Chuck Roast Has Never Tasted This Good: Here's My SECRET
Marinated, Smoked and Shredded Chuck Roast
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Introduction
A 24-Hour Marinade Takes Chuck Roast to Another Level
What's up BBQ fans! Today we're talking beef, specifically chuck roast. In a recent video I told you to stop treating your chuck roast like a brisket. Chuck doesn't have the fat a brisket has, so if you cook it the same way, you end up with dry meat. Today we're taking it a step further with a 24-hour marinade, and I'll tell you what, it's phenomenal.
The Beef
This chuck roast came from North 36 Farms, a new friend of the channel. Their marketing person is a subscriber and a Yoder owner, and he reached out about working together. I ordered and tried a bunch of their meat before they ever sent me anything, and it was delicious.
They're a small farm in middle Tennessee, outside Nashville, and all they do is beef: heritage Black Angus, dry-aged, no hormones, pasture-raised and grass-fed, then grain-finished. Look at the marbling on this chuck.
They set up a great deal for you:
RUMANDCOOK100: spend $100 or more and get a free 2 lb package of ground beef
RUMANDCOOK200: spend $200 or more and get a free NY strip package (2 steaks) plus 2 lb of ground beef
Add the free items to your cart, then enter the code at checkout. I'm on about my 12th pound of their ground beef, and it's pretty good.
The Marinade
Nothing complicated. If you're like me, you love Worcestershire on beef, but I'd never marinated in it for a long stretch.
A bottle and a quarter of W Sauce, which is Worcestershire on steroids
A quarter bottle of red wine
Enough to cover the roast completely. Marinate for 24 hours.
Red wine and beef go together phenomenally. If you don't like red wine, try a light beer. When I was younger I marinated in beer all the time, and people always asked about that little bit of unexpected sweetness.
For seasoning, I only added fresh cracked pepper from the Pepper Cannon (use code: RUMANDCOOK to save 10%). No salt, since the Worcestershire has plenty. I didn't pat it dry. We want that moisture to stay on.
Don't throw out the marinade. Everyone says to toss it, but you just have to kill the bacteria. I brought it to a boil for a few minutes, let it cool, and put it in the fridge. Later I warmed it back up so it wouldn't drop the meat's temperature when it went into the wrap.
The Setup
On the Pitts & Spitts Maverick 2000, I ran Bear Mountain Oak pellets with big oak chunks in the smoke cage. Let the wood catch for about 5 minutes before you start the grill and close it up, or the fire can go out.
I also love the room on this grill. The middle shelf is huge. I did four racks of ribs and could've fit six. I was more limited on my Yoder.
Pro tip: put your meat on as cold as possible. Meat takes on smoke until around 160°F, so if it sits on the counter and warms up, you lose smoke time. This one came straight out of my beer fridge at 38°F.
The Cook
Probe: my Typhur Sync Gold Dual (use code: RUMANDCOOK to save 10%), with an alert at 165°F so I could run errands and keep an eye on it from my watch
First 3½ hours: set to 250°F in smoke mode, which actually runs around 210 to 215°F, just cranking out good smoke
Then: I bumped it to 275°F from my phone
About 4½ hours: 158.4°F, with a phenomenal mahogany red color
Wrap It Early
This is the key for chuck. Wrap it earlier than a brisket, around 155 to 160°F, and wrap it with liquid. Push it too far and you just squeeze out the juices.
I double-wrapped it tight in foil with the warmed marinade poured underneath and around it. Keep the seams up high on both wraps so the liquid doesn't leak out and simmer away. That adds a tremendous amount of flavor.
Then it cooked until probe tender. You want it to feel like warm peanut butter. For shredded chuck, push it higher, to around 209 to 210°F. In my last chuck video, just 2 degrees made the difference between meat that pushed back and meat that flaked apart like butter.
About 1 hour 20 minutes wrapped to get there, checked with the Typhur InstaProbe
Rest: about 40 minutes in a covered foil pan, which brought it down to around 170°F. If I'd had time, I'd have held it in the oven longer.
Taste Test
It was bursting with moisture. It pushed right apart, with a good smoke ring, and there was a ton of juice left to toss back in after shredding. Honestly, one part could have gone a little higher, but my wife needed the kitchen on a Sunday night.
The flavor goes all the way through. I couldn't stop eating it. Doggy approved, and Jake approved.
Final Thoughts
If chuck roast keeps coming out dry for you, marinate it, wrap it early with that liquid, and take it to probe tender. It takes chuck roast to a whole other level.
Thanks For Watching
Whether you're a seasoned pitmaster or a novice, these tips will enhance your cooking skills and leave your family and friends raving about your delicious, smoky creations. Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more step-by-step videos, and let's together become the barbecue heroes we were meant to be!
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