Chuck question- 3rd eye? GG? others?

Chuck is a low-and-slow cut; braising is the best way for my taste. 250-300 dome (you want the DO liquid...50-50 wine (cab or merlot) and water works well ...to stay at a bare simmer, say 205-210 degrees.) Add a mirepoix (50% onion, 25% carrots, 25% celery, all coarsely chopped), S&P the meat to taste before you grill it, or better, sear it in the DO since you don't want to get the egg too hot. Cook until fork tender...that means you stick a fork in it and pull the fork out, it won't lift the meat. Around 200 internal. Takes about 2-1/2 to 3 hours for the collagen to convert. My guess is you cooked the second one too fast and pulled it too soon...what was the dome temp?

Edit...leave the lid ON the DO. And enough liquid to come about 1/2 way up the sides is plenty. If you do with lid off, you'll need to cover the meat completely, and keep topping off with water.

Hey Al,

Good question.....well, good timing anyway. I did some chuckies today myself. I'm thinking your "very lean" description may be the problem. You didn't say how big they were, but you want to cook bombers if you can. 3 pound minimum and up to 8 pounds ones are the way to go. (I buy the 20 pound chuck rolls and cut them myself).




I usually flavor smoke them to 150° then do a foil (with liquid) or braise finish in a slow roaster or in the oven just because the results are so predictable. But today, I went back to an old school cook and did them like a brisket flat because I wanted a sliced product. Seasoned with only salt/pepper/cayenne I started them at 225°, then added Montreal seasoning on the first turn. After hour 2, I started using my salt water mop every hour. At about 5 hours, the internal was 175° so I went into a foil pan with a little beef broth, cider vinegar and wooster and continued to cook until the internal was 195. Then I rested them for 2-1/2 hours in a cooler.

The more predictable method is flavor smoking them until 150° internal, then braising until they are as tender as you want them. This way they get some color and flavor.... the pit time is maybe 90 minutes or 2 hours. For the braise, a foil pouch will work, but I get better results from a covered vessel of sorts. You can still do your braising on the Egg, but once something is covered or foiled, the oven works fine for me. When I make a big batch I use an 18 Quart Nesco roaster set at 275°

Here some pictures....

This one was braised in a Dutch oven, looks like there is a can of Rotel tomatoes and some broth in there.



This one was just braised in some broth or maybe some beer and broth



These were braised using my pepper beef recipe from my site. More liquid was used in the top picture.





The salt mop is just that:

10 ounces of water
3T kosher salt
1T cayenne
A few shakes of Wooster
Drizzle of olive oil

Heat the water, add ingredients making sure the salt is dissolved. The water is just the carrier for the other stuff. If you use it on a steak, mop some on 20 minutes before cooking, then use a little after the flip. On bigger whole muscle cuts, use when turning or a few times during the cook. A 10 ounce batch is for some serious cookin', this recipe is so simple you can make a half batch easily.

This isn't exactly pot roast, but it's pretty darn good:

ClayQ's Pulled Beef BBQ

Chuck is one of the most flavorful cuts, but it's tough...it's the shoulder muscle just like pork butt or picnic, so gets a lot of work, and needs low-n-slow cooking until the collagen converts and the meat is very tender. The exception, tenderized by grinding: Chuck makes great hamburger. Just get the fattiest cut you can find for this one (and good marbling won't exactly hurt any other time.)