Chuck Roast - Higher Temp for better bark? Will finishing in the oven hurt the results?

[ClayJones]

I'm smoking up a 10lb chuck roast tonight to chop up for tacos tomorrow and am working over the details... Wanted to run a couple buy you folks.

- I plan to cut it in half to get more bark. (I definitely should have done this before the dry-brine started yesterday but here we are.)

- I've been hearing that increasing the temp up from 225ish to 275 or so has a positive effect on bark when making pulled pork. Is the same true for beef? If that's true, what's the trade-off? I have been happy with 225 the whole way so far, but if I can get better bark while also making the cook shorter...

- Lastly, so... I can't start this cook until I get home after work, AND after I smoke some chicken thighs (also for the taco party) so that means the chuck will probably get going at around 8p... I'm not allergic to an all-nighter, but they aren't my favorite thing to do in December... What if I smoked the two halves up to the stall and as far into it as I could stay awake, wrapped them, and then brought them inside to the oven and got some sleep? It seems like it wouldn't make much difference, but if that were the case I figure that would simply be the way it's done What would I loose doing it that way over wrapping in the smoker (stickburner)? Honestly, I might bite the bullet and not wrap at all, but that's a 2am gametime call.

Thanks!

[Steve R.]

Your plan of finishing in the oven will work just fine. I do butts that way for luches at my wife's office a couple of times each year.

As for the bark, I tend to get better results at lower temperatures, giving it more time to form.

[Frozen Smoke]

I agree with Steve R. on the bark. The longer in the smoker the better the bark. Also spritzing will help form a bark. For beef I mix beef broth and whiskey or bourbon whatever you have and spritz several or more times during the cook. You could even use a cola or root beer to amp up the sugar content but I like using booze. I read somewhere long long ago that alcohol helps break down the spices in the rub adding more flavor. It's probably a crock but it stuck with me. The sugars caramelize during the cook helping bark formation.

Finishing in the oven is no harm no foul. I've done it with a brisket after about 12 hours and I needed some sleep. Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

[ClayJones]

I just picked up some broth earlier today. I'm going to give that spritzing a try! What kind of interval are we talking? Spritz every 30 minutes? Every hour? Sky's the limit?

[Frozen Smoke]

I would say I do it once a hour starting after the first couple hours but I think you can do it as often as you like really.

[Troutman]

+1 on the beef broth/bourbon spritz .... love it !! I cook at 250* routinely and get done a bit faster. I haven't noticed much difference in bark formation. Also, don't over spritz, you end up with puddling of liquid on you meat. Remember the meat is sweating as well, don't over do it !!!

[Attjack]

Go hot or go home.

[Troutman]

Don’t confuse bark formation with burnt that may result from higher heat.

[ClayJones]

I'm not gonna lie, I probably am confused as far as bark goes. I often wonder if I even know what good bark is! I didn't really grow up around bbq... Sad I know I know what I like on a steak or a burger but when it comes to smoking roasts and briskets and such I've been mostly relying on color and the fact that I can tell there's definitely a layer of...something on there!

[Troutman]

There's a real good article and explanation of what bark really is by Doc Blonder over in the free part of the site. It's well worth the read, quite educational.

[ClayJones]

Thanks! That is a really good article. Now my brain totally gets what bark is, but my eyes and tastebuds still need some tips. I guess what I need is a amazingribs.com bbq meetup-cookout event so I can get my hands on the good stuff from the pros and gain a point of reference

[Huskee]

I think you'll get good bark anywhere from 225-300 TBH. Personally, I don't like bark from higher heat cooks, it gets a little too dry & crumbly for me. I'm typically a 225-240 or 250 guy, and I wrap after the stall.

[Troutman]

I agree, good bark is like good wine, you can't hurry it because it develops better over time. So the operative word is "developed" not forced.

[ClayJones]

Hey fam! So, it came out pretty well... but of course I found things to nit pic about. It seemed to come out a little drier than the last chucks I smoked. I'm wondering if the oven had something to do with it. Usually my cooks seem to have plenty of moisture all over them from what I can only guess is residual moisture in the wood? Or maybe DC humidity? I don't know but it's coming from somewhere. I also didn't wrap my previous cooks... It seems a little counter-intuitive to me for those cooks to come out more moist since I wrapped this time but it is what it is...

