chuck roast help needed please.....

dougcrann

Have a 5.1 pound chuck roast that I want to smoke on one of our Eggs. Unsure at this point if we want to slice or pull it. After my brisket failure beginning to wonder if I should just stick with pork butts and spare ribs. Previous 4 chuck roasts all were semi failures. Cooked to varying temps, all over 190*. Thanks to me being relatively new to this I have yet to develop the “feel” for the probe method. Anyhow, all the previous chuckies were dry. None were foiled....until they hit the cooler. So how does one go about getting a juicy chuck roast? I have been doing a it of reading....so far I have seen folks say to cook at a low temperature, no higher than 200*. Have seen some folks say to run it at 275*. See folks foiling as low as 135*, or as high as 175*. Then of course there is the no foil crew. Some of the foilers use no liquid....while some use upwards of 6 oz of any particular liquid. Have 0 troubles getting a pork butt juicy. Chuck rolls....well.... Have done enough reading that the only thing I have managed to do is confuse myself. I understand that everyone has there own ways of smoking....just looking to find one that works for me.

nolaegghead

A chuck roast is a nasty mix of lean and fatty meat, with connective tissue separating the mess.  If the goal is fool-proof tasty food, I would recommend getting a good fire and smoke, then putting it on cold with some salt and pepper, smoking for a few hours then transferring it to a dutch oven and braising it the rest of the way.  IMO trying to low and slow it on the egg the whole way, while it can work, is the long road to a good chuck roast dish.  On other smokers it has a higher success rate.  If you can find a prime, very fatty and marbled piece of chuck, your odds for a 100% low and slow chuck roast will increase significantly.

Sardonicus

^ +1
We just did a low and slow chuck roast this Sunday and can attest that NOLAEggHead is 100% correct.
Even with braising (beef broth and a li'l onion soup mix), that is one looong cook.  You'd need the patience of Job to do it entirely L & S, IMO.

SmokeyPitt

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

Winner every time. 

byrne092

Yep +1 on the pepper stout beef.

fishlessman

for pull, 235 dome, wrap at 180 internal with 2 tblsp seltzer water, take off egg at 210 internal minimum,pull and add sauce as it will never be as moist tasting as pulled pork but its still very good. dont use more liquid in the foil stage as it will turn into a mushy potroast. if you go the pot roast route dont cover the meat with liquid, just half way up the roast, flip once during the cook and let the bark form on top, i dont cover the dutch when doing potroast because i like the bark to get crunchy
pulled beef

THEBuckeye

Cast Iron at 330 (simmer temp) for 5-6 hours. To die for. 

Sweet100s

fishlessman said:

for pull, 235 dome, wrap at 180 internal with 2 tblsp seltzer water, 

@fishlessman , You put the seltzer water ... on top of the roast? 

mahenryak

I have now done two successful cooks following the method in the following discussion.  The first cook was a little under done to my likeness when I pulled at around 203, but still very good.  The second cook was as close to the perfect doneness as I could hope for--I did not want shredded or pulled consistency, but did want it to be very tender--and I pulled it at 210.  Note: I only raised it to 325 in the final stage.

Hat tip @Grillmagic :
http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1180657/got-a-chuckie-on#latest

henapple

Most frown on wrapping in hdaf... I think it helps. You'll get no more smoke at a certain temp and I think it makes it tender, quicker.