Pit Beef Question

RhumAndJerk

Apparently, I have been trying to make pit beef for sometime but I am not getting it right. Often times I get close, but something never seems to go right. I say pit beef or as I have been trying pot roast. I am trying for a finished product that is basically pulled moist beef. What I am oing is roasting beef over some vegetables. First, I used an eye of round I knew it was too lean but that is what I had. I am roasting around 325 and shooting for an internal temp of 185. The eye round turned out dry but very edible.[p]On Sunday, I placed a four pound boneless rolled chuck roast on top of some potatoes, carrots, parsnips, golden beets, mushrooms, onions, celery and garlic in a roasting pan. I coated the meat and veggies liberally with DP Cowlick and loosely following Dr. BBQ’s pot roast recipe, some broth mixed with corn starch. It went on around 9:30 AM. I had to server the meal at 3:30 because we had friends over that were starting a long drive and I needed to head to the airport. The internal meat temperature was around 170. I sliced the meat, it was definitely cooked, but it was still a little tough, even some of the veggies were tough.
Again, everything tasted great and I just finished off a piece of pot pie that my made fro the leftovers so flavor is not the issue. [p]My question is on texture, what am I shooting for here? If I know what I am going for, maybe some here can help me. In my mind I am looking for long strands of moist beef, like pulled pork, but beef. [p]Am I expecting the wrong thing or going about it the wrong way?
RhumAndJerk[p]

EdF

Rhum,

Have you tried out Clay's pulled beef recipe in the recipes section? Came out very good when I tried it a few weeks back. Just search on "chuck roast" and you'll find it.

- Ed

RRP

RhumAndJerk,
personally you can't beat ClayQ's pulled beef.
[ul][li]here[/ul]

JSlot

I don't know if it is exactly what you are looking for, Michael, but ClayQ's pulled beef recipe comes out shredded and moist. I add BBQ sauce to the final product, but I think you could add beef stock or a gravy for different flavor if you like. I'm sure you could adapt Clay's procedure and get the results you want. It is definitely time-consuming, but very well worth the effort.[p]All the best,
Jim

mad max beyond eggdome

RhumAndJerk,
i think you are mixing up terms and cuts of meat. .. [p]"Pit beef" is not pulled beef, nor is it intended to be. .. for pit beef, you are taking a pretty lean cut, like an eye of the round or top round roast. . ..roasting it quickly (at 375 degrees till done), then very thinly slicing it (shaved is the best way to describe it). . .the fact that it is 'tender' is really a trick of being sliced so thinly. ..if you sliced a typical pit beef roast thickly, it would be tough as nails. . ..also, by pulling it at rare/medium rare temps (around 130 internal), it will have plenty of juice. . .. i do pit beef fairly often. .. eye of the round coated heavy in dizzy redeye express, then roasted at 375 degrees dome temp on grid over inverted plate setter. ..a whole eye of the round only takes about 1 1/2 hours. . . .wess b also has a great pit beef recipe on his site. ...[p]for pulled beef, i really think you need something like brisket or chuck, etc.. . .something that when cooked a long time at low temps, will fall apart for you... .i think its clayQ that has the good pulled beef recipe that i think you can find on the dizzypig recipe page . . [p]HTH

fishlessman

RhumAndJerk,
your looking for pulled beef, not pit beef which is more of a roast beef sandwich. chuck roll, clod, or chuck eye roast is what you want to start with. cook like a brisket until about 175, wrap in foil with a little seltzer water and continue to slow cook til you get a reading somewhere around 205-210. it will pull like pork. get a good sized piece of 7 or more pounds
[ul][li]pulled beef[/ul]

Unknown

RhumAndJerk,[p]Here is the method I use for this great treat and I do it often.[p]Dave

[ul][li]Pulled Beef[/ul]

katman

RhumAndJerk,
My method is very similar to Old Dave's approach. I've also found that inexpensive chuck roasts work best. I've also used flank steaks (not London Broil). When using flank steaks it is critical to get a good quick sear first and then foil for the remainder of the cook. You get just a little smoke flavor from the sear, but not much so the flank is not the best choice for making shredded beef if you want a strong, naturally-smoked flavor.