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I need chuck roast help- Grandpas grub?

East Bay Al
East Bay Al Posts: 101
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
I (finally)cooked a chuck roast last weekend, following tips picked up here, mostly from Kent. It was great! Got off work early yesterday, so tried another. This was a much leaner piece of meat, and came out dry. Any ideas on how to save/ improve it?
Basic method I used: seared in CI DO, place some thick onion slices on the bottom of the DO, meat on those, add liquid half way up the meat, into the BGE with no lid, about 300 with a chunk of oak for smoke. Flipped once, after an hour, cooked for a couple of more hours, added some carrots for the last hour to a total of 5.

Any ideas of how to save this one or cook the next one?

Thanks in advance.
Al

Comments

  • for this one:
    put it back in the pot and cover it with a mix of beef stock and cheepo red wine simmer and add liquid as needed till it starts to fall apart when you poke at with a fork. from there either keep it covered with liquid and add onions an taters and call it boeff burgineoine [no i am not going to look up how to spell it in french, i don't really care B)
    or
    simmer off the liquid and serve it like pulled beef on a good roll

    next one.. figure out what you want out of it. if the chuck is not well marbeled you have to cook it till it falls apart.
    wegmans has USDA choice and occasionally prime chuck... i cook the prime like a ribeye with hickory and the choice like a roast.. regular grade gets cooked forever in liquid..
    hope this helps/
    billl
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
    Mornin Al.

    Crap, just starting to snow out here - too early.

    Anyway, nice to hear you like the roasts.

    I use a 'Pot Roast' which is either Chuck or a Rump Roast, I am not to particular with this cook.

    In general I do just what you described above other than all the veggies go in at the beginning of the cook. I want the vegetable flavors in the liquid and those 'well cooked' veggies end up taking on their own wonderful flavor.

    It takes from 4 to 6 hours and again I am not too paticular about the time of the cook - I just want the meat tender. The time variance also allows for some slack to meet serving time.

    Use that liquid to make some gravy or au jus and put over the meat.

    You could also cut the meat thin or pull the meat and make some wonderful French Dip sandwiches or even get some potato rolls, swiss cheese, mayo and or mustard and those are some great left over snacks/meals.

    Check you email in a few minutes - I will send the recipe and a au jus recipe RRP posted a while back.

    Kent
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
    Or what bill said...

    I wouldn't simmer off the liquid, that stuff is like gold. If I end up with too much I will freeze what ever I don't use.

    Kent
  • yup.... sometimes i am just appalled at how oblivious i am to the obvious... thanks i will do that next time ... and could you send me the aw juice recipe as well
    thanks
    bill
  • Thanks Bill and Kent- I'll try continuing the cook to see what happens with another few hours.
    I'm looking forward to the recipe.

    Al
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
    Bill,

    Sure will!

    Kent
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
    It seems when I get the internal meat temp to 225° and hold it there for about an hour the meat get extremely tender and flavorful.

    Kent
  • thirdeye
    thirdeye Posts: 7,428
    When you start off with a leaner roast, you don't have the same amount of connective tissue that you do with a fattier one. This means you need to keep a closer eye on it. Wet cooking or braising following some "flavor time" in the cooker can insure that the roast will not dry out, and so far you were on the right track....

    What I suspect, is that you cooked the meat long enough for all of the collagen to turn to gelatin (instead of just most of it) and hot enough for the contraction of the meat fibers to squeeze out the liquid, what you have left are just the cooked meat fibers. When this happens, you are left with dry and stringy meat. Even if it is swimming in liquid, you can't get that juiciness back into the fibers that have been squeezed out. Just like when cooking a steak to "rare", when you are going for fall-apart tenderness, you want to catch it at the right time and not let it go beyond.

    I think I would chop it and mix some BBQ sauce into it and use it for BBQ beef sammies.
    Happy Trails
    ~thirdeye~

    Barbecue is not rocket surgery
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
    Wayne,

    Interesting input on the texture.

    I can't remember where I read it, but there were several articles that say to cook to 225° and let cook for 1 hour to get a extremely tender state.

    Thanks, Kent
  • thirdeye
    thirdeye Posts: 7,428
    I wonder if they were talking about cooking at 225 not until 225?

    There is one philosophy for braising that calls for a cook temperature no higher than your expected{/i] finish (internal) temperature, thereby never overcooking. This works, but it's like cooking a butt at 200°, it' takes forever. So, we all modify this by starting off low for a couple of hours to get the meat warm, then bumping the temp up until it barely simmers. Note I did not say what this new temp should be, because stuff simmers at a different temp at my house than at yours, because of the elevation. I guess that for the most part, ideal meats for braising like chuckies, hocks, chicken thighs and legs all have different finish temps, but they are all high (170° and up). I think it's best to manually check for tenderness rather than rely on a set temperature. But once it's tender, it's done. You could let it rest in the liquid for a while, but why cook any longer?
    Happy Trails
    ~thirdeye~

    Barbecue is not rocket surgery
  • Interesting thoughts. I took a look at your web site,3rd eye, and cant wait for the Chuck roast section to be completed.
    What you said earlier about the meat contracting and squeezing out the liquid sure sounds like what may have happened to me. Not an expensive piece of meat, so will get another and try again.
    What is your experience regarding doneness/ overdone when you can see some shrinkage? When I see that on a chicken, I know I've let it go a little too long. On the other hand, I wait for the rib bones to poke out about 1/2". Never really gave it much thought for beef- I usually check the temp, but didnt with the chuck roasts.
    thanks for your help.
    Al
  • thirdeye
    thirdeye Posts: 7,428
    Oh, you are going to see shrinkage with a chuck, not as obvious as a brisket but they shrink. Here is an early picture or a 6 pounder, and one later on just before going into a pot for braising, then a finish one.

    DSC04327a.jpg


    DSC04336e.jpg


    DSC04350g.jpg

    Your best value for chuck is buying the chuck roll and cutting them yourself, you don't have to cook them all at once :laugh: When properly wrapped, they freeze well.

    DSC04415a.jpg

    DSC04418b.jpg

    I'll get that chuck page up one of these days, in the meantime, check out the pepper beef recipe....chuck is used in that.

    DSC06143JPGa.jpg
    Happy Trails
    ~thirdeye~

    Barbecue is not rocket surgery
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
    The article said 1 hr @ 225°.

    For me on the egg, 300° - 315° grate is a simmer when using my DO.

    I would think once the meat is tender, there wouldn't be much to gain by cooking it longer.

    GG