Fork tender Sous Vide Smoked bourbon Chuck Roast

Village Idiot

The regulars may recall my less-than-stellar performance with my last beef sous vide (short ribs).  It was tender, but pretty tasteless.  To correct this, I may have swung the pendulum in the other direction.  The results were a super tender chuck roast with a great flavor.  It was so tender from the sous vide that I could not cut a full slice with a sharp knife without it falling apart.  The marinate was a beef marinate (Stubb's) and bourbon.  Steps were:

Marinate chuck roast overnight in Stubb's Marinate and bourbon.

Sous Vide at 148 º for 50 hours.

On Egg, smoke with mesquite and hickory chunks at 225º for two hours.  This brought the I.T. up to 170º.

michigan_jason

Looks great VI, good cook!

gdenby

But! this could be the start of perfect Pulled Beef (hereinafter called PB!)

And then, a follow up question. Do you think there is a modification, such as less temperature in the SV, or lower Egg temp that might have left it sliceable?

travisstrick

OH MY LAWD! Looks pretty good. 

NightwingXP

Good God VI. Do you ever cease to impress??? How did it taste?

Eggbertsdad

Nice job, VI!  :-bd

Village Idiot

Thanks, folks.

@gdenby.  I'm no expert by any means, but I think the longer you leave it in the SV, the tenderer it will get (to a point).  For medium, my book called for cooking it at 140 for 12-24 hours.  I cooked it at 148 for 49 hours.

@NightwingXP.  lol. It helps to buy a $400 machine.  It was very tasty.  You could still taste the hint of bourbon, especially in the crust, but the whole roast was tasty.

bigguy136

Gary, you're killing me. Now I have to spend another $400. Looks great. Maybe a summer of learning more on my wok then this.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Nice! Pulling 80 hour short ribs off for dinner and I threw a 2.5 lb prime bone in ribeye with them @ 1:30 for a 6 hr soak. All will be finished with hard sear on the egg. Can't wait.

NightwingXP

Nice! Pulling 80 hour short ribs off for dinner and I threw a 2.5 lb prime bone in ribeye with them @ 1:30 for a 6 hr soak. All will be finished with hard sear on the egg. Can't wait.

If your able please post pics Cen-Tex. Anxious to see!!!

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Nice! Pulling 80 hour short ribs off for dinner and I threw a 2.5 lb prime bone in ribeye with them @ 1:30 for a 6 hr soak. All will be finished with hard sear on the egg. Can't wait.

If your able please post pics Cen-Tex. Anxious to see!!!

oh I will. I'm excited about this one. Hope it turns out. Been slaving over it for 3 days )

FxLynch

VI, thats probably the most impressive thing I've seen off the SV.  Nice work!

scaryangel

Wow i am envious! That looks fantastic.

Newportlocal

Great post. I really need a sous vide now.

Ragtop99

Have you tried this recipe just with the Egg? 

bigguy136

Gary, why the butcher's twine? Was the roast cut or are you using it to hold the shape better? A secret method you have and if you tell me you're going to.......

Always great ideas of what I need to buy and cook

^:)^

Village Idiot

@Ragtop99 Yes, I've done it before only on the egg.  The taste was fantastic, but the meat was a bit tough.  Chuck roasts are tough.  I think I would have needed to cook it more like a brisket, long and slow.  The SV breaks down the collagens much more quickly so it gets tender a lot sooner.

@bigguy136.  I bought it from Whole Foods with the twine on it.  That's probably why they got $5.25 per pound rather than the $3.50 per pound they should have gotten.  

:(

FxLynch

VI, the SV cooked it for 50 hours right? When you say the SV breaks down the collagens much quicker than a low and slow cook, are you referring to not having to smoke it as long in comparison to doing the whole thing on the Egg, and not actual cook time?

Village Idiot

VI, the SV cooked it for 50 hours right? When you say the SV breaks down the collagens much quicker than a low and slow cook, are you referring to not having to smoke it as long in comparison to doing the whole thing on the Egg, and not actual cook time?

Gosh, you're right.  I get confused sometimes.  Cooking it 50 hours is a lot longer than cooking a brisket for 20 hours.  I think it does break down the collagens quicker though, but I'll have to read more to be sure.

FxLynch

In any case, I've never seen a roast look that tender in pics after just being cut.  I'm probably not going to buy an SV any time soon, but I will continue to drool over the pics.  Especially with the Egg family being so impressed, which speaks a lot in my opinion.

Smoker_Guru

Awesome roast, but damn your getting expensive!!

The Cen-Tex Smoker

SV does break down collagens faster, but you cook at much lower temps than low and slow on the egg. A low and slow cook on the egg is 225-275, a low and slow on the SV is at 132. So at the same temp, water is much more efficient and faster. What's cool about SV is that the meat is fork tender at medium rare. You can hold it at a temp for days so you don't have to go to 200 to get it to fork tender. That's the main difference. you can't cook at 130 on the egg and if you could, the meat would dry out long before you could get it tender at those temps. It would be jerky when on the SV it is totally moist and tender.