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Shredded Barbecued Beef

Barbecuing a big beef roast until it’s smoky and pull-apart tender sounds like a great idea, but dry, bland meat isn’t much reward for a day’s worth of cooking. Could we find a better—and faster—way? Here’s what we discovered:

Test Kitchen Discoveries

  • We cut the chuck roast into quarters. The smaller pieces of beef absorb more smoke flavor and cook at least an hour faster than a single large roast.
  • We use a classic Texas-style dry rub here—salt, pepper, and cayenne.
  • After two hours on the cooler side of the grill, transfer the meat to a baking pan and then flip all four pieces, wrap the pan in foil, and place the roast in the oven to finish cooking to fall-apart tenderness. This grill-to-oven method is much quicker than cooking the meat entirely on the grill and avoids the need to rebuild the fire with freshly lit coals.
  • Flipping the meat before cooking in the oven ensures that more of the meat is “basted” and moist.
  • Many recipes for homemade sauce call for sautéing the onions in vegetable oil, but for richer flavor, we used beef fat from the roasting pan instead. Chili powder and black pepper added bite, while ketchup, vinegar, coffee, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, and some rendered beef juice rounded out the flavors.

Shredded Barbecued Beef

Serves 8 to 10

If you prefer a smooth barbecue sauce, strain the sauce before tossing it with the beef in step 4. You will need a disposable aluminum roasting pan for this recipe. We like to serve this beef on white bread with plenty of pickle chips.


Spice Rub and Beef
1 tablespoon salt 
1 tablespoon pepper 
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper 
1 boneless beef chuck-eye roast (5 to 6 pounds)
3 cups wood chips , soaked for 15 minutes

Barbecue Sauce
1 onion , chopped fine
4 garlic cloves , minced
1/2 teaspoon chili powder 
1 1/4 cups ketchup 
3/4 cup brewed coffee 
1/2 cup cider vinegar 
1/2 cup packed brown sugar 
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 
1/2 teaspoon pepper 

1. For the spice rub and beef: Combine salt, pepper, and cayenne in small bowl. Following photo 1, quarter roast and remove excess fat and gristle. Rub meat all over with salt mixture and transfer to large disposable aluminum roasting pan. (Salt-rubbed meat can be wrapped tightly in plastic and refrigerated for 24 hours.)

2. Seal soaked wood chips in foil packet and cut vent holes in top. Open bottom vent on grill. Light 50 coals; when covered with fine gray ash, pour in pile on one side of grill. Arrange foil packet directly on coals. Set cooking grate in place and heat, covered, with lid vent open halfway, until wood chips begin to smoke heavily, about 5 minutes. (For gas grill, place foil packet directly on primary burner. Heat all burners on high, covered, until wood chips begin to smoke heavily, about 15 minutes. Leave primary burner on high and shut other burner[s] off.) Arrange roasting pan with beef on cooler side of grill and barbecue, covered, until meat is deep red and smoky, about 2 hours.

3. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees. Following photo 3, flip meat over, cover pan tightly with foil, and bake until fork inserted into meat can be removed with no resistance, 2 to 3 hours. Transfer meat to large bowl, tent with foil, and let rest 30 minutes. While meat rests, skim fat from accumulated juices in pan; reserve 2 tablespoons fat. Strain defatted juices; reserve 1/2 cup juice.

4. For the barbecue sauce and to finish: Combine onion and reserved fat in saucepan and cook over medium heat until onion has softened, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and chili powder and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in remaining ingredients and reserved meat juices and simmer until thickened, about 15 minutes. Using 2 forks, pull meat into shreds, discarding any excess fat or gristle. Toss meat with 1/2 cup barbecue sauce. Serve, passing remaining sauce at table.

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