Chuck roast

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kheper

Newbie
Original poster
Jul 17, 2008
27
10
I have had lousy success with smoking chuck roasts. They end up either dry or tough (or both).

I put a 2lb, boneless chuck roast on the smoker. It was rubbed down with salt, freshly ground New Mexican chile pods, Chile d'arbol pods, and cumin seeds. I figure it will be done in 7 hours.

I'll be making burritos with the thinly sliced roast, using large, flour tortillas, onion rings caramelized in butter, sliced chipotle peppers, green salsa and sour cream. Lettuce and tomato are an option.

I'll try to keep the temperature of the smoker around 200 F to prevent drying it out.
 
I agree, turn them temps up to 240 to 250. I take chuckies to 165 and then foil, back in the smoker and take the chuckies temp up to 205 or so.

I also spritz and add said liquid when foiling.
 
How about if you wrapped it in foil about 3.5 hours in and added some liquid like a little beer or some chipotle sauce or both so it could have the smoke and the simmer you get in a regular oven
 
200* is too cold...you're in the danger zone temp range too long (40-140*), even with a smaller roast like your 2 lb'r. If you will be pulling the meat instead of slicing, take it to 170, then foil...or just foil to rest @ 205* internal. Use a good meat therm or digi probe to check I/T.

Also, be sure you use an accurate temp gauge to monitor cook grate temp to compare with factory thermo. Factory therms are never very accurate.

I've never had a chuckie dry out or be tough...it's a temp thing, not time.

Good luck on this one!

Eric
 
Thanks for the input. I think raising the heat then foiling with a braising liquid for a few hours is a good idea. I'll let it get some bark on it before I foil it.
 
That last two chuck roasts I smoked at 230 and the meat stalled for over 2 hours at 156. I went ahead and foiled and the temps quickly climbed. I checked the meat temp with 3 different probes and all had the same reading.
One I had to pull out at 195, and rested for 30 minutes. The larger of the two cooked till 205 or 210 and sat wrapped at room temp for 2 or 3 hours then into fridge.

Neither were tender enough for pulling, but you could slice em with a butter knife and they were not dry at all. I used a 50/50 mix of Au Jus/BBQ sauce and they were sure tasty.

I think I'm going to read through some of Ronp posts since he seems to use a lot of juice from his smokes, maybe I can get some of his techniques down to make better dripin juice.

I used to braise a pork loin in a mirepoix wine & stock, at the start of each week, and save the liquid for awesome gravies and sauces. So far the dripping juice from my smokes have lacked the depth of flavor braising attains. I know Ronp adds onions and other aromatics to get that flavor, I need to incorporate his techiques.
 
7 hours is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to long for a 2 pounder. Go by temperature not time. I'd take it easy on the salt as well. Smoke it at 220 -250 until it reaches 160 then double wrap it in heavy duty foil and mop it with apple juice before closing the foil. You can put it back on the smoker at that point or into a 250 degree oven until it reaches 205 - 210 internal. At that point I open the foil, mop it again, reduce the smoker temp (or oven) to 200 and let it cook for another 30 minutes. Take it out and wrap in a towel and let rest in a cooler for at least an hour. When you open the foil it will fall apart and the taste will be out of this world. I usually do 4 to 5 pound chuckies like this and IMO the only thing better is a brisket. Good luck and good smokes.
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Thanks for the compliment Dude.
Dude here is what I do. I use a drip pan under whatever I am smoking. If pork or beef I use 3 cups water and the right anount of Tones beef base from Sam's and some thinly sliced onions, if thin enough they will almost disolve when done and mix with the meat and no one will even see them. When doing poultry just use the Tones chicken base instead of the beef. Oh when done pour the juice in a bowl and into the freezer until the fat rises and skim. If you want you can strain the onions out. You can also add other seasonings or spices, but I like to keep it simple and compliment the meat, not over power it.

You can also freeze the liquid gold for other things down the road. I have made some good wild rice and chicken thigh soup like that. Your imagination is endless, split pea soup, navy been soup, and I also made a smoked baked potato soup, yum.
 
You might consider using an overnight marinade. I did a 4 lb. roast this week for sliciimg, at 250°, it was done medium rare in 7 hrs. It was as moist and tender as a Tri Tip. I didn't foil it.
 
What Ron said!!!! I asked Ron awhile back about making aujus and he told me about Tones beef base. It works great!!!! And let your imagination go from there.
Here is a pic of what it is....
 
Everyone here most likely covered all the bases...I'll just add my two cents from last weekend's good experience.

For starters, it was the biggest chuckie that you could find at Kroger around 8 pm on a Saturday...4 1/2 lbs. I think.

Second - cooked at 230 - 250 for 3 hours and then a stall around 150° lasted almost 2 hours!
I was freaking out, thinking that my Taylor temp. gauge went bad
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Finally, the temp took off again - foil/braised at 165 and let it go to 197-98...can't recall for sure, I was buzzed and hungry
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Total smoke time @ an avg. temp of 240° = 8 hours, plus an hour in the cooler. Pulled it then and added a small amount of finishing sauce that included skimmed drippings, a little Worchy sauce and beef broth - plus a few seasonings.

Dinner was late, but it was awesome. The Mrs. had it twice for lunch this week compared to my one lunch...


Result = Yum! A little higher temp, foil and proper cooler time - and you are in chuckie heaven.
 
I would definetly smoke at 230-250 till the chuck is about 165-170 then foile it and take it to about 200-205 and pull it that way it will be more then tender for the burridos. Just make sure that you put some liquid in with your meat before foiling.
 
I smoked the chuck for about 6 hours. It developed a very, very black bark. Then, I foiled it, doused it with 1/2 cup of vino and put it in the oven on the lowest setting for a couple of hours.

The chuck fell apart when drawing a knife through it, it was incredibly juicy and it had a nice smoke ring.

However, I would still like to prepare a chuck with just smoke and no braising.
 
i did 2 3lb chucks last weekend nearly exactly the way you did yours with one exception. i rested mine on the counter in my kitchen at 72 degree room temp. there was alot of juice in the foil and im wondering should that juice be absorbed back into the meat as they were a little dry. does wraping in a towel and resting in a cooler help that much? maybe the slower cooling giving the meat more time to sop it up? also the chuck roasts are practice for my first brisket. the beef rub recipes ive tried are a little to spicy. would anyone care to share a recipe that not so peppery?
 
Thanks for the tip!  Sorry previous message was posted to the wrong thread.
 
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