Laypersons Chuck Cook

[holehogg]

Got home and the kettle got the right of way. I was excited for what I envisaged was going to be a memorable 17 pounds of chuck-lishes cook. The 3 hunks of meat had been dry brining for around 30 hours and while the fire was doing its stabilising thing I mixed up my first batch of Mrs. O’Learys Cow Crust. Got the meat on at 17H00 with the kettle settled at 270F.

The stall started at around 22H00 and 23H00 I added some more fuel.
By 01am it was still in the stall the kettle was still purring along at 270F and I was tired. Topped up with a few more coals made sure the chamber temp was good and hit the sack at 01H45. Woke at 06H30 and the chamber temp was 195F and the 2 chunks of meat that had probes in read 163F and 172F.
What happened while I was sawing wood is anyone’s guess and smoking is not about guessing.
I will never know what temp the meat eventually reached. It wasn’t wobbly and had some crunchy bark bits in places.
The plan was for pulling so I wrapped them in foil into the cambro for about an hour and into my vertical cooker in the wagon for another 2 hours at 175F. I pulled and found the protein to be dry’ish and tender’ish with lots of flavour.
Thanks to the valuable info I’ve learnt from this site I was able to reconstitute it to a very acceptable consistency.
The partakers said it was very good. I served on a soft Panini Roll with a side of potato salad.

What this layperson did was not the way it’s supposed to be done but his passion for wanting to smoke more than is possible given his commitments, got the better of his judgement.

All’s well that ends well though.

[klflowers]

Looks pretty good from here. I always say the ones that seem to go wrong produce some fine results.

[mountainsmoker]

+1

[FireMan]

Do you always say that? Always? Gee, that’s amazing.

[klflowers]

FireMan, always. Makes people stay away.

[TripleB]

Looks delicious my friend. Great job. Got my mouth watering

[Steve R.]

Chucks are about forgiving as butts, they just require more cooking and holding if you want to shred them. And that long hold is pretty important.

[RonB]

As long as everyone liked it, it's a good cook.

[gdsim1]

Oh gosh dude, if I had a dollar for every time I’ve pulled a "It’s too late to start this... I’m starting this anyway!", it’d probably pay for charcoal for a year. 😂😂😂

Looks like for all the challenges you worked through, the finished product came out just fine and that’s what counts! 👍 I hope you feel some pride in that - anyone can get er done when everything is lined out perfectly and goes smoothly start to finish.

Pulling it off when it doesn’t? THAT takes a little extra skill! 👍

[Mudkat]

Looks real good from here!

[Huskee]

I don't know what the problem was, and I don't see your problem. Looks good to me! Like you say, all's well that ends well

[holehogg]

I hear you but I'm a difficult person to please when I'm cooking.
I have a message in my message box that you and someone replied to that has no link to the original post. Just letting you in not sure if it might be a system glitch.

[Mr. Bones]

Great improvisation, delicious lookin cook, an reckon ya cain't call yerslf a 'layperson', like ya said, previous!

Nicely done, Brother!

[HawkerXP]

Wobbly, I don't think I've got a chuckie wobbly. But you do have [larger chucks] a nice bark (woof). Did you add any liquid to the wrap? Don't matter. It was enjoyed. That's all we can ask for.

[holehogg]

Only after shredding did I add some broth and a tiny bit of steak sauce

[RustyHaines]

That is a lot of meat and it sure looks to me like it turned out delicious. Never done an overnight cook. I am a morning person and have no problem starting a cook long before sunrise. Seeing your results maybe I have to give it a try. Thanks for sharing.

[holehogg]

I try steer away from overnight cooks they can be stressful but in my case sometimes have to. BTW I said 17 pounds meat was actually 17 Kg (34 pounds)

[Sweaty Paul]

Quite sure I'd take a portion or two of that!