Cooking Shoe Leather on the Egg

Chris Marksberry · September 2004

I bought an on-sale chuck roast at Kroger which was quite large so it was divided into three roasts.[p]Braised one of the roasts for a number of hours but it came out like shoe leather. Really bad and normally I'm pretty good at braising tough cuts.[p]Today my husband is doing an experiment on the BGE to see if he can get better results. He had me make my traditional marinade and it's now marinating in the Foodsaver thingie (technical term).[p]Plans to put the chuck roast (only weighs about 1-1/2 lb) on the BGE and do a long and slow cook for about plus or minus four hours on the Egg. He's going to be doing it at about 225-250 degrees. We'll see...[p]Chris "the cynical" in Pearland, TX

WessB · September 2004

Chris Marksberry,
I just did that exact ting this past weekend...250° grid temp with the guru to an internal of 190°..dont remember the time as there were other things going on at the same time..the end result was a pulled beef of sort..we enjoyed it..I would have to say as a guess it took longer than 4 hours tho....HTH[p]Wess

BBQfan1 · September 2004

WessB,
We've recently started doing 'pulled beef' using the whole chuck arm roast and we've been really pleased with the results. The whole untrimmed roasts have consistently been in the 20-22 lb range, so they are big, but I think cooking the whole piece, as opposed to a trimmed-down chuck roast or rolled chuck roast is the way to go. The extra fatty sheath over the heart of a chuck roast is what does the 'basting' during the cook. This extra-muscular fat isn't overly tasty, unlike the intra-muscular marbling of a strip loin or t-bone for example, so you need to render as much away as possible, so a 195-210 internal seems to work better for us. We also wrap it at 165-170 to help in the breakdown as well and strained and defatted juices from the foil are great mixed in with the finished pulled beef. Like a brisket, the meat has a really rich beef flavor (and I'm sure those strained juices help out in this area too). The whole 20 lb piece is slow to break down though and we usually allow 24 hrs at 240-250 grid for this baby to render out.
Qfan

jwitheld · September 2004

Chris Marksberry,
be aware that different parts of the chuck will have different qualities. This is why its good to be on terms with your butcher.
My butcher Dale when i am purchasing meat will often ask if there is room on the grill for his. He does give me preferential treatment on quality and price, and his mother cant get enough pulled pork.

katman · September 2004

Chris Marksberry,
I did a low and slow @235 with the guru a couple of weeks ago. My piece of chuck was about 3.5 pounds. Never thought it was going to get done but I was testing it like a piece of brisket--stick the fork in a turn for tenderness at about 190 internal. Just didn't work for this cut of meat. Left it on for probably 2 hours per pound (maybe a bit more).
took it off the grill when I figured I would probably have to toss it or use in stew. Then, I tried shredding it and it fell apart. Was tasty enough to use in sandwiches and made some great chili.

Chris Marksberry · September 2004

jwitheld,[p]I made a semi-big mistake. Normally we either use a butcher down the street or to get prime we go to HEB which is for the most part only in Texas.[p]Husband just said he thought the chuck roast currently cooking on the BGE is going to be tough, but it still has some time to go.[p]We'll see...[p]Chris the Texas tightwad

Car Wash Mike · September 2004

Chris Marksberry,
Sounds like my first brisket. Good luck,[p]CWM

Gfw · September 2004

<p />Chris Marksberry, check out the link. Pulled Beef is one of my favorites :~}[p]
[ul][li]Pulled Beef[/ul]

Borders · September 2004

Qfan, very interesting and worth a try. A couple questions:[p]Should I ask the butcher for a "whole chuck arm roast"?[p]What wood are you using for smoke?[p]How and when do you strain and defat juices?[p]Thanks, Scott[p]

Cooking Shoe Leather on the Egg

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