Sous B Que Chuck Roast

[josht138]

Here are some pics from my cook this weekend of a 3.5 lb chuck roast.

Based on Potkettleblack recommendation in another thread I had planned earlier in the week to SV for 36 hrs @ 135, but I got busy with work and wasn't able to dump in the hot tub until Saturday morning.

So, I ended up going SV @141F for 24 hrs and then immediately dumped into an ice bath for about 5 hrs until I threw it on the smoker. I had only intended to smoke for 3 hrs, but after 3 hrs the meat was only back up to about 145F and it just didn't feel that tender. Our guests were running late, so I let it go another 2 and it started to feel a little more tender. I believe the final temp before I pulled it was about 165 to 170F. After I pulled it, I rested it about an hour.

The final product was pretty good, not great. However, with that being said, it's really hard to beat how easy of all of this was... This particular cut really didn't require much trimming. I just salted it and threw it in a vacuum sealed bag, which maybe took all of 15 minutes. I used to add the rub before throwing the bag and this time I left the rub off before SV, and I really couldn't tell any difference in the flavor or bark. While I was preheating the smoker I rubbed it down with some BBBR. The sun went down midway through the cook so I made maybe 2 adjustments the entire cook (SnS FTW!!!).

[josht138]

2 more pictures...

[Potkettleblack]

They extra twelve to 24 hours and the lower temp will produce more tender meat at a lower internal temperature when you are finishing it.

[MBMorgan]

Post #2 pics look great ... but post #1 pics show up as broken links.

[josht138]

Which post #1 or #2?

[EdF]

Well, it sure looks good!

[fzxdoc]

josht138 , how juicy would you judge that chuckie?

I SV'd a chuckie last week for 24 hours and then seared it on my 600+°F gasser. Chopped up the result into cubes and made beef stroganoff out of it. My DH (uh, that's " 'D'ear" Husband) chomped it down like there would be no food left on the planet the next day. The flavor of that beef in that dish was amazing. (P.S. I know stroganoff is old school, but if you've ever had Thomas Keller's recipe for braised beef in stroganoff, you haven't lived. This emulated that.)

Then this past weekend, I SV'd what I euphemistically* call "boneless beef short ribs" for 24 hours at 158°F, chilled in an ice bath, put in the fridge for 2 days, then smoked yesterday afternoon to the magic 2-0-3. Cambroed for 1 hour. We had a couple of pieces last night. Not impressed at all. They were dry-ish, and there was not that unctuous flavor that I've grown to love from a start-to-finish smoked chuckie, for example.

The half-dozen pieces that had originally looked like they may have come from a short plate sliced between the ribs ended up looking like little nubbins of beef. That gal/guy who said we eat with our eyes first, knew whereof s/he spoke. From those six pieces, there was 1.5 cups of purge, as Potkettleblack calls it. I didn't use the purge, although I did microwave and filter it for future use. We ate those beef nubbins with my fav commercial BBQ sauce (Jardine's Killer). They were the plus-one to three bacon-covered meatloaves that I smoked at the same time. Thank goodness for that meatloaf, because a meal of those boneless shorties would have been grim indeed. P.S I had both my PBC and WSCGC going full tilt. I was in BBQ heaven, I must say.

Kathryn


*You know, when a store like Publix or our local grocery calls them this, I wonder what the cut is. It doesn't look like a cut off the short plate to me.

[josht138]

It wasn't melt in your mouth juicy. It was tender though. I have yet to make a chuck roast that was super juicy though even smoking one all day.

I think 158 for beef is too high btw. I think pork would probably be OK at that temp but I think beef might be too sensitive to the heat for that long.

[Potkettleblack]

For the costco boneless beef shortribs, I do 131-133 for 72 hours. Shock, sear, sauce, serve.

If you have a lot of purge, you will want to add it back to the finished product. That juice came out. Gonna want it back.

[fzxdoc]

josht138, I chose 158°F for 24 hours based on this Chef Steps research:

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/beef-short-ribs-your-way

It was sort of the middle of the road choice for tenderness and juciness.

Kathryn

P.S. FWIW, I SVd the chuck roast at 133°F for 24 hours

[josht138]

fzxdoc Have you had luck with low and long SV chefsteps recipes? I love chefsteps just for the videos and the ideas, but I'll be honest, I can't think of any cooks I've done for long cooks (>12 hrs) that have turned out that great.

I have more trust in some of the recipes that are scattered on this forum and from seriouseats.com than I do for chefsteps. I bet a lot of it has to do with the cuts of meats they buy. From what I've seen on their site and through some of the interviews with the chefs, I believe they use all locally sourced meats and they are probably top quality. I bet when I buy a commodity choice beef cut from Publix it changes your approach somewhat. (DISCLAIMER: This opinion is based on 0% scientific research.)

[Dr ROK]

I did a long chuck roast cook via the Joule app instructions and it was great.

[fzxdoc]

Ditto what @Dr. ROK said. That chuck steak that I did following the Joule recommendation of 133°F/24 hours followed by a quick sear was superb.

Kathryn

[Potkettleblack]

josht138, I chose 158°F for 24 hours based on this Chef Steps research:

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities...-ribs-your-way

It was sort of the middle of the road choice for tenderness and juciness.

See, here is the problem.

They are doing maybe a sear-soak-sear, or just a soak-sear. No shock, no refrigeration, no smoking and definitely not taking it to 203.

In traditional BBQ, you are taking to 203 to achieve collagen breakdown. The protein is already overcooked, it's the collagen breakdown that makes it tasty. In sous vide, at 158x24, you have already achieved a level the collagen breakdown. There's no need to take to 203. All you're doing by taking it much above 158 is overcooking it.

For what you're looking to do, if you want the texture of the 158x24 with the smoke, you will want to do something like this process.
158x24. Shock, chill cold. Rub with BBBR or something else that helps bark formation. Smoke until IT hits 158 or until bark formation is where you want it. You want to start COLD. And you really don't want to take through stall territory and beyond on short ribs, imo.

josht138 I have had great results with the Chefsteps smokerless brisket, though I would alter the finishing steps a bit to produce better bark. I've had very good results with the homemade honeybaked ham, though I messed up the glaze for that, so the finished product wasn't picture perfect, but the meat was incredible. I'm a 131-133x72h short rib aficionado.

Their recipes, for nearly everything, are generally pretty finicky. I had the Rosti go wonky (tasty but wrong) because I didn't cut the potatoes to specification and I had a sauce go wonky because my wife promised to microplane parmesan but instead used the small hole grater. Like Modernist Cuisine (@ Home), the recipes are exacting and unforgiving.

As you're dealing with agricultural products, there's always going to be some variation, which will always require a bit of adjustment. Age of the animal at slaughter, genetics... lean meats from commodity choice are going to need some changes, just as grass fed beef requires changes to recipes.

[josht138]

You're the MVP of the Pitmaster Sous Vide Sub-Club.