Roastus Interruptus

[JonB]

I'm planning to smoke a bone-in chuck roast for pulled beef for New Year's, using a tried-and-true recipe. We are traveling, so unfortunately I will need to smoke it the day before, and heat in an oven before serving.

The question is, when is the best point to interrupt the process? Would it be better to complete the cook at home and transport just the shredded beef, or to stop at some point in the cook (say, an hour or two into the stall), wrap and refrigerate the roast, then complete the cook and shred at the location?

[Strat50]

Hi Jon, we encounter this situation on a daily basis in the restaurant. Cook your roast till just barely done for your use. Chill and heavily wrap in foil. When you are ready to re-heat, slam into a 300 degree oven till heated through, then do the voodoo you do so well. We do this with prime rib, chicken, etc. It's no big deal. The larger the piece(s), the more moisture you will retain, so we don't shred or whatever until the final use point. I hope this helps.

[David Parrish]

I've had good luck cooking chuck roast and pulling it the day before, then reheating in a crockpot with a little extra moisture the next day. I took this particular pulled beef to a party. It was one of the only crock pots that was completely empty at the end of the evening. People were hunting me down asking how I made it.

[Huskee]

I will echo Pit Boss' technique too. I've reheated in a crock pot with great results, no one knew any different, it was even hard for me to tell. Strat50 gives great experienced advice too. The good news is, you'll be fine either way you go!

Since this is your first post, please check out our homework assignment post for new members, it contains lots of how-tos and please-dos!

Hope to hear & see more from you.

[Deuce]

I too have used the crock pot this way and it works well. Once I didn't have access to a crock pot, and since I vacuum seal left over pulled meat and that reheats well, I pulled one, added some of the liquid, let it cool, then vacuum sealed it and froze it. The next day I heated it in a pot of simmering water and it tasted like it just came off the smoker.