First attempt at smoking a chuck roast

[Hulagn1971]

Bought a couple chuck roasts from Costco the other weekend. Ground one up coarse for hamburgers and taco meat (by far the best option for ground beef) and saved the 3lb 11oz one to smoke this past weekend. I dry brined it overnight on Saturday and smoked it Sunday. Spritzed with water lightly then rubbed it with BBBR and some extra course ground pepper. Used my SnS on the 26" Weber kettle. Got the smoker to 225 degrees, added a couple chunks of hickory to the grate over the coals, then added the meat. I have found that by adding the smoke wood to the grate above the coals instead of directly on the coals produces a very nice clean blue smoke. The last 4 times I have used this technique and have yet to get white smoke. Meat went on about 10am. The temp in the kettle ranged from 225-236 degrees for the next 4 hours. At 1pm the meat hit 152 degrees and stayed there for an hour. At 2pm I checked the bark and it had set so I double wrapped in HD Reynolds aluminum foil and added about 1/3 cup of beef broth that I whipped up using "Better than Bullion" beef base and water. Once wrapped and back on the kettle, I knocked the coals around to get rid of the spent, pushed them to the left and added fresh unlit coals. I opened top and bottom vents 100% but had to crack the lid about 1-2 inches on the SnS side to get it ramped up to 300 degrees. Once at 300, it tested my patience the next couple hours as the wind was gusty and temp would go to 325, I would make an adjustment, then after 30 minutes it would be at 290. At 4pm IT on the meat was 204 and probe tender. I wrapped the meat in a large beach towel and placed it in my cooler to rest. Rested over 4hrs and when I pulled it the bark was nice and crusty and the meat was silky rich, flavorful and delicious. My wife loved it as well. I packed a couple individual casserole dishes with meat, topped it with a quality provolone and popped it under the broiler until the cheese got melty and gooey. No breads in the diet right now and it really hit the spot. So much that I went home for lunch today and repeated it. Side (not shown) was collards in the pressure cooker first cooked in bacon fat till they wilted down. Then added garlic, pink himalayan salt, onion, Goya all purpose adobo seasoning, water, red pepper flakes, 3/4 capful of Zatarain's liquid crab boil and a capful of fish sauce.

[pmorse36]

Sounds fantastic! Thank you for the detailed write up. This is definitely on my to-try list in the very near future. Forgive my ignorance as I've never cooked this cut before, but did you ramp up the temp to 300 to speed up cooking time, or was this to try to build bark or another reason?

Thanks!

[Mr. Bones]

Nah, no ignorance to forgive; yer simply inexperienced with outdoor cookin this cut of beef! (Yer gonna LOVE it, I'd bet!
We're all here to learn, an share with each other, amigo...
Never be afraid to ask a question!
I love detailed, illustrated writeups, even of stuff I do alla th time...
There's always more to be learned...

[Hulagn1971]

pmorse36 no ignorance here. Just learning. The bark had formed so after I wrapped it I ramped up the temp to power through the stall. It took less than 2 hours to get the IT from 152 to 204. Do this cook, it is definitely worth it.

[pmorse36]

Hulagn1971 thanks a ton! Will definitely give this a try soon. Appreciate the feedback and great tutorial!

[RonB]

That looks like a great cook.

[Mr. Bones]

Great lookin chuckie, wonderful detailed writeup, an fantastic pics, as well!

[HorseDoctor]

Very nice! Looks awesome! Congrats on a great cook!

[Huskee]

Nice work. A very easy combination of what I love about pulled pork and brisket combined into one fantastic feast!

[jgreen]

Nicely done! Interesting tip about the wood on top of the grate. I will have to try that. Thanks.

[Skip]

I agree jgreen. The wood on top is on my "to do list" too. Sounds good.

[ColonialDawg]

Looks delicious. I love chuck roasts. Almost better than a brisket point and great for burnt ends, chopped beef, you name it.

[kamadoRob]

Nice cook! I love smoked chuck roast. Unfortunately, my wife absolutely hates it. Just the smell of a smoked chuck roast has her headed to the other end of the house. So, sadly, I don't make them often... I've tried with different woods and even no wood at all, just lump charcoal but no dice.

[EdF]

I'd say maybe you want to try this version, which is a bit different from standard treatment. But not knowing her objections, I'm not sure I can recommend tempting fate!

https://dizzypigbbq.com/recipe/clays-pulled-beef/

Obviously the rub to use is up to you!

[kamadoRob]

Thanks EdF I'm not sure exactly what her objections are. She says she doesn't like smoked meat but loves ribs and a few other things. She has mentioned it smells like hot dogs but she eats hot dogs so.... I will have to give this a try, it sounds good.

[EdF]

I'm not sure what you're cooking in or how you're adding the smoke. My wife likes it on the light side, so I've pretty much adapted my methods for that. Though I did sneak some reasonably strong hickory into some spares over the weekend and met with approval. Acclimation and all that.

[putuguk]

This is my favorite way to make tacos. I like to use a taco or mexican style seasoning for a rub.

[Karon Adams]

That's a REALLY good looking Chuckie!

[Jetski]

Well, I'm hungry now, great job!

[JGo37]

I wish I could 'first try' with that much awesome success! I've pulled a couple tips from this to try, so like most everyone I'll say TIP OF THE APRON (??) to your great write-up.

I'll try the hickory on the grate, and stock as an add if I wrap. Now I've got some 'maybe great ideas about flavoring stock' / maybe it will be a disaster. Regardless, I'll write it up when I try it.