Beef Clod

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dstar26t

Fire Starter
Original poster
Nov 9, 2015
62
62
Ridley Park, PA
I had some friends come in from out of town in September and wanted to feed everyone some slow cooked meat.  There were about 20 of us.  I searched on here for something big and found the CLOD.  Took a trip to Jetro (Restaurant Depot) and they had a 23 lb'er...massive thing it was.  Perfect.


I was excited to run the new Oklahoma Joe Longhorn that I picked-up the weekend prior.  I had only done a dry run and then some beef back ribs on it.  For the dry run, we had some friends over and made a party of it.  Running a cooker with only wood was new to me and I enjoyed it immensely.  So much so that my wife found me asleep on the deck by the cooker at 2am.  I guess the chair just wasn't comfortable enough or maybe the Stagg Jr. had something to do with it.

Anyway, looking back at my notes, I dry brined the thing wrapped in plastic for 24 hours with 1/4 cup kosher salt.  Then slathered it with EVOO and sprinkled with coarse black pepper by eye.  Got the cooker heated up with 14 month seasoned Red Oak and put the Clod on fat side up at 5:30 pm on a Friday night.  



I was able to hold it between 225 and 275ºF for most of the cook.  This cook really taught me a lot about tending the fire.  How many and what size of logs to use and how to place them.  Good learning experience, more so than the dry run.


I read on here it can be cooked to medium but I wanted pulled beef and sliced beef reminiscent of brisket.  2 for 1 type of deal for variety.  After 8 hours, it was 153ºF IT and I flipped it.  After 11.5 hours, it was 155ºF IT.  Stall anyone?  After another 2 hours it was 156ºF and had plenty of bark so I wrapped it in butcher paper.



After 18 hours total, some spots were 180ºF and some were 166ºF still.  After 23 hours, the end seemed pullable so it came off and into a faux cambro for 2 hours until dinner.

I don't know what it is about that first cut with the juices and the steam but man it's pleasurable.  I cut the end off and pulled it easily.  Then sliced into the rest.  This hunk of meat made me realize I need a bigger knife!  Ordered a Dexter 13463 the following Monday.  We made sandwiches with coleslaw and Johnny's Au Jus and pigged out (cowed out?) on beef.


Pardon the coleslaw...must have fallen off the sandwich.


Hardest part of this cook was deciding when to switch from beer to coffee and then back to beer.  Hope you enjoyed the story!

Nate
 
Nice , Nate ! ! ! :drool It had to taste good , and I'm sure there was enough for all ( and maybe some leftovers :confused:

I enjoyed the fact that you liked the "babysitting" , a truly relaxing activity for true Stick Burners !

Now since you've cut your teeth on a smaller unit , you'll sone be looking for a bigger Smoker :biggrin: I got what I could afford when I moved to Ohio :

After several years I began to cook more and more , and decided I needed a larger unit :icon_eek: . I had to beg SWMBO to order my Tejas . Patience paid off and I recieved my new honest to goodness Stich Burner :


Now I have room for most anything , but it cost me all my Father's day , Birthday and Christmas , for life :frown:

Thanks for the look and think BIG !

Later . . .
 
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Rarely do we get a chance to slow down between all the tasks we fill our lives with.  It's almost a luxury to be able to stop, think and reflect with some alone time.  Especially when you have kids.  I traded sleep for mental health, haha.  Just have to throw a log on every 15-30 minutes.
 
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Beauty hunk of beef there, Nate.

Nice smoke...
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Really nicely done, love that you took pictures. Its hard to remember in the beginning.

You'll learn when you swap to coffee to add a bit of snake bite medicine to it. Makes that bright morning sun a bit easier to appreciate.

Nice looking smoke!
 
Nice Job,  great smoke ring  looks mighty Tasty   
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Gary
 
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