Last week I believe it was Mosca who posted an article praising the laurels of sous vide que chuck roast. The writer went on to say he thought it was as good or better than 70% of the prime rib he's been served. Now we all know (or at least should know) that prime rib is right up there in the pantheon of beefy greatness. In fact, next to maybe turkey, it's the most sought after protein on all the big holidays. And there's a good reason for that, pound for pound its about the best cut of beef in the cow.
So calling something better than the best is quite a stretch. So, ever ready to take on a challenge, yours truly decided to roast me a big piece of chuck and see for myself. I have done probably half a dozen QVQ chuck steaks to steak-like perfection. In fact having rare chuck has now replaced well done roast like in our household. But I've never done a larger roast. So I went to my meat cutter and explained the situation. He had no idea what I was saying (knowing nothing about SV himself) so he invited me behind the counter to supervise. He took out a large shoulder piece and showed me the chuck eye end cap. He said the first 4" or so would cost me $7.99/lb and the next 4" on would cost me $5.99/lb. Since we were up against the area around the 5th rib I said cut me about a 4-5" piece that weighed about 4# from the $5.99/lb section.
So now I have a nice CAB prime piece of chuck, nicely marbled. Cost is just below $25. Tied it up into a round shape and gave her the usual over night salting.....
Next day I got out my WSM and smoked the roast until it reached and internal temp of about 115*. Wasn't concerned about time, just didn't want to over cook but let it take on as much of a combination of mesquite and pecan smoke. I took it off the smoker and bagged it and into the bath it went at 132*. My intention was to go 48 hours but my timing was off and it only went about 40 hours. Since Chef Steps claims 24 hours should suffice or as high as 48, I figured my 40 should do the trick.....
So a couple of days later I now have a really well cooked roast. Since I wasn't ready to eat it, I shocked in an ice bath for an hour then put it into the refrigerator for a couple of days. Day of the cook it was kind of rainy and cool so I decided to re-establish my bark and heat up the meat in my convection oven. Put a nice herb rub (consisting of rosemary, thyme, pepper and garlic powder) and roasted it at 475* until I reheated it to 125* internal.
Sliced and diced and served. The roast kind of flattened out on me but seemed to come out pretty close in appearance to prime rib otherwise......
And the verdict (at least in my humble opinion) was this. Meat was very tender, most if not all the connective tissue had rendered and the various muscles were loose and falling apart. Doneness was medium rare and to our liking. Meat had a big, beefy taste to it set off by a nice bark. But was it better than prime rib? I'd have to say close cousin but NO cigar. Chuck has a heavier beefy taste to me that while delicious in its own right, doesn't compare to the milder more pleasing taste of rare prime rib. Chef Steps in their attempt cut out most of the fat and rolled the separate muscles into a roast that came out looking more like prime rib. Perhaps that would make a difference, I don't know.
All in all I liked the result in its own right. But again you can certainly imitate and come close, but it's going to be hard to duplicate (much less surpass) the unctuous, tender, melt in your mouth flavor of a prime rib roast. At least in my opinion. Try it for yourself !!
So calling something better than the best is quite a stretch. So, ever ready to take on a challenge, yours truly decided to roast me a big piece of chuck and see for myself. I have done probably half a dozen QVQ chuck steaks to steak-like perfection. In fact having rare chuck has now replaced well done roast like in our household. But I've never done a larger roast. So I went to my meat cutter and explained the situation. He had no idea what I was saying (knowing nothing about SV himself) so he invited me behind the counter to supervise. He took out a large shoulder piece and showed me the chuck eye end cap. He said the first 4" or so would cost me $7.99/lb and the next 4" on would cost me $5.99/lb. Since we were up against the area around the 5th rib I said cut me about a 4-5" piece that weighed about 4# from the $5.99/lb section.
So now I have a nice CAB prime piece of chuck, nicely marbled. Cost is just below $25. Tied it up into a round shape and gave her the usual over night salting.....
Next day I got out my WSM and smoked the roast until it reached and internal temp of about 115*. Wasn't concerned about time, just didn't want to over cook but let it take on as much of a combination of mesquite and pecan smoke. I took it off the smoker and bagged it and into the bath it went at 132*. My intention was to go 48 hours but my timing was off and it only went about 40 hours. Since Chef Steps claims 24 hours should suffice or as high as 48, I figured my 40 should do the trick.....
So a couple of days later I now have a really well cooked roast. Since I wasn't ready to eat it, I shocked in an ice bath for an hour then put it into the refrigerator for a couple of days. Day of the cook it was kind of rainy and cool so I decided to re-establish my bark and heat up the meat in my convection oven. Put a nice herb rub (consisting of rosemary, thyme, pepper and garlic powder) and roasted it at 475* until I reheated it to 125* internal.
Sliced and diced and served. The roast kind of flattened out on me but seemed to come out pretty close in appearance to prime rib otherwise......
And the verdict (at least in my humble opinion) was this. Meat was very tender, most if not all the connective tissue had rendered and the various muscles were loose and falling apart. Doneness was medium rare and to our liking. Meat had a big, beefy taste to it set off by a nice bark. But was it better than prime rib? I'd have to say close cousin but NO cigar. Chuck has a heavier beefy taste to me that while delicious in its own right, doesn't compare to the milder more pleasing taste of rare prime rib. Chef Steps in their attempt cut out most of the fat and rolled the separate muscles into a roast that came out looking more like prime rib. Perhaps that would make a difference, I don't know.
All in all I liked the result in its own right. But again you can certainly imitate and come close, but it's going to be hard to duplicate (much less surpass) the unctuous, tender, melt in your mouth flavor of a prime rib roast. At least in my opinion. Try it for yourself !!
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