Chuck Roast

Spring Chicken

I've asked this question before and was told that a chuck roast is not a good piece of meat to cook on the Egg. I'm satisfied with the answer but my 92-year old mother-in-law is hell-bent on me doing one on the Egg for Thanksgiving. She has finally come around to thinking I know what I'm doing (took 30 years for her to admit it) and now that I'm and Eggspert, she wants me to cook what "She" wants. That being said, I need some advice. My first thoughts were to do a heavy rub and let it overnight in the frig, followed by a slow indirect cook at about 225 to 250 degrees until an internal temperature of 155 to 160. My wife suggested a combination of foil and no-foil after a lengthy marinade in something exotic. I'm all ears if anyone has any ideas.[p]Thanks in advance.[p]Spring Chicken
Spring Texas USA

RhumAndJerk

Spring Chicken,
Here is the quickest answer, use her recipe. That way, she will know how the egg made it better.[p]Here is a longer answer:
Use a Cast Iron Dutch oven. Place a layer of Potatoes, onions, garlic, carrots, mushrooms, parsnips and/or turnips on the bottom. Place the roast on top of the veggies. Pour in some beef broth and maybe some red wine over the meat, not a lot. Put some herbs like parsley, marjoram, thyme and a bay leaf in the pot as well.
Put the Dutch oven on a pizza stone with the lid off. Cook at 325 until the meat gets above 185.[p]I am guessing at the times and temps here, so some one else may know a little better.[p]Hope this helps,
RhumAndJerk

WooDoggies

Spring Chicken,[p]Methinks your ma-in-law is testing you out.... do you think she's going to give in so easy after 30 years and give you a simple cook for Thanksgiving? :~)[p]What kind of cook is she looking for?... something like a pot roast with gravy, sliceable, pullable?
I love the taste of chuck roasts but they are susceptible to drying out if not braising in some way... especially when going up to pulling temps.
If going up to the higher internal temps, you may want to smoke low and slow, pull it off around 160-70 internal, wrap in foil with a little beef broth and cook it the rest of the way checking for tenderness in the low 190's... if it has soaked up all of the broth, add a little more. this will give you sort of a pot roast in the end with good smoke flavor.
If going for a straight smoke the whole way there is a good chance of drying if no liquid is introduced.
My suggestion is whatever method you decide, do a test cook beforehand so's to stay in good standing with ma.[p]WD

Chef Arnoldi

marinade the roast overnight in a non-reactive bowl with about 1/2 cup dry sherry & both sides sprinkled with seasoning salt (eg. Lowries).
the next day place the roast in a dutch oven.
sprinkle several chopped galic cloves, 2 large chopped onions, 3 carrots & several baking potatoes.
pour 1 bottle Chilli Sauce (store bought- Kroger makes it or Heinz)- also pour the marinade over the roast.
Put the Dutch oven on a pizza stone with the lid off. Cook at 325 until the meat gets above 185(just like RhumAndJerk did).
when ready it will be tender & ready to slice.

Zeke

Spring Chicken, I like a good chuck roast on the grill. Do a low and slow and buy a cut of meat preferable from the butcher that has plenty of fat. The fat will flavor the meat and help to keep it moist. Most of the fat will end up in the drip pan. This is some good eating IMHO.

Stogie

Spring Chicken,[p]I have done several chuck roasts. You can cook them low and slow and they will be just like brisket or pork butt. You can use foil or you can smoke it naked..your call.[p]There are only a couple of cuts of chuck that are lean...I have never seen one in all the meat markets I have visited. Most of the chuck cuts are nice and fatty, but just be sure you have a fatty one.[p]You can certainly do in the DO with the veggies and such...I just don't think this method will get you much different results than when you do in the oven.....not enough exposed meat to really get that smoky flavor and no bark formation with all that liquid.[p]Why not cook and get a nice bark and lots of smoky flavor?[p]If you want gravy, simply place a roasting pan underneath the beef to catch the juices.....or just throw the thing in the pan itself and start cooking.....letting it sit in it's own juices will only add to the flavor.[p]I do not think you will be happy with a chuck roast brought to 160º and then sliced.....way too much fat and it will be tough.[p]These are my experiences with chuck.[p]Good luck!

bbqbeth

Spring Chicken,
I've had great luck cooking a chuck like a 2-3" sirloin...
just palin, salt, peper, some olive oil. maybe garlic. good to go. nothing beats the taste of that real beef..
but 'take out' rib eyes here for me..
all alone.. :(
hi to gramma..
beth

bbqbeth

OH YEAH..
mr toad? you out there.?
red sky tonight...
[p]

Steve-O

Spring Chicken,
I did my first chuck roast a few weeks ago. Here is what I did and what I will do next time. I cooked indirect at around 300* for almost 3 hours (this one had lots of fat). I had planned to bring the internal temp up to 190-200*, but dinner time came before it got there, so I took it off at 170 internal. It was just OK - nothing to write home to grandma about! I should have started it earlier and given it more time - 4-5 hours. I think the main thing is to get the internal temp up to 190-200*. Mine set at 160 for over an hour. I knew what was going on, but just ran out of time. I used ash wood on the first one, but did not care for that flavor. My next one will be on the smoker until it reaches 200 internal, and I will use mesquite or hickory for smoking wood.

Marvin

Spring Chicken,
Check out the last issue of Cook's Illustrated to determine what type of chuck roast you want; they list 5 different types of chuck roast. The type determines the flavor, the tenderness and how they should be cooked. Have fun.

Tim M

<p />Marvin,[p]Good point Marv. Some here talk about how much fat they have in their chuck roasts. I have never seen a chuck roast with much fat at all, the ones I have seen and cooked are LEAN - REAL LEAN and slow cooking these produces a fine shoe leather quality of dried beef. 1st determine if yours has marbling or is it lean and go from there. [p]My lean ones look like this one pictured. Someone else has a picture of the fatty type that I have never seen and they may post that picture.[p]Tim
[ul][li]Beef Cuts of meat[/ul]

Wardster

Spring Chicken,
I'm curious if you could lay some chunks of fat on top of the meast as it cooked? My butcher always gives me some good pieces of fat when I ask for them. I lay them over any thin or bare spots on my brisket.

Bordello

Tim M,
This is the kind of chuck roast that I was brought up on.
New Bob
[ul][li]chuck roast[/ul]

Unknown

Did a chuck roast last Friday night on a WSM and it turned out great. Found an 18 lb chuck at cash n carry. used emeril essence spice, some Johnnys spice and a nice hit of garlic salt. Put on about 7:30pm, no foil, cooked at approx 225. Checked at 6:00 am, noted internal temp was 197. Took off, wrapped in double layer of foil and put in hot bag. At our tailgater after everything else was cooked and out I thought I would see if this thing was any good.[p]Could not slice of course since was really cooked, so I cut into chunks and pieces, tossed with some bbq sauce we had on hand and filled up two 1/2 aluminum pans. Hungry crowd at it really quick. They put it between buns, just plain on plates and ate with fingers. Some folks came back two or three times. Crowd had available pulled pork, bbacks,
chicken, brats and lots of sides, people loved the chuck roast. Real easy, $1.50 per pound, real easy and good.
Plan to do four or five of them for next game.

Tim M

New Bob,[p]It is confusing. That site lists 11 different "chuck" cuts. [p]http://aggiemeat.tamu.edu/judging/idFFA.html[p]Tim
[ul][li]Judging meat cuts[/ul]