Beef Chuck Roast

[IndyRob]

If you're looking for an easy way, grab a sheet pan and a big sheet of aluminum foil.  Slice up an onion or two into rings and make a layer on the foil in the sheet pan.  Season the roast (either simple S&P, or a spice rub if you want to be more elaborate) and put it on the onions.  Seal the foil (in a way you can re-open to check doneness) and throw into a 225-250 oven for 2-3 hours (depending on the size).  When done, remove the onions and juice to a saucepan and get creative (add cream, broth, herbs and/or seasonings to your own taste).  Meanwhile, broil each side of the roast for a few minutes.  Serve the onions over the roast.  Admittedly, the results (being basically oven braised with the onion liquid) will be pretty pot roast-like if I'm not mistaken.

 

Alternatively, I've often wondered if one can cut chuck eye steaks from a chuck roast.  Not the tenderest steaks in the world, but they have good flavor.

[kayb]

Cook it as though it were pot roast, except with no veggies other than onion and some garlic. Shred the meat with two forks. Marinate in your favorite viniagrette. Serve on a sandwich with Swiss cheese. "Italian" beef.

 

[Paul Bacino]

Steak Pizzaiola  --  its chuck pounded  to  down a bit, seasoned.  braised in a red sauce

 

Just a thought

[Tri2Cook]

I like chucks low and slow in the smoker but that doesn't involve a dutch oven and does involve more than 2 - 3 hours.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

I like braised beef tips over rice. My recipe calls for browning the sliced bits, with some onion and garlic. Then add beef broth, red wine, and simmer slowly until your meat is tender. That happens faster than with a whole roast. Then add a slurry of cornstarch (gasp), soy sauce and a little water, and stir until it thickens. Served over hot cooked rice, it's hard to beat this dish in my book. I have a frozen chuck, so that may well be where I go with it.

 

It might be good with mushrooms too, but the original recipe is so good, I've never strayed from it.

[Smithy]

My sister is cooking her way through her freezer contents, and has unearthed a very well-wrapped beef chuck roast. (I specify well-wrapped because if the short ribs she recently cooked are an indication, the beef won't have any freezer burn.) She asked me for advice about how to cook it. I had to admit that I've never cooked a roast from a grass-fed cow. I understand that it may be leaner and may need special handling.

 

She doesn't have a low-temperature circulator, or a pressure cooker, or an Instant Pot, or even a Crock Pot. She does have enameled cast iron. So it's stovetop or oven cooking for her. Should she cook it as a whole, or treat it as stew meat? In the oven or atop it? Dry heat or moist?

 

Especially important: how will the grass-fed aspect of the beef play out? What special precautions should she take to ensure its tenderness and to take advantage of its flavor differences? I'll tell you right up front that she doesn't like onions and detests Lipton's Onion Soup mix, that magical addition. But she's open to carrots, celery, and most not-hot herbs and spices.

 

I can ask her questions about size, shape and bones if someone asks.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Braise it a long, long time.  Some red wine would be nice.

 

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/143759-braising-help-needed/

 

 

[heidih]

I agree with long slow red wine BUT how many is she feeding and do they like the more beefy chewy aspect? I would veer to thin sliced super quick flavorful stir fries . Counter intuitive but you could split it up and do part low/slow and part hot/quick/high flavor. No special equipment required. 

Edited February 2, 2020 by heidih (log)

[Smithy]

I'm not sure stir-frying is in her repertoire, but she might be tempted to learn. As far as I know she'll be feeding herself for many, many days. My penchant for buying food with high plans of dinner parties, or ambitious cooking projects, is not a one-off in our family.  

 

Thanks for the responses so far, folks (and for the link to an earlier topic, JoNorvelleWalker). Keep the ideas coming, please!

[FeChef]

I buy grass fed beef tenderloin a lot because it goes on sale for cheaper then choice angus sirloin. I have not noticed any difference in cooking grass fed tenderloin vs choice tenderloin. I feel a lot of people over think this kinda stuff.

