Chuckie

This is a lesser known style of barbecue but one of my favorites to make. It is essentially the same as pulled pork but made with a beef chuck roast instead of a pork shoulder. Chuck roast is a less expensive cut of meat, but there is no sacrifice on the flavor.

Ingredients

Preparation

You will want to get the meat out the evening before and salt it. Unwrap the roast and pat it dry with a paper towel. Use about 1% of the weight of the meat in salt and sprinkle it evenly around the outside. Place the meat on a cooling rack or similarly open rack to allow air to flow around it and return it to the fridge overnight, uncovered. This process causes the exterior of the meat to become dry, which causes moisture within to move outward, pulling the salt inward. This will not dry out the meat but rather distribute the salt evenly throughout.

Plan on the meat taking around 2 hours per pound to cook, along with another hour or two for preparation. It's better to start (and finish) early than late, as you can store the cooked meat in a cooler for up to 4 hours after cooking is done if it's not yet time to serve. You will also want to factor in some extra time for pulling the meat, which can take 30 minutes or so if you have a lot.

Before cooking time, you will want to take your meat out of the fridge and let it warm up some. You can also take this time to apply the rub. The roast should be dry from the salting, so apply a thin layer of yellow mustard to make the rub adhere to the meat. Put as much rub as will stick on the roast, making sure to cover all sides. If you want to use board sauce this is a good time to make it too.

Combine equal parts apple juice, apple cider vinegar, and water into a food safe spray bottle. You won't need very much for a single barbecue, but this spray will keep well so you can reuse it for later things. Shake the bottle to mix it well. You will use this throughout the process so keep it handy.

Start your smoker (or oven/grill with a smoke box) and set it to 225°F. Once it is up to heat, you can place the roast inside. I find it easiest to hook up a temperature probe now but if you don't have one you can just use an instant read meat thermometer to check periodically. It will take around 2 hours per pound to cook, but it really depends on the size of the roast you have. Don't rely on a timer, but instead check the temperature every hour or so until it gets close to the finishing temperature of 190°F. Every hour while it's cooking, spray the roast on all sides with the spray bottle mixture. This will keep the bark from drying out and the acid combines well with the flavor of the bark. You can flip the roast when you check it if it looks like it's not cooking evenly, but it shouldn't make much difference.

Once the internal temperature of 190°F is reached, take the roast out of the cooker and wrap it tightly in foil. You should let the roast rest for at least 30 minutes after cooking. If it will need to rest for longer than that, wrap the foil in towels or similar and place the bundle into a cooler. It will hold its temperature if well insulated for four hours or more.

After the meat is done resting, prepare your cutting board by rubbing the board sauce on it. This can get pretty messy so I usually like to use a cutting board that has a drip groove around the edge. Place the roast atop the board sauce and slice it into manageable size chunks. With either forks or "bear claws" pull the roast along the grain so it shreds.

The ideal way to eat this is as a sandwich on toasted bread with pickles and barbecue sauce, but you can really do it any way you like. Leftovers freeze really well and you can just heat it up in a covered roasting pan to retain the moisture.