Brisket<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nBoth chuck roasts and briskets are amazing on a smoker but need to be cooked to higher temperatures than those needed for roast beef.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/span>Start By Preparing the Smoked Roast Beef<\/span><\/h2>\nI use a simple two step process of trimming and seasoning to get the roast ready for the smoker.\u00a0 Some people like to include a third step, brining, but I have never found that to be necessary for roast beef.<\/span><\/p>\nIf you feel like brining the beef then I will include instructions below.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/span>Trim the Beef<\/span><\/h3>\nMost of these smoked roast beef will have a layer of fat and a sinewy silver type skin.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nI always remove the silverskin since it never really becomes tender.\u00a0 I also feel like it blocks the seasoning from getting into the meat.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Use a sharp knife, insert it under the silverskin and then tilt the blade upwards and sort of scrape the membrane off the meat.\u00a0 Don’t worry if you don’t get this step perfect.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/span>Optional Brining Step<\/span><\/h3>\nI used to brine smoked roast beef but, unless you are making pastrami, never felt it was worth the extra effort.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nThat being said, everyone likes doing things their way so if you feel like including a bring step it certainly will not hurt!<\/span><\/p>\nBeef Brine<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n- 2 quarts water<\/span><\/li>\n
- 1\/2 cup kosher salt<\/span><\/li>\n
- 1\/2 cup brown sugar<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Combine the brine ingredients and mix well to dissolve.\u00a0 Add the roast to the brine and let it soak in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours and up to 12 hours.<\/span><\/p>\nRemove the beef from the brine, rinse well under cold running water and pat dry with paper towels.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/span>Apply the Dry Rub<\/span><\/h3>\nI really pack on the dry rub onto beef roasts.\u00a0 Since these are large roasts, most of the meat does not get seasoned so I want to make sure the crust\/bark has plenty of flavor.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nTo help the rub adhere I like to apply a binder to the meat before seasoning with the dry rub.\u00a0 The choice of binder is not important and some common ones include:<\/span><\/p>\n\n- Yellow mustard<\/span><\/li>\n
- Olive oil<\/span><\/li>\n
- Worcestershire sauce<\/span><\/li>\n
- Low sodium soy sauce<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
I used a thin layer of yellow mustard for this roast.<\/span><\/p>\nFor the dry rub I wanted something that would give a beautiful color and be nicely balanced with a kick of heat.\u00a0 Here is the recipe that I used:<\/span><\/p>\nDry Rub for Smoked Roast Beef<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n- 3 tbls salt<\/span><\/li>\n
- 2 tbls chili powder<\/span><\/li>\n
- 2 tbls smoked paprika<\/span><\/li>\n
- 1 tbls turbinado sugar<\/span><\/li>\n
- 1 tbls black pepper<\/span><\/li>\n
- 1 tsp granulated garlic<\/span><\/li>\n
- 1 tsp granulated onion<\/span><\/li>\n
- 1\/2 tsp chipotle powder<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Apply the dry rub liberally to all sides of the beef and let it soak into the meat for about 30 minutes before it goes onto the smoker.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/span>Smoke the Beef Roast at 225F<\/span><\/h2>\nSet up your smoker to 225F.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nI was using my Z Grills pellet grill and burning hickory pellets.\u00a0 You can use your Traeger, Pit Boss or Camp Chef pellet grills for this recipe and it will turn out just fine.<\/span><\/p>\nI did not use the “Smoke” setting for this cook but you certainly could for the first hour if you wanted a stronger smoke flavor.<\/span><\/p>\nIf you don’t have hickory pellets then pecan, cherry or any of the competition blends would work fine.\u00a0 Apple pellets would be just a little too mild to stand up to the beef.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I like smoking beef roasts at 225F because the low temperature helps the thick meat cook evenly.\u00a0 If you cook thick cuts at high temperatures (325F) then the outside of the beef would be Well Done (160-165F) by the time the middle of the roast was at Medium Rare (130-135F).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/span>How Long to Smoke a 3 pound Beef Roast at 225F?<\/span><\/h3>\nWhen we are making roast beef we are cooking the beef to a Medium Rare temperature of 130-135F.<\/strong>\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nA rough rule of thumb is that in order to reach Medium Rare it takes about an hour per pound to smoke beef roasts at 225F. This means it will take about three hours to smoke a 3 pound beef roast.<\/span><\/p>\nI was cooking a 2.3 pound eye of round roast so the cook took a little over two hours.<\/span><\/p>\nAfter an hour on the pellet grill the rub had set on the roast and formed a crust.\u00a0 The roast was starting to tighten up a little and pop at the grains.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Once the rub sets into a crust we can start adding another level of flavor by spritzing the beef every 10-15 minutes.\u00a0 Here is a great beef spritz recipe.<\/span><\/p>\nBeef Spritz<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n- 1 cup apple juice<\/span><\/li>\n
- 1\/4 cup cider vinegar<\/span><\/li>\n
- 3 tbls Worcestershire sauce<\/span><\/li>\n
- 1 tbls Teriyaki sauce<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
This spritz is a great combination of sweet with a bit of tangy umami that works well with beef.<\/span><\/p>\nDo NOT soak the roast.\u00a0 Give it a gentle mist instead.\u00a0 The last thing you want to do is wash the crust off the meat.<\/span><\/p>\nThe spritz adds a layer of flavor and really makes the color on the meat POP!<\/span><\/p>\nThat’s what I am talking about \ud83d\ude42<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Use an digital thermometer to measure the internal temperature of the beef.\u00a0 Once the beef reaches an internal temperature of 130-135F in the thickest part remove it from the smoker, place on a plate and loosely tent with aluminum foil.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/span>Slice the Smoked Beef Thinly<\/span><\/h2>\nHere is where things actually get hard!<\/p>\n
I want to start making sandwiches as soon as the beef comes off the smoker.\u00a0 The problem is that I can slice the meat much thinner when it is cold than when it is hot.<\/p>\n
If you can stand to wait, then you will get much thinner slices if you place the meat in the refrigerator and let it cool off for a couple of hours.<\/p>\n
If you can’t stand to wait, and I wouldn’t blame you, then make sure you sharpen your knife well before slicing to make the job a little easier.<\/p>\n
Regardless of whether you slice the meat while it is hot or cold, I have found that my granton edge brisket knife is the best tool for slicing off thin slices of meat.<\/p>\n
This roast turned out incredibly juicy and was packed with flavor.\u00a0 We will be making this again soon!<\/p>\n
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