This post is about an Ultra Juicy Smoked Beef Roast recipe that I have used multiple times. The first time the results were excellent but the last two times, not so much. I use a recipe from YouTube as the basis but had to tweak it for use on my smoker.
The original recipe calls for chuck roasts that are bigger than what I typically buy. The smaller roasts act differently, which is where I think I have been having problems.
Update: 04/21/2024 – After doing multiple roasts I think I am finally getting more consistent results. This is what I have learned:
1) Buy bigger roasts. When I buy them at CostCo they come two to a pack. I try to find a pack that has both roasts about the same size. When the roasts are different sizes the cooking is uneven. I also look for the bigger roasts. They seem to cook better with less drying out.
2) I do the first cook to about 145. One side of my smoker is warmer than the other so I but the larger roast on that size.
3) I wrap the roasts in butcher paper and put them back in the smoker. This seems to work better than putting them in the oven. I often times raise the temperature to 250 after I wrap them.
Prep - Dry Brine
I start the process by doing an overnight dry brine. I simply sprinkle salt all over the roasts, cover with cling wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Season
On the day of the cook, I start the smoker and bring it up to 225 degrees. While the smoker is coming up to temperature, I season the roasts with a generous sprinkling of coarse ground pepper, garlic powder and onion powder.
Smoke
I then smoke the roasts at 225 until the internal temperature hits 150. My last two attempts, I went until the internal temperature was 155 which I believe dried out the roasts.
Wrap and Finish
Once the roasts hit 150, I remove them into the house. I preheat the oven to 225 degrees while I wrap the roasts in butcher paper. Once wrapped I put them in the oven, with a sheet pan on the rack below them. I then cook them until the internal temperature is about 190.
Rest
Once the roasts reach 190, I take them out and let them rest for as long as I can.
Results Vary
The first time I made Smoked Beef Roasts using this recipe I ended up with really juicy, tender meat. But I did things slightly differently. I think I wrapped them at 150 but tried to finish them on the smoker. They were taking too long so I upped the temperature to 250 and took them off around 185 (I think).
My more recent results were not as good. The flavor was really good, but the meat was dried out. On these attempts, I smoked until 155 before wrapping. Then I put the wrapped roasts in a pan and finished in the oven until 193.
On my next attempt, I will smoke to 150, wrap and finish in the oven to about 185. Hopefully, that will be better.
Could this meat be served rare,rather than “done”?charthiel@charter.net
Not really. The point of the low and slow cooking method is to break down the connective tissue, which results in very tender meat. The fat gets rendered without driving it out of the meat which makes it juicy. I think reason I had problems was that the first smoking phase I allowed it to go too long and too high. The water got cooked out of the meat. Then in the second “finishing” phase I went to too high of a temperature for the small cuts of meat, resulting in even more drying out of the meat. At least that is my theory, for now.