Chuck Roast NOT on a PBC

[The Burn]

So here's my first attempt at fall apart Chuck Roast on my Weber/Smokenator

Costco beef - a hair over 5 lbs total, dry brined for about 15 hours, uncovered



Then lightly oiled and rubbed with Big Bad Beef Rub with Stevia subbing for the sugar. Not too heavy



Went on the grill about 3:00 pm. Wasn't expecting the weather - decreasing temps and precipitation. My kettle held temp pretty well. I hit a stall in the mid 150s for about 3 hours. By 7:00 pm the temp was a "feels like" 29, with light snow. What was interesting was while I expected the kettle temp to drop when I opened to add water, coal, wood, etc., my meat temperature would also drop. Not by as much, but enough. Between 7 and 11ish, I started burning more charcoal, which required more lid lifting. Although my beef got as high as 196 around 9:45 pm, I could never get it to 190 again. At 11:40 pm, I gave up.

Despite no sugar, they had a pretty bark



Had a nice smoke ring.



They weren't quite pulling tender, but they were close. And moist and tasty - probably ate a 1/2 lb for a late night snack. I only chopped into small chunks, so as not to wake up the rest of the house and I'll probably chop it up some more tomorrow.



I'm a happy camper - thanks for those who suggested the chuck.

[Henrik]

That's a very nice looking chuck! Well executed. I love the color of the smoke ring.

Regarding the temp drop: The meat is "slow" in reacting to lid openings, so what you saw was perfectly normal. I see even less of a temp drop when cooking, but I'm adamant about opening and closing very quickly.

[David Parrish]

TB chuck likes hang at an internal temp in the low 200s for a while before it gives up the ghost and falls apart. Once I get a chuck roast up to 200F I lower my cooker temp to as close to 205F as I can get it. This keeps the meat hovering in that 200-205 sweet spot while any connective bits that are left turn to collagen. You just really have to cook the heck out of a chuck roast to get it to fall apart. Still, even sliced it tastes awesome so I have no doubt you'll get several good meals from that meat. Nice cook!

Why the Stevia? Thoughts on how it worked?

[The Burn]

PB - I'm diabetic and control it thru a very low, low carb diet - about 30g per day or less. While there's not a lot of sugar in BBBR, every gram counts and I'd rather spend them in other places when possible. The stevia (I use Stevia in the Raw because it doesn't cut the pure stevia with sugar alcohols) worked great. I don't think anyone with notice the difference here. I was surprised I got good bark because I thought it had to do with the sugar.

As for the temp and texture, I hadn't thought it would take as long since they were only a couple of inches thick, but next time I'll push through the second stall. Luckily, I wasn't cooking it for last night's dinner...

[David Parrish]

PB - I'm diabetic and control it thru a very low, low carb diet - about 30g per day or less. While there's not a lot of sugar in BBBR, every gram counts and I'd rather spend them in other places when possible. The stevia (I use Stevia in the Raw because it doesn't cut the pure stevia with sugar alcohols) worked great. I don't think anyone with notice the difference here. I was surprised I got good bark because I thought it had to do with the sugar.

As for the temp and texture, I hadn't thought it would take as long since they were only a couple of inches thick, but next time I'll push through the second stall. Luckily, I wasn't cooking it for last night's dinner...

Ah gotcha, my wife is on a low carb diet much of the time so I know about the every gram counting philosophy.

As far as your bark, it does look good, but it would have been even darker and more meteorite looking with sugar. Sugar just helps a bit, it doesn't do it all.

[Huskee]

Looks good. A good rule of thumb I use for beef roasts for pulled beef is treat them like a pork butt in every way except the rub. Like Pit Boss says, they need that hold time, whether lower temp in your smoker, oven, or just a faux cambro which is what I do. You have a nice brisket look to yours!

[The Burn]

I didn't even think of putting it into a faux cambro last night - duh. Might have had to set an alarm to wake up in the middle of the night, but I would have done it. Lessons learned - better next time.