Chuck Roasts

[dmouck]

I got my Smokenator in the mail this past week, and I'm ready to give it a go! I'm excited, as the closest I've done to "low and slow" is to cook two chickens indirectly for about an hour (and add bbq sauce).

So I've decided to cook a couple of chuck roasts. They seem pretty simple to do, and look like they could cook up nicely.

I found this page hogwildbbq.blogspot.com/2007/08/chuck-roast-pulled-beef-barbecue.html of someone who did one and it looked pretty good. Does anyone else have any tips on cooking them?

I have mesquite chunks on-hand or I could get hickory. Not sure which would be better...

Thanks! I will keep you posted on how it goes.

Darryl

[dmouck]

well, I did it! My first spin with the Smokenator, and it worked like a charm.

I saw in another post that bigsteve also did some chuck roasts this weekend! Great minds think alike ;D Here's a link to his post: smokenatorforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=89&page=1

So anyways, here's my my cook went!



I had two chuck roasts, probably 3-4 pounds each. We seasoned 'em up nice from the link I mentioned in my first post (basically I tried to follow his recipe). Brought it up to 235 and put it on, along with a couple chunks of mesquite.

There were a few temperature fluctuations here and there, but part of that is getting used to the airflow of my weber (p.s. those binder clips work perfectly by the way). Here's a pic of it a few hours in, when the temp was around 125-130:





Looking pretty good! I had my thermometer wrong and foiled it about 10º sooner than I should have. I ended up cooking it for too low for most of the time (190-230 at the dome when I should have been about 250) so it took 7 hours. The temp only got up to 172, so I got tired of waiting and pulled it. Here's the final product:




I wasn't sure why everyone was cooking it to 200, and now I understand because mine didn't shred as easily as I would have liked.

I must say, the Smokenator is idiotproof. It did take me awhile to figure out the temperature fluctuations, as well as the heat spikes and dips when you open and close the lid. But it worked like a charm. To get 7 hours of cooking I added 8 coals at hour 4, and 12 coals at hour 5. I had contemplated throwing them in hot, but they did fine this way.

I'm looking forward to trying other meats on here, as well as trying different woods. My wife was leery about me using any wood, because the only experience we had in the past was when I put WAY too many hickory chips on some chicken and made it bitter. The mesquite was a nice flavor!

So for my first smoking experience and my first time using the smokenator, I say job well done!

Darryl

[lytefly]

Looking good dmouck! I just read bigsteve's thread and have to try a chuck roast. You will get better and better with the smokenator the more you use it. It will become a non-issue to manage and you can concentrate on recipes.

I see you have a meat probe. Do you have a thermometer at the grate? I easily average 40-60 degrees less at the grate (food) than the dome temp. This varies from grill to grill. Once I started cooking by the temp at the grate, life has been good because I took the guess work out of exactly what temp the food is cooking at. It made a huge difference in my results.

[bigsteve]

Looks great Dmouck! I love my smokenator. I don't even know why I bought it, because I was using a Brinkman bullet smoker with great success. But the Smokenator is so much better over all, I stopped using the Brinkman altogether.

Pulled Pork is easy and works great with the Smokenator too. Don't hesitate to try it.

[bigsteve]

I'm looking forward to trying other meats on here, as well as trying different woods. My wife was leery about me using any wood, because the only experience we had in the past was when I put WAY too many hickory chips on some chicken and made it bitter. The mesquite was a nice flavor!

Mesquite is pretty good with beef. But it can over-power other meats with more subtle flavor. I use Hickory with most pork, sometimes with some Apple mixed in. I did Pork Loin chops tonight over just Apple, it was really good. Pecan is also good with Beef, and many other meats. A bit stronger than Apple, but not in the league of Mesquite either.

[dmouck]

Aug 30, 2009 20:16:35 GMT -5 lytefly said:

I see you have a meat probe. Do you have a thermometer at the grate? I easily average 40-60 degrees less at the grate (food) than the dome temp. This varies from grill to grill. Once I started cooking by the temp at the grate, life has been good because I took the guess work out of exactly what temp the food is cooking at. It made a huge difference in my results.

I actually was using that probe to read the meat temperature. I think I remember the manual saying that the grill was 20º cooler than the dome, and I guess I just trusted it. But that's a good point about double-checking. Before I put some meat on next time, I'll lay the probe on the grill surface and see what it reads.

Darryl

[milehismoke]

Nice job with the "chuck" and thanks for sharing your experience. You've inspired me to try my hand with this cut of meat, too.

[dmouck]

Definitely do, milehismoke! I would say that it's hard work, but the Smokenator did all the work while I sat there with my favorite beverage and watched it! ;D

Here are some tips where I went wrong that might help you:

• Don't spice your rub AND your sauce unless you want the overall taste to be REALLY hot!
  
• Keep the dome temp around 250-275. I let mine cook too long for too low. It would have made it there eventually, but you'll be hungry long before that (especially if you like to let it sit a long time after removing it from the grill).
  
  

Well, maybe I didn't do that much wrong. I used mesquite and it gave it a nice flavor. Other more "seasoned" vets will probably have a better wood for you to use, but I guess it depends on your preference.

Enjoy! And include pics so we can all look at the end result!

Darryl