First Chuck Roast Suggestions????

[Dr ROK]

Wednesday am - Trimmed and salted 4 lb choice chuck roast. Dry brined overnight in fridge.
Thursday am - coated with oil, rubbed with BBB rub, and put in Cookshack with 2 oz hickory and 4 briquettes kingsford blue charcoal at 9:20 AM. Smoked at 225 until it reached 195 at 7:00 PM

The roast had a very good flavor, but about a third of it was a bit dry even though I only took it up to 195. I think if I'd have left it in until it reached 203 - 205 like I planned, it would have been WAY dry. I'm wondering if wrapping would have helped with the moisture and let me take it up to a higher temp.

[David Parrish]

First, I would suggest wrapping it around 170*F, or when the bark looks good, whichever comes first. This will help retain moisture and you can use the liquid in the foil to wet the meat.

Second, beef like chuck roast and brisket really like to be taken up to 203*F or higher internal (select, choice or prime... wagyu/kobe is different). What you thought as dry was probably just undecooked. The fat really starts to melt around 200*F and wow does it make for tender beef.

[Huskee]

Agree with Pit Boss, probably less dry with the higher temp. A good faux cambro hold after it reaches your goal temp of 200ish for an hour or two (or 3) will soften things further.

[David Parrish]

Good point on the Cambro.

[Dr ROK]

Thanks for the input guys. I'll give these suggestions a try. Should I add any liquid when I foil?

I failed to mention that the bark was about a quarter inch thick too. When I first pulled this thing off I thought it was going to be a charcoal briquette, but once we got past the bark it was ok.

[Jerod Broussard]

I never use any liquid when wrapping.

However, I probably should put a something at the bottom of my briskets when I finish them on the hot side (300+). It tends to dry out A LOT under the fat cap, and make it stick to the foil sometimes.

[THoey1963]

Not trying to promote another site, but have you ever tried Pepper Stout Beef?

[Dewesq55]

That looks great. I just added it to my recipe box in Evernote. I'll bet you could do a version in a crockpot that would come out pretty good as well.

[IrondeQuer]

A good recipe and well worth the effort. I tend to use only half the stout as it's really soupy when finished cooking with the foil.

[THoey1963]

The last step is to take the foil off and let the stock reduce. I am usually so hungry by then that I just eat it as is and sop the juices up with the bread.

[JeffJ]

Did you use a water pan? I've never had a problem with chuck roast drying out, but it does sound like your bark was pretty thick. Humidity will taper that back. When using a water pan doubling as a drip pan I'll take a couple of beef soup bones, slather them with some tomato paste, drop in a little carrot, onion, bay leaf and some beef base and what emerges after the cook is a nice smokey beef au jus.