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Baltimore PIT BEEF; Great results from a cheap cut!

KiterTodd
KiterTodd Posts: 2,466
in EggHead Forum
I've been wanting to make Baltimore Pit Beef for a while and @anton 's post sealed the deal!  So a big thanks to him first off. 
I took his advice and went over to the amazing ribs website and followed their lead.

I live near Baltimore and at every outdoor event (concerts, fairs, markets, etc) there is always someone making pit beef and there is usually a big line to get a $12 sandwich which rarely lives up to my expectations.  Every once in a while I get one that is great, but usually, it's just bland tough meat with horseradish sauce.  I don't get it.  The truck cooking it smells great, but that's the most I get out of it.

But I figured this was a good cook for the egg.  I've got the fatty marbled meat cooks pretty repeatable now (pork shoulder, beef brisket, ribs) and some chicken. But I wasn't sure what to expect with a large cheaper cut of meat.  This was $2.69/lbs in Costco.  That's pretty cheap for beef around me so if I can do this right, it may be a new summer party cook for me! 

I used the amazing ribs recipe pretty dead on, except I didn't inject the meat and I had slightly different ingredients on hand for the rub (Mrs. O'leary's Cow Crust).  But it was mostly the same.  I did a dry brine for 12 hours.  Then I put the rub paste on which sat there for another 8 hours.  Before cooking, I put on the reserved dry rub that I had.  It's the first time I've done large cut on the egg that wasn't all sloppy with not only it's own external fat, but also all the wet slop we put into the rub (mustards, vinegars, oils, etc..).  This was pretty clean looking!

Bought a 9.4lbs BEEF ROUND TIP WHOLE USDA CHOICE.

Clockwise you have (trimmed, wrapped for dry brine, after dry brine, rubbed with the paste)


Put this on the grill and was shooting for 225 indirect, but since my seal needs replaced (it leaks) I was only able to get it to hold closer to 250.  In about 3.5 hours I hit 115 degrees internal and I made my way out for a reverse sear.  Since I've only done overnights, I was a little shocked by what I saw when I opened the grill.  I was expecting a black meteorite I guess...or sort of anyway, but it looked pretty much like it did when I put it in there!

After some poking I discovered, the outside was a very firm red and the bottom had some char marks on it from the grates, but otherwise it certainly didn't look ready to serve.  Anyway, having faith.  I went on with the reverse sear. 

Meat at the start of the cook (top), after the cook (bottom), but before the sear.

The sear!  I didn't pull my stone.  When I opened up the vents the temp came up and with it some flames around the side so I think it was for the better.  I would have had some flare up issues on the meat if I didn't have the stone to protect it.  The high temps did the job.  I turned it a few times, developed a nice char, and pulled when it hit 130.  The recipe recommended 125, but somewhere in the comments it said just don't go beyond 135.  I didn't want it tough, but I knew the crowd eating it likes MR to M.

Pic of the meat after the reverse sear.   Damn this looked and smelled great.  And when I licked my fingers, no complaints there either. 


It looked awesome after the reverse sear.  It took all my power to not cut into that charred, juicy, awesome smelling roast.  I checked temp around the meat and everything was 122 to 132, with most spots at 129.  So I think that part came out fine for me.  It sat on the counter for a bit while I did some chores and then I foiled it heavily, added a little beef stock, poured in any juices that collected on the pan...and stuck it in the fridge!

Best thing would have been to FTC that and serve it the same day, but I was cooking ahead for family holiday party the next day.   Asked some tips in THIS thread and decided to keep it whole, wrap it, refrigerate, and heat it up the next day.  Well, the next day I was at someone else's house, with a broken thermometer, and less time than I had planned, so I wasn't sure what'd I'd get.  I had planned on a slow warm up in the oven, but I only had 2 hours so I started it in a 225 oven and slowly ramped the temp up to 350 as snack time was approaching.  I had one of those slow inaccurate analog meat thermometers and pulled it when it seemed that the center was in the 130s.

I followed the amazing ribs recipe of slicing it very thin, against the grain and I laid it down in a warm casserole dish that had the au jus in it (1/2 beef stock and 1/2 juice from the tin foil wrap).  IT WAS KILLER!!!  I wish I'd taken a picture of it all sliced and laid out in the pan cuz it really looked nice.

Served it on rolls with horseradish sauce (1/2 mayo, 1/2 horseradish, dash of white pepper and ground chipolte).  Meat had a great flavor, smoke flavor was there (I use Apple chunks) but was not overpowering.  So you could really taste the beef flavor also.

Here's it mid slice;


As you could imagine, the tip was MW and when I got to the center it was very MR.   That shot above is about 1/4 way into the carve.

I couldn't believe the smoke ring I had for such a short cook on the egg.   I guess what you guys have said is true, that the smoke ring/flavor occurs at the beginning of the cook when the meat is cooler.

Everybody loved it.  Kids & adults.  Wasn't too spicy, had great flavor, and the horseradish sauce gave just the right bite combined with the warm meat served out of the au jus.

This was served as a late night heavy snack after a full day of eating so I still have half of the roast unsliced.   I'll see how it is for sandwiches and I suppose slice and freeze the rest of it.   It'd make great steak sandwiches (cheese steak style) among other things.

One note, they were 100% correct on the need to slice it thin, almost shaved.  It was very tender and easy to eat.  but I cut a thick slice and decided to eat it myself while carving and that was tough.  So, I think this will go in the rotation.  Nice to know I can make something memorable from a cheap cut of meat.  :plus_one:  


The only picture I took of served food.  Poor light, but you get the idea...



Thanks for reading and sorry for the length!  :blush: 
LBGE/Maryland
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