Chuck Roast on the Pit Barrel Cooker

[Guy]

Got her wrapped at 171 deg F. temp and back on the WSM. External temp at 288 deg F. because of opening the smoker and getting bigger draft. Waiting for it to settle down. Forgot to take pictures because being in a hurry and discussing a remodeling job with my DW. LOL
Been cooking for 7 hours.

[David Parrish]

Kathryn Dr B knows his stuff for sure. I don't think it's contradictory, either. More like personal preference.

[fzxdoc]

Dave, I left a comment here and saw it later on, so I know it posted. It's gone now.
Anyway, I just wrote a note to say that I completely agree--I think your and Dr. B's comments dovetail nicely because each of you has an excellent reason for your preference. I learned a lot from both comments.

Kathryn

[David Parrish]

there's an art to barbecue. You should just make sure you understand the science first. Not saying that to you really... It just sound purty smart about right now.

I'm not sure what happened to your first comment. I didn't see it.

[Guy]

I am sitting at an IT of 207 deg F. And my ET is dropping to 225 deg F. Gonna wait

[Guy]

The ET is still dropping hopefully to stabilize at 200 deg F. IT is 207 how long do I leave it?

[fzxdoc]

Guy, I took mine off at 207 for some of the chuckies and 209 for others (I did 4 chuckies at once). The meat temp sat for 2 hours between 202 and 207 (a second stall).

If the chuckie is probe-tender, then perhaps you'd want to take it off and put it in a faux cambro/low oven for a couple of hours?

When I put mine in the warming oven, it was probe tender. I unwrapped it to stop the carryover cooking and wrapped it tightly in two more layers of heavy duty foil. I poured the jus in with it before I foiled. Then I let it sit in the warming oven at 150 deg F for 2 hours (the meat temp stabilized at 157 deg F). When I unwrapped it after two hours it was falling-apart tender. That was a major meat moment for me. I ate nearly as much as I served my guests, I think. I couldn't help snacking on it as I was pulling it!

Kathryn

[Guy]

Kathryn, you have been a tremendous help in this cook. You too Boss. Right now it is in the cambro (entered at 207 deg F. IT) now at 196 deg F. IT. It has been in there an hour now.
I am going to wait a little longer and eat the damn thing.

[Huskee]

Well? How'd it go Guy?

[David Parrish]

Guy you can eat it at any time now. If it doesn't pull just slice or chop. Let us know what you think!

[Guy]

Well guys since this was my first cook with a Chuck I guess I should be happy. The bark was great and the meat was tender and pulled easily. But I was kind of disappointed in the flavor and it was a tad dry. A couple of things may have happened. To start, my chuck did not have the near marbling that Boss' had. I don't think I had enough apple smoke. No, I am sure I did not. I did use the BBBR with the cummin. I was only able to dry brine for 24 hours instead of days like Boss and Kathryn. However and of course my wife thought is was good especially the bark. So I guess I will be getting more practice. With everyone's advice I know I will get it right.

[fzxdoc]

It sounds as though you did great, Guy. We're always our own worst critics. I say if your wife liked it, then it had to be good!

FWIW, I didn't dry brine for 5 days on purpose, it just worked out that way. I had originally planned on dry brining for 24 hours or so, but life got in the way of my planned cook and the soonest I could do it resulted in a 5-day dry brine.

The nice thing is that you've got some experience with it now and know what to expect and what you want to change. For sure my second chuckie cook was head and shoulders over the first one. I bet the same will happen to you.

Kathryn

[Huskee]

Guy look at the bright side, you're getting experience. You know how much smoke you like, you know if you liek the rub or not, heavy bark, light bark, etc. David Parrish suggested to me to take the meat up over 203, to say 207, 209, and then keep it help over 200 for a while, instead of just going straight to a faux cambro like you would for a pork butt. This technique worked for me. Not saying your way was not correct, it was! You could've just had a meatier hunk of chuck. I have had some pork butts get dry and some anything but dry. It's all one cook at a time!