I kept temps in the 210-245 range. Spritzed them (it was a 10lber in half) with beef broth every hour (Thanks Smoke). Took them off at an internal temp of 160 or so (mostly because I was struggling to stay awake) double wrapped them up and put them in my oven at 225 for what turned out to be about 3 more hours, pulling them at 204. I do think the bark was more pronounced. It probably lost a bit of it's impact being chopped up, but the chef's privilege slices showed improvement.

Anyway, I chopped them up, put it all in an aluminum tray with beef broth and a little lime juice for people to pluck out for their tacos. Everyone was happy.

I'm doing another for Christmas so I'll do that one the same way without the oven and see what happens.

p.s. The chicken thighs came out perfect like they always do. I love smoking those things! Served them the same way as the chuck, except with chicken broth I made a few weeks ago and some cilantro.

[CaptainMike]

Great post Clay, thanks for sharing. Could be any number of reasons the chucks were a little dry but it sounds like they were pretty good nonetheless. I have my airline tickets and I hope you can pick me up before Christmas dinner. I'll Uber if I have too...

[ClayJones]

lol Thanks Cap! The more the merrier, though the traffic around here might make a grinch out of you pretty quick.

[Dadof3Illinois]

It could be that the roast was a little more lean than you expected? I’ve cooked a ton of roast just as you describe and once in awhile I’ll get one that just doesn’t ever get tender and juicy. I just did two this past weekend and both turned out just fair. So sometimes it just doesn’t work out like we want. But that’s the challenge of our hobby!!!

[JGo37]

As long as Aldi's keeps selling Black Angus Choice Chuckies thru December @ $ 2.99, I'll be doing two a week. Have been since Thanksgiving. Trying to get my Chuckie-skills settled.

Nothing really radical to report, other than that they can dry rather quickly. Burnt Ends Brisket-style? I inject beef broth and wrap at the stall, and faux cambro - it seems that is how to assure tender & juicy. I simmer a Lou favorite - Maulls' Original - and dip in that. I did a straight power thru, rest and serve on the first, and it was dry.

I have also made Chuckies thin-sliced for roast beef sammies, and cubed for chili. I've cooked those really low - 220F average - and pulled at rare and let climb, wrapped. I waited a couple hours before slicing, and that got vacuum-bagged a half pound at a time and put straight into the fridge and freezer. Simple beef slices on gourmet breads with horseradish and tomato. I found a local Russian Pumpernickel that I like right now.

I cubed @ an hour of wrapped rest, and put that with juices straight into simmering chili for the entire afternoon. That was eaten over 24 hours. That was an interesting chili because I used all roasted vegetables and no spices. Poblano, Anaheim, Jalapeno, Serrano, roasted and crushed Roma with all the juice, celery, red onion, ground cumin seed, sea salt, lightly ground black peppercorns, beef stock, black beans. That was good stuff. I loved it but my wife said she likes pork chili with lighter beans. ?????

At $ 2.99 I'd have choice chuck on hand all the time, and find more ways to use it. Pho, Vietnamese wraps; I can think of a couple Asian twists I need to put in rotation. I've been seasoning and smoking it with KBB and Mesquite seasoning and chunks.

Next I'll cut back on the smoke profile and go with something lighter for the soup and wraps. I like a Boston Lettuce wrap with carrot shavings, grilled red onion, a sauteed hot pepper and simmered fish sauce/Siracha/brewed Soy (no salt).

If you make a Pho, don't forget the poached egg!!

[fzxdoc]

Some tasty ideas here. Thanks, JGo37 .

Kathryn

[ClayJones]

I love Pho! Ramen too. That idea hadn't occurred to me; nice one! There are some extremely good ramen shops around here. They're so good, in fact, that I'm hesitant to try my hand at what is an art unto itself... but so is BBQ so why not? Hmmm...