Pulled Beef

pantsypants

Going to do pulled beef for a party for 40
Is it right to just treat it like I would a pork butt ?

Little Steven

Not sure but I think you smoke it and then braise it.

pantsypants

I know that for Barabacoa you would , I was hoping that I could just slow cook the whole thing as my Dutch oven  wont fit all that meat in there and the bigger dutch oven  I have wont fit in the egg .....

fishlessman

i wrap it with foil at 180 and continue the cook up to 210 internal

Little Steven

I can lend you one if you want. I may be wrong about the braise as well.

pantsypants

i have one that is big enough for the oven. I can just transfer it there .
Brasing I know is for Barbacoa , not sure if its needed for pulled beef ,
although i pulled a recipe off the old forum and it called for a braise

fishlessman

heres a cook i did along time ago, if you add liquid to the foil keep it under a couple tablspoons or it gets potroasty, you really dont need the liquid but it does seem to help when you pull it. ive settled on 210 for an internal, 205 wasnt enough texture wise.

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/103156/x/p1

pantsypants

@fishlessman

this looks great !! I am serving 35 people and thinking about 20lbs ?
what are your thoughts on this ? and also what kind of cook time am I looking at ?

fishlessman

its been a while but i think about 10 hours for a 7 to 8 pounder.  you need a big piece, if the chuck is cut in smaller pieces you would probably need to braise it like clayq's method. dont know how long a whole chuck roll would take but they are 22 to 24 pounds there abouts before timming off the outer flaps and you could get some sliceable meat as well as the pull. seems to me nature boy did a cook similar with the whole beef clod and could give you a better time estimate

pantsypants

thanks ,
I am thinking it may be smarter to do three 8 pounders than one big piece

fishlessman

heres a cook by olddave that used to post here years ago using the size pieces found in the regular supermarkets, would be easy to do a trial run with one of these. scroll down near the bottom

http://olddavespo-farm.blogspot.com/search/label/Pulled Beef

pantsypants

this is helpfull thanks  !

pantsypants

Do you think you could do this "turbo " or should be low and slow ?

SmokeyPitt

This is a really great recipe:

http://wolfepit.blogspot.com/2009/10/pepper-stout-beef.html

It is basically a smoke and braise.  I use a little less liquid than called for in the recipe.  Basically I just cover the veggies and the bottom of the pan.  

pantsypants

oh that looks amazing

grege345

Ya I'm gonna bookmark that @SmokeyPitt‌ chuck has been my nemesis

R2Egg2Q

The pepper stout beef cook has been pretty popular here. If you search on Pepper Stout you'll get quite a few posts and see some variations in the beer and recipe.

I highly recommend it.

pantsypants

sounds great

DMW

I've taken a section of beef clod, applied rub and smoked it like a butt with no foil, pans, etc. I find it takes a bit longer than a butt and you need to take it to a higher IT. I've also done ClayQ's pulled beef. Both are great.

pantsypants

@DMW
 can you do this turbo do you think ? or would you recommend keeping it low and slow ?

DMW

pantsypants said:

@DMW
 can you do this turbo do you think ? or would you recommend keeping it low and slow ?

Sorry, not sure. I haven't tried turbo for beef. I would guess it would depend on how beef fat renders.

KenfromMI

Low and slow........There is a pretty good tutorial with pictures on Virtualweberbullet.com  Go to your butcher and ask for a full Clod to feed a crowd.  

pantsypants

Thanks for the link .

thats some good info !

Mattman3969

Low & slow until 160-170 then wrap in HDAF then raise temp to 325-350, cook till 210ish or buttah tender.
I have tried the 1st phase at 300-325 and I will not do that again. Texture was off, not nearly as moist and hard to pull. Will not do it that way again.
This was with 2-4lb chuckies.

pantsypants

Awesome thanks .
Next question ...... Should I do 1 20lb chuck blade roast ? Or four 5 pounders ?

Mattman3969

I have never done a blade roast so @DMW would be the guy on that. All of mine have been in the 3-4lb. That's about the biggest we get around here.

DMW

Here's a thread on the beef clod I got:

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1157556/22lb-beef-clod-and-17lbs-of-port-butt#latest

And here's one of the cooks I did with a clod section and pork butt side by side:

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1157705/pork-butt-and-beef-clod#latest

And, these were before I learned how to properly insert images on the forum, so you'll need to click on the thumbnails.

I divided it to 3 sections, just because I had no need to cook it whole at once. In looking at the pic, the one "thick" section is fairly uniform, the "tail" is not as thick. If I wanted to do the whole thing at once, I would probably cut off the thinner section, as it will probably cook faster. The other whole thing would probably take as much time as if it was split in half. With these large cuts, the thickness will determine cook time more than weight.

pantsypants

@DMW
Thanks !! i am going to message you tomorrow i think to pick your brain,
I have 4 lb chuck roast in the fridge as a test run this weekend ,

DMW

pantsypants said:

@DMW
Thanks !! i am going to message you tomorrow i think to pick your brain,
I have 4 lb chuck roast in the fridge as a test run this weekend ,

Sure, no problem. My advice tonight may be of suspect quality.

pantsypants

@DMW
So would you say to just cook the whole 20 lb piece or cut it up into 3 pieces like you did ?

my concern would be time I am sure that the whole piece would take about 20hours which is fine although if it went over that i would be stressed

DMW

pantsypants said:

@DMW
So would you say to just cook the whole 20 lb piece or cut it up into 3 pieces like you did ?

my concern would be time I am sure that the whole piece would take about 20hours which is fine although if it went over that i would be stressed

If the whole piece is the same thickness throughout, it will probably cook in the same time as if you separated it, unless when after dividing it is not longer than it is high. It can't hurt to split it, you will get more bark. What cut are you planning to use?