Beef Shoulder?

EggZona

Getting pork shoulder around here is hit and miss sometimes. I stopped by a Smart & Final store to see if they carried them and they did. $1.67lb. Not Bad. I also ran accross about a 15# BEEF shoulder. I have just began playing with beef roasts and was wondering was the concensus was on using such a cut for shredding. I have searched on the forum but most discussions are pretty dated.

Great news is that I was on my way to the office and couldn't buy them at that time so when I left for the evening I stopped by and they had marked down the ones that were expiring that day by 25%! Picked up 2 pkgs of pork and the big beef!

Hoss

I saw a show on BBQ University where Steve cooked a boneless beef shoulder called a "clod".It looked awesome.

fishlessman

search for clod, you saw a smaller one. they low and slow to pulled beef, you need higher internals than pork when cooking, they get tender around 210 to 215, i foil around 185. with beef i use a water pan under the grill, only time i use water in the pan is for shredded beef. they are a messier pull, more fat and grizzle to remove than a butt. for flavor they are better than the chuck roll but the chuck roll is a cleaner pull. either way its a good piece of meat.

Richard Fl

This might give you some additional thoughts.

Beef, Roast, Clod, Shoulder

Boys & Girls,Here's the report on the #114 clod shoulder clod:

Procedure:
1 The clod was very tender and moist. I used my Forschner roast beef knive to slice it. A sharp knife is a must to slice this cut of beef when cooked to the tender stage. The connective tissue that connects the two large muscle groups were very tender and not offensive.
2 This cut of beef reminds me of a bottom round and chuck roast combination, for it has a few stringy sections as well as a lot of solid packed, non stringy sections. It taste more like a roast, even though it was smoked for a long time and under constant smoke most of the time. However, it had a wonderful rich beefy flavor.
3 The down side to me is that it is so thick that good smoke penetration way down deep is not possible. Cutting it in half would probably contribute greatly to the smoke flavor, and I don't think any ill effects would occur from doing this.
4 Make sure you have a good pair of heat resistant gloves when removing this large cut of meat from your smoker, or a very large spatula to slip under it. A pizza peel would work great
5 "Hey Danny. Now how would this compare profit wise with packer brisket? Could a guy make more selling these things than he could briskets? That be comparing the respective wholesale prices..yield..etc. I figger out the math muhself of course..but I think I left my slide rule in my other pair of bib overhauls."
6 My meat supplier quoted me #114 Clods at $1.14 lb. and Choice IBP Briskets at .99 lb. for this week. Considering the yield of a brisket vs. the bit higher yield of the clod, the real world price per ounce is fairly close, with the brisket having a slight edge of about .01 cent per ounce. However, the clod is much easier to slice and work with.
Bigwheel:
1 "On another note. Seems like I heard you say one time your pit keeps a real high humidity level cause of the large amounts of meat you do at once. Sorta confirming this after a tour of Dickeys..which uses the large commercial pits too..not sure of the brand..but it did seem mighty wet in there..and the fella swore he didnt use no water. Now would this moist environment be something us shade tree Q'ers need to be trying to duplicate on our home pits? Like perhaps introducing a water pan on a log burner? Notice some of the high dollar cookoff pits use this feature. For instance a person I know got a pit which holds 50 gallons in some type container under the cooking grates. Now I makeshifted and tried this a time or two on Fred..and it sure did add some moisture and moderated the temp way to the low sides.. but feel like it cut back on the flavor quite a bit..and the bark was non-existent. Whats a mother to do on a deal like this?"
Danny:
1 Procedure:
2 The high humidity levels will be hard to duplicate on pits that don't naturally cook that way. True, I did once say that cooking large amounts of meats in the cooking chamber produces much more natural humidity than just cooking a few pieces. And this is very true. Ten 10 lb. briskets will produce about 40 lbs. of moisture in one form or another. However, the lay out design of ones pit and its' efficiency is what holds the natural moisture and humidity in the pit. I know that lots of folks feel that by being able to attain a cooking temperature of 225-250 degrees with a two log fire in an 8 ft long pit is quite a feat. However, my pit attains this also...but the cooking chamber is about 2 1/2 to 3 times larger. Now that's efficiency, and it makes a big difference in retaining the humidity in the cooking chamber. Why? Because a fire that small in a cooking chamber that large has a very low air draw (draft) throught the pit and stack, therefore allowing the humidity and moisture to stay in there and play with the meat a lot longer. Plus the draft doesn't just go from one side to the other, pounding the meat with the hot draft, like most off-set rigs. In my store pit, the air draft goes to the top of the pit, then rolls forward to the front doors, then out the bottom. It operates on the down-draft principle. The meat is, in a way, circled in a halo of heat and smoke. I call it a soft heat vs. the harsher heat flow of a lot of pits. One can add a water pan to their pit, and it certainly doesn't hurt anything. However, I've seen it do absolutely no good in most off-set wood burning pits because the hot air draft travels straight through the pit and up the stack, carrying the humidity from the water pan with it. It just doesn't have enough time to hang around long enough to do any good, plus it's path is too direct and simple.
3 Being able to hold onto the natural humidity that is created by the meats is the real secret, vs. trying to artificially create it. It's by far the best way. That way, you create a naturally beautiful, tasty bark, a great meat texture, and superb flavor.
Danny
1 Danny Gaulden responding to Tom - 7/20/01
2 Tom,
3 Clods are very good to bbq. I recommend the No. 114 whole clod (more flavorful). Best size clod to use is 15 to 18 lbs. out of a 600 to 700 lb. carcass. Cook just like you would a brisket...225-250 degrees at cooking grate. Cook till fork tender, which should take anywhere from 10 to 14 hours. They can be sliced or chopped, or one can do a combination of both with this large cut of beef.
4 Danny


Recipe Type
Beef

Recipe Source
Source: BBQ List, Danny Gaulden, 1998/03/06

Raw weight: 20.3 lbs.

After Cooked Wt: 11.5 lbs. (57% yield, 43% shrinkage).

Actual yield for Serving Table after cooked and trimmed of fat...9.6 lbs. (47%).

Cooking temperatures: 225-250 degrees with a couple of short term spikes to 265.

Cooking Time: 14 hours, 15 min.

Internal temperature when pulled from pit: 180 degrees.