If it's any consolation, my last few burger cooks were less than stellar, followign the same techniques I've used forever, it just happens. Since this is your first, you are MILES ahead of the average Joe w/o the good info and support of this community here.

[David Parrish]

Guy it sounds successful to me if the wife liked it. Like Kathryn said we are our own worst critics.

If it pulled you know u cooked it enough at least. Did you poor liquids back onto the meat?

[Guy]

Boss I was going to but there was no liquid. Or not enough to pour.

Listening to all of my mentors (whom I appreciate very much) here I am pretty sure I did not leave it at the 200 deg F range long enough before putting in the faux cambro. You are all correct in saying I have more experience now about a lot of things including controlling my temps on the WSM. I know how to do pretty nice bark now. One other thing that may have happened is when my temps were around 280 deg F I was always trying to get it back down to 225 -250. I would think this caused a longer cooking time to even get to 200 deg F. If I had left it alone I may have gotten to 200 quicker and let it stay longer in the range. I was running out of time at the end.

Ya'll are right though about most of us being our own worst critic. But if we reached perfection every time what would be the challenge? I know I would get bored and find something else to do.

[Breadhead]

Having watched everyone's interest in smoking chuck roasts I decided I've got to see what everyone is so excited about. I bought a 2.51lb chuckie. I was going to smoke it last weekend with my 3 racks of Last Meal ribs but then I started asking questions from my fellow Pit members. I knew what I was going to do wasn't the right thing. So I decided to put it off and do it right. Having never tried BBBR before I decided I must mix some of that up. Then seeing Erneast's/Huskee's (I forget which) post about adding 1/2 teaspoon of cumin I threw that in with it. I dry brined it with salt in the fridge overnight and I left it in the fridge until right before I applied some EVOO and the BBBR because of Dr B said about getting a good smoke ring. I put it on the Big Green Egg at 11:00am. It's now 6:14pm PST and after a 2 hour stall the meat is at 197°F - no wrap for me. I want all the bark I can get. It looks and smell good so far. 3 neighbors have commented about the smell. This is what it looked like after 5 hours... I'll post addictional picture when the cook is done.

[David Parrish]

Just for the record, the 1/2 tsp of Cumin is all Pit Boss. Check the original post in this thread.

[Breadhead]

@Pit Boss

Duly noted... I give credit where credit is due. I got squirrelly with the cumin jar... I might have put in a tablespoon.😋

[David Parrish]

Breadhead I bet it's still awesome. I've found cumin has an overpowering smell in any rub while it's in the jar, but it's effects blend into the overall taste quite well once it's slow cooked on the meat for 10+ hours.

[Breadhead]

The cook took 9 hours in the Large BGE. The DigiQ Dx2 and the Maverick ET 735 did their thing, differently. For the first hour there was as much as 21° difference in temp readings. After 2 hours it was down to 10°. After 5 hours they were within 2°. They were side by side. I have no idea why that happens.

I like smoked Chuck roast... I like BBBR. Now I understand why you guys have been going on and on about this inexpensive chunk of meat. I get it!

[David Parrish]

That's how it's done!

[Breadhead]

@Pit Boss... You made so tempting I had to try it. Thanks for posting this fine thread.

[David Parrish]

Glad you liked! It's our duty as good club members to spread the word on chopped/pulled chuck roast. It makes a mighty fine meal.

[fzxdoc]

Congrats on that chuckie cook, Breadhead ! You'll be hooked for sure now. I'm still planning on making Huskee 's lasagna recipe with leftover smoked chuck, the next time I do a chuckie cook. It's great in so many recipes--tacos, Philly cheesesteaks, chili, etc.

Kathryn

[DeusDingo]

i loved this post. i think it should be pinned for anybody who wants to make pulled beef. believe it or not when i first started doing Q i didn't even know pulled beef was a thing. ahh the ignorance...

[David Parrish]

I agree Sir. Pinned!