I have been smoking 4 to 5 pound beef chuck roasts the past year and recently decided that I wanted to find a larger chuck roast to smoke. While at Sam's Club I asked the "Meat Man" to pick me out a larger chuck roast from the cooler and he told me that I should just buy a whole Chuck Roll. He then proceeded to bring out a 19 pound boneless Chuck Roll. When it comes to BBQ, bigger is better, and I had just discovered a massive cut of meat to put on the smoker.
The Virtual Weber Bullet Website describes the Chuck Roll as "One of nine
primal cuts that come from a side of beef. Essentially the shoulder of
the cow, the chuck consists of part of the neck and backbone, the first
five ribs, and portions of the shoulder blade and upper arm. It weighs in
at 66-106 pounds or more.
The
chuck primal is broken down into smaller, subprimal cuts. One of these is the chuck roll. Chuck roll is sort of the pork butt of beef. It has the structure of pork butt--lots of muscle, fat, and connective tissue coming together from a bunch of different directions--and is easier to pull or shred than to slice."
After purchasing this I had to get it prepared for the smoker. I injected the Chuck Roll with red wine, worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, melted butter, and seasoning salt so that it would have some good seasoning/marinade in the meat during the long smoking process. I then made my "top secret" dry rub that I applied liberally to the Chuck Roll.
Next step was adding it to the smoker. It just barely fit on the smoker and after I took this picture I added some tinfoil around the ends of the meat because the lid was actually touching the meat once it was placed on the smoker. Cherry/Oak wood was added next and this bodacious cut of meat began the low and slow smoking process at 9pm.
I can't resist thinking about how this would make a great episode of the Travel Channel's Man Vs. Food with Adam Richman where he attempts to eat the entire Chuck Roll in less than one hour flat. No sides, just a 19 pound chuck roast and one glass of water....
After 20 hours the Chuck Roll was finally ready to come off the smoker. The internal temperature had reached 195 degrees internal which means the fat has rendered and the meat is falling apart. This
is the same process that a pork butt will go through as well because of its fat content. The Chuck Roll has enough fat inside and out to also achieve the same results of delicious "pulled beef".
I look forward to doing this again. Whether you are smoking a 4 pound chuck roast or a 20 pound chuck roll, the taste is unbelievable. So when you decide you want to shake it up a bit and get away form the traditional pork butt or brisket, the Chuck Roll is the way to go.....
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