Whether it be the fault of a Global Pandemic, War, rising gas prices, or just overall inflation, everyone is looking for cheaper alternatives to satisfy old cravings that are just no longer affordable. Beef prices may continue to rise, but that doesn't mean you still can't enjoy your favorite meal using a lesser quality cut or different hunk of meat all together! Today we are going to use a cheaper, but well known, cut of beef unlike you have ever tried before. Typically, chuck roast is a tougher cut of beef that ends up in your crock pot for a low and slow cook submersed in juices to keep it tender and moist. Well, we are taking that cheaper, tough cut and slow smoking it to make a tender, juicy pulled beef perfect as is or on a bun to satisfy our almost unaffordable cravings! This one will take a while, folks, so grab a case of beer along with that chuck roast next time your at the grocery store so we can make some amazing Pulled Beef unlike no other.....let's get cooking!
This recipe is quite simple and straight forward. Begin by seasoning your chuck roast on all sides. Any generic barbecue rub will work, but a simple salt/pepper/garlic rub does the trick every time! You can do this step the night before or day of cook, just make sure to get seasoning in and all over every nook and cranny of that chuck roast. Cover and refrigerate over night if you so choose, but get it out of the fridge and warmed up to near room temperature before ever thinking of starting the cooking/smoking process!
Fire your smoker up to 225 degrees Fahrenheit when you are finally ready to get this guy cooking. It's personal preference, but I like to fill a tray with some apple juice and/or stock beneath the roast to help keep it moist throughout the long smoking process. For this particular cook, I used a mix of hickory and apple wood, but feel free to use any wood/smoke flavor you prefer.
Smoke the chuck roast for 3 hours, giving it a little spray or baste with beef stock about every hour. After the first 3 hours is up, go ahead and crank up your temperature to 250 degrees Fahrenheit. While it's warming up those few extra degrees, grab a spare baking pan and line the bottom with sliced onion. Pour about a cup of beef stock over the onions and place the chuck roast on top. Put it all back in the smoker and let it go for another 3 hours or so. We are now looking to get the internal temperature up to 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
Once your chuck roast finally gets through the inevitable "stall" around 150 degrees and reaches 165, cover the pan with foil and let it keep cooking in your smoker. Every roast is a bit different, but it will likely take another 3 hours or so for the internal temperature to reach 200 degrees Fahrenheit. This step could be accomplished in the oven if you are tired of managing your smoker temps. It is covered and no longer taking on any smoke flavors anyway, eh?
Once the roast finally gets up to 200 degrees, pull it out and let it rest for about half an hour or so, keeping it covered. After it has a chance to rest and slightly cool, remove the roast from the pan and shred it using your hands, meat claws, or even a couple forks. It should pull apart easily as long as you got it up to the proper temperature. If you just so happen to have ended up with a tougher chuck roast cut that doesn't want to pull, you can throw it back in the smoker or oven and cook it another hour or so to help things along. Otherwise, pull all the meat and place it in a separate tray. It is pretty much ready to eat at this point, but I like to pour some or all of those remaining juices from the original cooking pan over the pulled beef. This adds a little extra moisture back in that seems to help with leftovers and reheating later on, in my opinion. I also like to give an extra sprinkle of that original rub over everything again, just to help finish up the final product.
Simple as can be, like I said! Serve it hot with some barbecue sauce on the side or pile it on a bun and make sandwiches. This pulled beef is quite versatile and can be used in a variety of ways, just use your imagination. Throw some on the griddle or in a hot pan to quick sear for barbacoa tacos or pimp out your omelet the next morning. Let me know how your smoked chuck roast pulled beef turned out and how you ended up eating it. Hit me up on Instagram under @grubbongrub, post a pic, and show the world how great this Smoked Chuck Roast Pulled Beef really is.......just keep cooking!
SMOKED CHUCK ROAST PULLED BEEF
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