10.2.6 Roasts-------------------- [I have a seven pound chuck roast. Can I barbecue it?] Dave Crawford-- A little while ago I got some chuck roasts on sale at Albertson's for $.99/lb. I chose what I thought were the best 3 roasts in the case when I was there--each about 7 lbs., 3 inches thick, and fairly well marbled. I took one out of the freezer the day before early in the morning and let it thaw on the counter for a couple hours, just enough so the frost was gone off the top but the bottom was still hard as a rock. I moved the meat into a 2 gallon Ziploc bag, added most of a can of Dr. Pepper, most of a can of beer, and several healthy shakes of Tapatio hot sauce (my favorite all-round sauce, hotter than Tabasco with less vinegar, and cheap.) I let it marinate on the counter until mostly thawed, then moved it to the refrigerator overnight, turned it once in a while until I went to bed. Fired up the Hondo about 7:30 a.m. with most of a chimney of mesquite lump charcoal. Took the meat out of the refrigerator as soon as the fire was lit. Dumped the chimney of charcoal into the firebox when it was hot and added a split log of ash-wood. Once it was burning I closed the firebox, made sure the dampers were open, waited for the grill temperature to come up to about 200F, and put on the meat. These roasts have plenty of fat through them, but no fat cap like a brisket or a butt so I put a layer of thick bacon on top. About 4:30 p.m. the meat was about 150F internal temperature. Sure takes a long time to get the meat up to 160F. I moved the roast into a Dutch oven in the kitchen with the oven set to a little over 250F for the last hour and a half. Took the meat out of the oven 5:45 p.m. and let it rest in the Dutch oven until 6:10. Then I cut it off the bone to serve. I've cooked plenty of beef on my smoker, always with mixed reviews. This is the first time I've used the Dutch Oven. My wife raved about this one. She rated it as one of my top 3 Q's ever. ================= Wayne Scholtes-- Just did a boneless rump roast yesterday after putting Bear's rub on it Saturday. It took 7 1/2 hours at a door thermometer reading of 215F to reach an internal temperature of 150F. The smoke boxes were filled with dry hickory chips surrounding one onion per box. Boy, did that smoke smell good! The meat was so good--nice smoke flavor, tender, and juicy. I'd say Bear is onto something with that rub. I do think that I'll take the next roast out when it hits 145F, because I like it a bit less done than what it ended up this time. (I still ate half of it after that first warm slice.) I will definitely stock up on these the next time they're on sale. ================== Danny Gaulden-- Here's another kind of beef that is barbecued at some joints--"shoulder clods". They are cut a little ways down from the shoulder (more on the leg), and weight about 20-25 pounds. Kind of looks like a goose neck bottom round, but are fatter. They need to be barbecued slow and easy, and can be quite tasty. This cut of meat is for a larger crowd. On larger roasts you need to cut them up into sections so the smoke can penetrate. =================== Bill Wight-- I did a beef tri-tip roast in my NBBD the other day. It was 2 lbs. and had about a 3/8" fat cap on one side. I gave it a rub the night before with some Willingham W'HAM dry rub and smoked it fat cap up for about 2 1/2 hours at 270F. I used the Polder probe and took it out of the smoker at an internal temperature of 145F. It was still juicy-red inside with a nice smoke ring. It was excellent. So add those tri-tips to your list of barbecue meats. Tasty, tender and quick to smoke. ------------------- [Just what is a tri-tip roast?] Alex Baker-- From a recent issue of "On The Grill" magazine: "The tri-tip is one triangular shaped muscle from the bottom sirloin section of the beef carcass. Until recently, most butchers cut sirloins with the bone in and a small piece of tri-tip was a non-descript part of the sirloin steak. Since boxed beef has become the norm, the entire carcass is boned out at the packing plant and individual muscles are cut and shipped in vacuum packages. " ================== Belly-- My Boy, come sit at your ol' father's knee and let me tell a tale or two about barbecuing a chuck roast. First you may want to do a dry rub on it and maybe let him sit for up to 24 hours in the refrigerator. Then make your fire and let it burn down good, as you want to cook slow and long. If the roast is extra lean, you may want to lard it, or put a few slices of bacon on top of it for a while. Make you a good mop sauce and keep the roast wet. Cook him about an hour per pound, mopping about each 1/2 hour. Watch it, mop it and wait--it be well worth the time and work. When it's done, chop it up and put it in a Dutch oven and put a good barbecue sauce over it and heat slowly and call me. I be right there. Belly's Texas-Style Dry Rub
Mix ingredients and rub into meat well and let the meat sit until it is dry. Put the meat into your smoker at 220F. Mop after it has cooked for about two hours and then every 1/2 hour. Belly's Texas-Style Beef Mop
Add the dry rub to a saucepan and add the beer, Dr. Pepper and heat to a low boil. Then add the vinegar and oil and the other ingredients. Add enough water to make a total of about four cups and keep it warm over low heat or on/in your smoker. Give that roast the fork test for tenderness--it should go in easy. Takes 4-5 hours. Please don't use a vinegar finishing sauce, try this: Belly's Texas-Style Finishing Sauce
