Totally off-subject... just had to catch everybody with the title... forgive me for boring you...
Some of you who know me know my life the past few months has been on a roller coaster of overwork. 60~70 hour weeks have been normal. Storm damage to the rentals and the repair costs still haven't been fully reimbursed by my insurance.
Finally, after the storms Friday through central Arkansas damaged ANOTHER property (and the emergency repair cost made me cancel my playdate with a special lady.) I was angry enough to say "ENOUGH! I'm taking a day off!"
So I unplugged the phone, picked up a couple of Diamond Bear Pale Ales and started to experiment on the grill. I've been trying to improve my BBQ as a hobby, and trying to justify buying a Weber Smokey Mountain water smoker. But the WSM is very expensive, and my cooking isn't up to par for it yet.
http://www.amazon.com/Weber-731001-S...s=weber+smokey
So instead, I tweaked my Weber Gold kettle grill into an indirect smoker. First I very carefully measured the bottom air vent to find the fully-closed, 1/4 open, 1/2 open and fully open.
Then I put a 9x12 deep pan onto the charcoal grate, and surrounded it with a combination of charcoal and cherry wood. The charcoal is lit on the left side only, and turns clockwise slowly for six hours. The pan is filled with water to create a high humidity enviroment, and regulate thr heat.
And of course, the subject of this experiment: a 3 lb chuck roast. Chuck roasts have similar BBQ characteristics as brisket: touch, slow to cook, easy to screw up. But chuckies are much cheaper to experiment with. Chuckie was on sale at Kroger for 1/3 the cost of a small brisket flat. The rub is what I was testing (if anybody is interested I''ll post the recipe.) I mixed up my rub last night, rubbed it liberally over the roast, and roast sat in the fridge overnight.
This morning the grill was lit and stabilized at 250 degrees. Chuckie is slow smoked for 3 hours, until the internal temp is about 150 degrees. At that point, I moved the chuck onto a 9x9 disposable aluminum pan, added about 1/2 inch of beef stock to the pan, and wrapped it in foil. I put it back on the smoker and let the internal temp rise to 200 degrees. Then I pulled the roast from the smoker and let it rest for two hours wrapped in a heavy blanket, inside a big cooler.
And maybe it was the hard work the previous weeks... maybe the exhaustion high I was on... maybe the hit of the DB ale... but whatever the cause, this time, the chuck was dead on. Soft, juicy and tender, with a good spice bite.
Maybe I need to start competing... to the special lady I had to cancel on, please forgive me, and when you come to LR next time, maybe we can try some ribs.
Check out my meat
