Chuck Roast on the PBC

[jghorton]

Been playing more with the new PBC. My first cook involved a chuck roast. I have smoked a couple chuckies on my Grilla prior to the ones on the PBC and got them to fall/pull apart tender. The first chuckie on the PBC still had some chew, though I took it to 210. It looked beautiful and had a good flavor, but the tenderness was not at the level I desired. I wrapped it in foil at the stall and let it go up to 210. Thinking back, anecdotally, I am not sure the fat and collagen had the chance to truly liquefy.

Yesterday, I gave it another go. This round I dry brined the chuckie the day before, foiled at the stall, took it to 210, pulled it off the PBC, wrapped in another layer of foil and some towels before leaving in a faux cambro for 2+ hours. This one was much more tender, but still not the pull/fall apart tender I experienced on the ones I smoked on the Grilla. Any suggestions or thoughts as to why I am not getting the same level of tenderness? I have wondered if cooking at a higher temp, quicker, has led to the results on the PBC.

Also, has anyone experienced a chuckie stalling around the 160-170 mark and after wrapping in foil and going back on the cooker it takes within 20-30 mins to rocket up to 210? I didn't think it moved so quickly on my cooks involving the Grilla, but perhaps, again, it is a result of the higher cooker temp.

I appreciate your feedback!

[RustyHaines]

What were your PBC temps running during the cook? Also, did you add some liquid when you wrapped? Last, did you trim the chuckie? I had an oddity with a chuckie in my PBC once where it never stalled, was not wrapped and I pulled it at 205. It was edible but not perfect. That chuckie looked a bit leaner in the package than normal and I did trim it; in retrospect I think it was just not a good cut of meat. I have done others in the PBC with no issues. I prefer my kettle/SNS for large chunks of meat where I am low and slow at 225. Mostly I use my PBC for ribs and chicken and occasionally pork butt.

[jghorton]

PBC temps were running 270 at the start of the cook, up to 340 during the latter end of the cook. I don't add liquid to the meat when I wrap, especially when it is a heavily fatty and well-marbled piece of meat like a chuck roast - there will be plenty of juice/fat. I never trim a chuck roast. Hard to say and you have a good overall point that it may be the cut of meat. Thanks!

[Spinaker]

You probably over cooked it if you went to 210 F. That is pretty high. I know you took one that high before, but I would say with this piece of meat, 210 was just too high. Not every piece of meat if the same, so there are difference from cook to cook. I like to pull mine at about 205 F.

I don't wrap my chuckies when I cook them, but I had a really long stall at 160 and 185 when cooking one into today. I just set the BGE into hibernation mode to hold it until I get home.

If you wrap the meat, it will shoot up in temp really fast. 20-30 mins is not surprising at all. Especially if you are using HD foil or wrapping it twice.

[jghorton]

I will start checking closer to the 200 mark for tenderness and see how it goes - you are right that every piece of meat is different, even if the cut is the "same". Thank you for the info on the quick climb in temp. Perhaps next time I will use butcher paper, instead of foil, and not multiple layers.