Mix all ingredients together in a saucepan and bring to a low boil. Remove from heat and let the sauce sit all the time you're cooking the meat. Adjust the sauce to your own taste--heat and salt. -------------------- [I had some barbecued top round at a county fair and it had no smoke flavor. Why was this?] Danny Gaulden-- I never like to barbecue top round, for it is so thick, the smoke just can't penetrate it well. I do have a couple of churches that insist on this type of meat for they only have me smoke it, and they do their own slicing. That's why they like it--little fat to trim, easy to slice on a slicer. Anyway, I always cut the big rounds into 3 smaller pieces so that the smoke will get in there and do a better job, but it still doesn't start to compare to a good juicy brisket smoked right. ------------------- [Question on smoking a prime rib. How does one achieve a nice bark and deep smoke penetration into a piece of meat that is naturally tender, will be taken off the smoker at a much lower internal temperature than a brisket, or a butt, therefore not requiring a long, slow smoking, barbecuing time?] Danny Gaulden-- Here's how I do rib roast (prime rib): First of all, you need to use a wood that is not totally cured. It needs to be a little on the green side. Remember, you aren't going to have this cut of meat on the smoker that long, therefore you don't have a lot of time for deep smoking. A dry wood won't do the job. Start out at about 225F for the first hour and have a nice, medium thick, white smoke coming out of the stack--not super thick, just medium thick. A rib roast will absorb a surprising amount of smoke the first hour if held around this temperature, for the pores remain open a little longer. After that, you can go to a drier wood, and kick the temperature up to about 250 to 270F. This will allow you get a nice crust and at the same time not barbecue so fast that you have too little smoking time. You have to know the trick here--how hot for a bark, but not so hot that you have too small of a smoking time window. As you are barbecuing around the 250F plus range, kick in a small greener log to the side of the burning coals (or logs), and keep a little smoke going the whole time. Take off at desired doneness. It works. ------------------- [I heard about brining a beef chuck roast and then smoking it. Anybody ever tried this?] Dan Gill-- Brining works really well for whole beef shoulders (chuck). I have brined the roast in the refrigerator in my pastrami brine for 12 hours or so and it was the best chuck I ever had. I slow smoked it at around 225F for about 10 hours. Dan Gill's Pastrami Brine
-------------------- [Does anybody know how to grill Santa Maria style 'Tri-Tips'?] Bill Wight-- Santa Maria Style Tri-Tip The guy who owns the Red Oak BBQ-B-Q Company in Santa Fe Springs, CA was grilling this meat as a demonstration at the 1997 California BBQ Championships and he told me how to do it. Take a 2-3 lb. tri-tip roast and trim off the fat. Cut the meat into chunks the size of a small woman's fist and rub with a mixture of salt, black pepper and garlic powder, in a 40:40:20 ratio. Let the meat sit in the refrigerator, in a plastic bag, for at least 4 hours. He grilled the meat over medium-hot mesquite coals. He was turning the chunks of meat constantly, moving them all around the grill. He pulled them off when the inside was medium-rare and the outside was well-done. Grilling time was about 20 minutes. This is a pretty tender piece of meat, so it doesn't need long cooking. He chopped the chunks into bite-sized pieces and served it covered with salsa fresca. Fresh salsa is a must--don't use the bottled stuff. Make your own or you can usually buy it in the deli section of most supermarkets, at least out West. Bill's Salsa Fresca
By hand or in a food processor or salsa maker, chop everything into 1/4 to 1/8-inch pieces. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix in lime juice and salt to taste. =============== Paul Broeker--(a Santa Maria resident and Tri-Tip eater) Well that sounds wonderful (the above post) but I wonder why he cuts the meat into chunks like that? I imagine it is to reduce the cooking time. Here in Santa Maria we use the whole tri-tip. Just remove the fat and put the rub on it like you say, then grill the whole thing. Sear each side, then bring it up a ways off the flame. Cook each side about 20 minutes and you are done. None of this turning and shifting the meat is really necessary. See this site for how to do Santa Maria tri-tip in the traditional style: http://www.ci.santa-maria.ca.us/geninfo/smbbq.html ============= Rancherus Grilled Tri-Tip In Santa Maria along the Central Coast of California, a tradition was started of barbecuing a marinated beef tri-tip and serving it with pinto beans, sourdough bread and salsa. The two marinades featured here offer two distinctively different flavors. Either is easy to prepare and is an excellent complement to the robust flavor of the beef tri-tip. 2 whole beef tri-tips, about 2 lbs. each CuminUnLime Marinade or Jalapeno Marinade salt and pepper to taste Remove all fat and connective tissue from the tri-tips. Prepare marinade of choice. Place tri-tips in non-reactive baking dish, such as glass or enamel; pour in marinade and cover. Refrigerate at least 6 hours, but no longer than 24 hours. Remove tri-tips from marinade and grill over medium-hot coals, turning occasionally, about 35 minutes for rare. Brush with oil frequently while grilling. To serve, cut across the grain into thin slices and season to taste. Makes 12 servings. CuminUnLime Marinade
Mix all ingredients together in a non-reactive bowl. Makes about 2 1/4 cups.
Jalapeno Marinade
Place 1/2 cup wine, chiles, oregano and 2 tbs. oil in blender or food processor fitted with the metal blade. Process until finely minced. Stir in remaining oil and wine. Makes about 2 1/4 cups. =============== Grilled Tri-Tip, Lompoc-Style
Combine oil, Worcestershire, soy, lemon juice, garlic and mustard. Marinate meat in sauce in refrigerator for 24 hours, turning several times. Remove from refrigerator 2 hours before grilling. Grill over medium heat about 15 to 20 minutes on each side, brushing frequently with marinade.
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