Pulled beef chuck roast (with pics)

KevinH · June 2007

Pulled Beef -- June 2, 2007[p]After reading a number of posts on the site, I decided a couple of days ago to try pulled beef when I had a good chance. By provenance, I found a 2.77 lb. choice chuck roast (boneless) on sale for 2.99/lb. at Publix Friday night. A good start so far.[p]Around noon, I took the roast out of the fridge and started preparation. The beer is for the cook, not the beef.[p]

[p]I sliced two garlic cloves into slivers and stuffed into the chuck roast. Then I rubbed a mixture of chili powder, freshly ground black pepper, kosher salt, dried thyme, and a little onion powder on both sides of the roast. Next, I rubbed it with olive oil. Then it was back into the fridge for a few minutes while I got the large BGE ready.[p]I cleaned out the fire box and added about 5 lbs of B&B hardwood lump. It’s really good, dense lump charcoal for a cheap price at Wally World -- when you can get it. After lighting the fire starter and getting the lump going well, I spread out the coals and added two small chunks of hickory (down to the bottom of the bag, or I might have used more). My setup was a plate setter, with a drip pan and Tom’s excellent stainless steel grid on top. Once the temp stabilized at 250 degrees dome temp, I put the meat on the egg. You can see the remote thermometer sticking out of the roast. I’m shooting for an internal temp of 195-200 degrees, but I will begin using the fork test at 180 degrees.[p]

[p]The meat reached a plateau around 147 degrees after about 2 hours. Now, I had to be patient. A gin & bitter lemon was in order. Mmmm.[p]Once the meat finally broke out of the plateau, I ramped the temperature up to 300 degrees. After a total of 8 hours, the roast finally reached 180 degrees. I was surprised that it took so long. It wasn’t quite fork tender, but I was starving and it was getting pretty late. (picture taken before it got dark, but this is about what it looked like at the end)[p]

[p]I pulled the beef using a couple of forks (and my fingers once it cooled) and tossed with a little BBQ sauce. This is what it looked like:[p]

[p]It probably needed to cook a little longer to become more tender, but the flavor was pretty good. It also went well with my eggs at breakfast this morning. Pulled beef was a worthy experiment for a change of pace, but I think pulled pork is just as good and much cheaper.[p]-Kevin

gdenby · June 2007

KevinH,[p]I've tried pulled beef a couple of times, doing much the same thing as you did. I too was amazed at how long it took to finish, and have always eaten it before it was really done. There's an alternative way described by ClayQ, that uses a Dutch oven at the end to get the meat up above 200. If/when I try pulled beef again, I'll at least try foiling it to finish.[p]And the Spaten Optimator made it taste that much better, I'm sure![p]gdenby

KevinH · June 2007

gdenby,[p]ClayQ's recipe was one of those that I read before starting this project. I decided that it was just more complicated / more work that I wanted to deal with. Maybe that level of commitment is what's required to obtain the desired result.[p]Maybe next time the chuck roasts go on sale, I will try it. I wouldn't have minded having a bone-in chuck roast, because I think the bone helps the flavor and texture of the cook. However, at $2.99/lb. for boneless choice it was too good to pass up. Maybe if I could find bone-in for a reasonable price next time ...

Pulled beef chuck roast (with pics)

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