Chuck Roll Ovenight Cook

Chuck roll is large cut of beef commonly 15-25 pounds and larger. Chuck roll is pretty much the pork shoulder of beef and makes for delicious pulled beef sandwiches! Chuck roll is cooked between 210-240 degrees until the internal temperature reaches 195 degrees. Chuck roll is commonly found at your local sam's club, coscto, or from your local butcher. However, you will have to ask your butcher since this cut is not commonly displayed. To decrease cooking time feel free to cut a large chuck roll into smaller roasts.

I cooked this 23.75 pound chuck roll during and over night cooking session on the Peoria Custom Cooker 24X48 Backyard Unit. Chuck roll typically cooks around 1hour a pound and this roll cooked for for 22.5 hours.

Since I was planning on serving the chuck roll on Saturday afternoon I fired up the pit at 3pm friday. I placed a full ring of unlit charcoal in the fire box and light a half chimney of kingsford (about 15-20 coals). Once the coals were ashed over I dumped them onto the unlit charcoal and placed 2 logs of hickory on top. This method of starting your pit is commonly referred to as The Minion Method. It allows you to cook for extended periods of time without refueling since the charcoal ignites and burns slowly. I let the pit warm to 250 degrees while I trimmed and rubbed the the chuck roll. I used the recipe for basic BBQ rub from Ray Lampe's book Big Time BBQ. I used a moderate amount of rub making sure to get the rub in all the cracks and crevices of the chuck roll. Once I finished rubbing the chuck roll I put it in the refrigerator for 1 hr.

At 4pm the Peoria custom Cooker was right at 250 degrees and it was time to put this monster piece of meat onto the cooker directly out of the refrigerator. I also put on 3 slabs of ribs for a late dinner. Since the meat was cold the temperature of the cooker dropped down to about 235 degrees my target temp. Over the next several hours I added several more logs of hickory and cherry and about 48 ounces of a mixed hardwood sawdust.

At 10:30 pm the chuck roll had been cooking for for 6 hours and I was ready for bed. I filled the charcoal basket completely up with unlit charcoal. This way the smoldering coals underneath the unlit charcoal will slowly ignite the unlit charcoal over the next several hours as I sleep.

To make sure I would get a good night sleep I set up my Maverick ET-73 wireless thermometer. This thermometer has two probes and monitors the temperature of the pit and the internal temp of the meat. This unit also has high and low alarms. I set the alarms to go off if the temp in the pit rose above 250 degrees or if the temp dropped below 200 degrees. I placed the wireless thermometer on my night stand and fell asleep. At 10:30pm the internal temp of of the chuck roll was 143 degrees.

Around 2:45 am the temperature in the pit fell to 200 degrees and my wireless alarm went off and woke me up. I went downstairs and added another full load of unlit charcoal, a hickory log, and was back asleep by 3am. Again at 7:30am the alarm sounded as the temps had dropped to 200 degrees. This time however I did not add any fuel. I simply stirred the coals to remove any ash and the temperature shot right back up to around 230 degrees. The internal temp of the chuck roll at 7:30 am was 155 degrees.

At this point my chuck roll had hit a plateau at 160 degrees and the temps started to rise very, very, slowly. This is the time when the fat and connective tissues is rendering off and will allow to easily shred when finished. It is not uncommon for your temperatures to remain in the 160 degree range for several hours when cooking chuck rolls, pork shoulders, or briskets. A few hours later at 10:30am the chuck roll had finally reached 165degrees and it was time to foil. I wrapped the chuck roll in several layers of heavy duty aluminum foil and placed it back on the cooker. The foil will help to speed up the cooking process and also keep the chuck roll plenty moist.

At 2:30 pm the internal temp of the chuck roll was 195 degrees and had been cooking for just about 22.5 hours. Since I would not be serving the chuck roll for another 4 hours I decided to wrap a few more layers of heavy duty foil around the chuck roll. Then I wrapped a towel around the chuck roll and placed it in a cooler. I also placed several other towels below and about the chuck roll in the cooler to fill up all of the areas of "open" air in the cooler and keep the chuck roll warm.

Time to Eat!
Finally at 6:30 pm it was time to eat. Once I remove the chuck roll from the foil I noticed that it was still very hot and I begin to shred. I use a tool called bear paws to easily shred the beef.

The chuck roll shredded just as easily as a pork shoulder and was very very moist. The bark was incredibly delicious and thick. I noticed that the chuck roll did not seem to be as greasy as pulled pork. Chuck roll is a must try for anyone and is sure to be a big hit at your next BBQ!