious solution. My grocery stores sometimes doesn't even carry chuck roast, but they always have chuck steaks cut around 1 inch thick. Perfect solution for me. Buttttt, I struggle to get a juicy brisket, let alone a juicy chuck roast, let alone a 1 inch thick chuck steak. Any advice appreciated.

Generally I'm cooking them like a brisket following Meatheads directions. I'm bouncing between putting a smoke flavour on via either my PBC or my Kettle. Over the winter, I finish my meat indoors in my electric oven and now I'm lazy and have been wrapping at 165 and throwing them in the oven till it's time to pull. I did a chuck roast a few weeks ago and it was good but not perfect. Got a bark on it and then cooked over nite under 180'ish and finished the next day. Pull apart and sort of moist. Did a couple of chuck steaks recently and they are coming out really dry. Thoughts?

I was going to try:
- adding some liquid when I wrap at 165. I'm fine with pull apart instead of slicing.
- should I stay away from the over night cook on a protein this small? Maybe wrap and take to temp and just hold for an hour or two before serving?
- perhaps I shouldn't cook up to 202 internal? I could pull a little early to retain some moisture? I'm really about flavour when I'm cooking for my self, indifferent to texure (slice vs pull). Maybe pull at 195. Probe tender is hard to test in a skinny steak wrapped in tin foil so I was hoping to resort to temp to decide when to pull it. Mabe a bad idea?

If this is answered in another post feel free to re-direct me.

Happy to hear anyone's thoughts.

Burnt as usual

[58limited]

I've never done a thin chuck but I'd say wrap with some tallow. I wouldn't necessarily wait for 165^o to wrap something thin, just when you think it has good smoke/bark. Its going to be hard to keep it from drying out otherwise to my thinking. Or consider sous vide for part of the cook.

[MBMorgan]

Yep. Sous vide followed by a quick sear.

[Oak Smoke]

+1

[DaveD]

Put me on the sous vide que bandwagon. I've done full chuck roasts that way, as well as a chuck eye just last week, and they are superb. You can SV at medium-rare temps, just run it for a long time, like 10-12 hours, and it will be extremely tender. Sear it over coals and you'll get some lovely malliard flavors, but not actual bark and smoke. I predict that you won't care!

[Burntfood]

LOL. You guys are cheating. I just can't get a good smoke flavour out of my Anova. It doesn't have a smoke setting, maybe the Joule does?

Seriously, I do enjoy SV, and I could see this working. Smoke for an hour, throw it in SV for a long time, chill it and then rewarm with a sear over coals. But man that's a long complicated cook for a pulled beef Sammie.

I hadn't thought of wrapping prior to 165. That makes sense.

I also haven't tried tallow. I think it's time to make some and put it in the fridge for this project.

Thx guys.

[58limited]

After the Anova bath, chill it in the fridge then put it on the smoker until it reaches serving temperature

[Hulagn1971]

So they have chuck steaks but not full roasts? Are there any other grocery store options for a chuck roast? I don't think you'll have much luck with thin steaks to be honest. See if you can find a smaller roast and smoke it like you normally would. Shred it, vac seal the leftovers and freeze for future sandwiches. Then pull out the sous vide to reheat.

[Oak Smoke]

My instincts tell me to smoke hot and fast to an internal near 130 F. With the heat and smoke you’ll get some bark and flavor. It’s going to be a lot like grilling a steak too hot and fast, great sear but raw in the middle. Then I’d wrap in foil and go the rest of the way in a 220 F oven. There’s no need burning charcoal after the char is done, just go to the oven and let time and temp work their magic.

[Burntfood]

What do those instincts say on internal temp to shoot for? I want to pull based on temp, not probe tender.

What are your thoughts on resting. Letting it rest an hour make it any juicier?

[Oak Smoke]

Once you wrap I think the brisket rules should in general apply. I’d go to 203 F internal and rest for a minimum of 2 hours in a well insulated cooler. Bring that temp down slow but bring it down. If it’s still hot when you unwrap it’s going to dry out right before your eyes.

[Burntfood]

Gawd - I had never connect cutting it while hot to losing juice. I am going to give letting it cool more a shot.

[LA Pork Butt]

Jim Minion of the Minion method contends that meat quits taking on smoke at 140, so that is when I would wrap. Adding tallow or liquid would help. I think 1” thick and wrapped shouldn't take more than 4 hours, so no to overnight cook. Remember thickness of meat determines cook time.

[Steve R.]

My grocery stores sometimes doesn't even carry chuck roast, but they always have chuck steaks cut around 1 inch thick.

I'd talk to someone in the meat department and ask if they have any chuck roasts in the back. Those chuck steaks have to be coming from somewhere, right?

[Burntfood]

Epic fail. I'll be going to Costco to get a nice big fat Chuck roast for my next cook. Will freeze 8 oz bags and reheat with SV. Much better plan.

[Burntfood]

Did come up with a better use for Chuck Steak tho. Chuck burger. Instead of grinding the chuck with my grinder, I sliced up 11 oz of chuck into small chunks (sliced thinly three times). Much easier than grinding for only one big burger. Hamburger'ish. Tasted good. Got my smoke hit. Allows me to play around with adding fat and other stuff like smoke. Comfortable cooking pink or red. Short cook. Will do this in the future when I'm in a hurry. I'm sure Meathead has a recipe for this but I hadn't seen it.