Cook date was April 3, 2016. The process below was derived from:
- the Smoky Au Jus recipe and method by Chef Jimmy J (click here)
- the sear-first brisket technique by SmokieOakie (click here)
- the pulled BBQ beef chuckie by PatioDaddio at BBQ Brethren (click here)
Had thawed out the 3 lb. chuck roast and rubbed in kosher salt and fresh rough ground black pepper on April 1. Placed back on foam plate wrapped in plastic to dry-brine in the refer.
Ambient temp is about 74 degrees.
12:30 PM – Lite a 3/4 chimney of KBB and let it get going to near the top. Began searing the roast in a No. 12 cast iron skillet with bacon grease. Seared it on all sides and left it sitting in the hot skillet. Poured the lite briquets into one end of the SnS. Added the aluminum pan with veggies over the foil on the fire grate next to the SnS.
1:15 PM – Placed the meat grate on and added the roast. Poured the grease from the skillet over the roast. 
Added 1/4″ inch of water to the skillet and heated it to boiling to get the spices and bacon grease that remained. Poured that into the pan with the veggies. Filled the slot in the SnS with hot water. Added a small chunk of pecan. Fitted the ChefAlarm with the grate clip and the lid with alligator clips. The grate temp fell from the 325 it had gotten to with the vents fully open to 275 with the closed down to a crack in the bottom and 1/4 for the top vent.
2:30 PM – Grate temp is staying no higher than 295 as it has been since everything settled down. Add small pecan chunks as they burn away every 15 minutes or so but the smoke level is very thin and you can see through it. Must be a clean smoke.
3:00 PM – Added more briquettes to get the temp up to 300-350 as it should have been per PatioDaddio for his ” fast cook” method.
3:30 PM – Grate temp rose to 300 and stayed in the 250-300 range.
5:30 – Grate temp is 325. Removed alum tray with veggies. Cut quartered large union into smaller pieces as well as carrots and celery into 1′ long pieces. Put into smaller dutch oven and with all the juices and added one can of french onion soup. Set stove to simmer.
In the mean time, “Gawma” made 
Fleishman’s cornbread and spooned it into halves of large jalapeno peppers from which I had removed the seeds and interior membrane. Also pressed some batter into small porta bella mushrooms. Baked them until the cornbread was the right look. The jalapeno filled breadsticks were NOT spicy and the mushrooms were still firm when the cornbread was done. The cornbread too easily fell out of the soft jalapeno halves but the jalapenos were sweet–not hot. The mushroom caps looked like little toad stools and tasted good.
6:00 PM –
Gawma said we needed to eat so took the roast off. The smaller end was at 199 and the larger end–where the temp probe did not enter easily-was at 165-170. Put the larger end under foil into the oven at pre-warmed to 350. Ate the smaller end that was at 199. Very tender but not pull apart. That was very ok!
6:40 PM – The part that was cooler is now at 205 so removed it from the oven.
A lot of work for a small piece of meat but it was very good. Plus the veggies were also great.
Next Time:
- Start out at a grate temp of 300-350 and smoke it 3 hours then wrap and into the oven.
- Do not add water to the veggie tray as it blocks the smoke.
- Review the SnS web site method at http://www.abcbarbecue.com/#!pulled-beef-chuck-roast/c1482
- Try injecting like OldFatGuy did here.
