BBQ Beef Sandwich

BBQ Beef Sandwich!



This recipe uses 5 basic items in the recipe including the beef! I started with an easy to find piece of meat - Chuck Roast. It is an inexpensive piece of beef available in almost any grocery store around.


I got my piece of meat from a local rancher that focuses on grass fed, open range beef - MM Livestock. They also have a blog with lots of good ideas and information. If you don't live in Southern California, check out the web and see if you can find a beef rancher similar in your area! Not only does the beef have incredible flavor, the self sustaining theory of the rancher is refreshing in this rushed lifestyle most of us live.


Here's the 5 basic ingredients:
Beef Chuck Roast
Worcestershire Sauce
Simple Marvelous Sweet & Spicy Dry Rub
Apple Juice
BBQ Sauce

You can find Simply Marvelous on line here. Their dry rubs are amazing and can be used on almost anything. I suggest purchasing the 5 Pack Variety. You will not be let down!

If you don't have Simply Marvelous you can use your favorite dry rub. If the rub has a heavy or really spicy flavor, don't over do it, you want each layer of flavor to compliment, not overpower the other layers of flavor.

Rub the Worcestershire sauce liberally over the beef. You can't use too much! This will add a layer of flavor and allow the dry rub to stick to the meat. Let it soak in for 15 minutes or so and then apply the Simply Marvelous dry rub heavily over the meat. Let it rest for a 1/2 hour or so to allow the rub to melt into the meat.

While the meat is soaking in flavor, start your smoker. I smoked this chuck roast just like a brisket. Smoker was set at 225.

You could also use your oven or on the gas grill if you cook using the multi zone method. Turn the burner on the left side on it's lowest setting and place the meat on the far right side. Try and maintain the grate temp near the meat at 225F.

You can see that by the time the smoker was up to temp, the dry rub has completely melted into the surface of the meat.

Keeping with the brisket cooking method, I smoked the chuck roast until the internal temp reached 170F and then placed in a 1/2 pan with 1/4 cup of apple juice and then tightly covered in foil to continue cooking.

As soon as the internal temp hit 205F, I pulled the foil off and let it rest uncovered for 1/2 hour. This does two things - allows the bark or outside crust of the meat to harden up a bit to set the bark. It also stops the cooking process. If you wrap up a big piece of meat like this and rest it immediately, it can and usually will continue to cook and the internal temp will creep up 3 - 7 degrees. In some cases, this may be helpful. In this case it was not. The internal temp was already where I wanted it.

Now that the bark has firmed up, it's time to rest the meat. Wrap your meat in a few layers of heavy duty foil, then wrap in a towel and place in a clean dry cooler. Let the meat rest for at least 1 hour but no longer than 3 hours. You don't want the meat to cool down below 145F. Resting the meat allows the juices in the meat to redistribute throughout the meat ensuring tenderness and juiciness.

After you rest the meat, slice it in 1/4" - 1/2" thick slices and then cross cut the same thickness - kind of cubing up the meat.
After the meat is cubed up add to a pan and throw in your favorite sauce.
Mix up the sauce adding a little at a time. You don't want the flavor of the sauce to overpower the meat and dry rub - they should all add layers of flavor, complimenting each layer.
Throw that meat on a bun and eat!