Smoked Chuck Roast

A month or two back I saw where someone had smoked a chuck roast and turned it into pulled beef.  It looked awesome, so I thought I would try.  This gave me a great chance to use my bag of pecan smoker pellets.

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I cut two roasts in half to give extra bark and to make the process go faster.  6 hours later they had quite the mahogany finish.  I waited for them to get to a good 200-210 depending on the size.

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I wrapped them in foil and stuck them in a cooler for a few hours till dinner.  I was going for pulled beef but ended up a little dry.  Next time I will wrap when I get the color I want.  It holds true for pork butts, and it seems to hold true for chuck roast.

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Sous Vide Chuck Roast

I am still riding high on my sous vide cooker.  I have done piles of pork chicken and steaks.  All of these were cooked in a few hours.  It is time to try an overnight cook.  Behold the chuck roast!

It is cheap and kind of tough which makes it a perfect candidate for a long cook.  I started with a kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper coating.  I then bagged the two together and chucked (haha) them into the sous vide.  My instructions came from Baldwin’s website.  That place has seriously good info on sous vide.

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After around 27 hours at 135F it was dinner time, and the roast was ready to rock!  I pulled it out and dumped the liquids in a measuring glass.  The dark color on the roast was natural from the cooking, no searing needed.  A really nice dark brown on the outside, and a consistent red throughout.  Searing might be a good idea, but I sliced it up without.

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The poured off liquids went into making a really kick butt gravy.  All that pepper that was on the outside of the roast got into the liquid and really carries through the brown gravy.  Mix that nice peppery bite with some honey Sriracha brussel sprouts and you have a seriously good dinner.  Tender and juicy, this is hands down the best roast I have ever made.

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