Edited February 2, 2020 by FeChef (log)

[heidih]

I think we have morphed the word/term "stir -fry" into what it generally is not. Perhaps high heat saute is more accurate.

[Smithy]

6 hours ago, heidih said:

I think we have morphed the word/term "stir -fry" into what it generally is not. Perhaps high heat saute is more accurate.

 

It's very possible I misunderstood you, then. I did envision a wok and finely cut vegetables as additions, but I suppose the same could be accomplished with any skillet light enough for her to toss materials in. Thanks for the clarification.

[SLB]

I haven't found a huge difference in braising treatment of grass-fed versus regular commercial beef (as opposed to steaks, where the difference seems very serious). 

 

It's possible that i"m not sensitive enough; also, I usually cook pretty small roasts, so maybe I'm already in the habit of checking for doneness early.  

[kayb]

I agree with the above posters that there's not a lot of difference in cooking grass-fed chuck and any other chuck. Mine goes like this: I saute a sliced onion until it's limp and starting to caramelize. Add several glugs of red wine. When the "raw" wine smell is gone, I put the chuck roast on top. I surround it with potatoes, carrots and another peeled and quartered onion. Sprinkle everythign with Lawry's seasoned salt and lay a few sprigs of rosemary around. Add about a cup of water. Put a cover on it and stick it in the oven at 300 for however many hours is convenient; often, it'll go in before I start getting ready for church about 8:30, and we'll eat noonish.  It's meltingly tender and flavorful, which is the big diff in grass-fed and any other beef.

 

As for as eating for days, chuck roast is about as forgiving as a roast chicken. Day 2 is often shredded roast beef and gravy over mashed potatoes. Day 3 may be beef pot pie, using any leftover roasted veggies. Day 4 is a big pot of vegetable beef soup with whatever's left. Extras from THAT go in plastic in the freezer.

 

I love a chuck roast. About three years ago, my beef supplier (I buy a quarter-steer, locally raised, every year) went out of business. He grain-finished his cattle. My new supplier is all grass fed. The big difference I can tell in cooking is that steaks need to SV longer before being seared. And the flavor of the grass-fed is, I think, better.

 

[FeChef]

7 hours ago, Smithy said:

 

It's very possible I misunderstood you, then. I did envision a wok and finely cut vegetables as additions, but I suppose the same could be accomplished with any skillet light enough for her to toss materials in. Thanks for the clarification.

I can't put my finger on it, but there is something about using a wok vs a pan that you just can't get the same results, and it has nothing to do with the heat level. I believe its the way the wok flips the vegetables/meat when you stir them due to the woks shape. Then when you move the vegetables/meat up the sides not only does it prevent burning, it also alows the liquids to drain down to the bottom where it evaporates faster preventing your vegetables/meat from boiling in its own liquids.

[heidih]

I agree but for a super novice I find it better not to over complicate and give them a nurturing positive result. 

[Smithy]

Heidi is correct in not overcomplicating things, but thanks for the thoughts on wok vs. skillet. I summarized the responses to my sister in an email, and included a link to the discussion. (As a non-member, she can look at her leisure.) Here's what she said at the time:

 

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Possibilities. Thanks!  I'll check out the conversations later.  Cutting it in half and doing both is a grand idea.

 

At the risk of derailing this conversation (I hope it doesn't) I'll add that she went on say:

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I saw the most revolting-sounding product in the grocery store today. Peanut butter flavored whiskey. 

 

Discussion about THAT idea should go elsewhere, but I thought I'd share it. Thanks for the responses so far, folks. Keep the ideas coming! I'll relay her questions or comments as appropriate, and I hope I'll be able to report what she did and how it worked out.

[rotuts]

I think GFB  vs Grain finished cooks in a very similar fashion.

 

GFB tends to new much leaner , and smaller / muscle group.

 

how large is the hunk of meat ?

 

Id braise in a covered pot in the oven 

 

in some sort of flavorful liquid , Chef's choice.

 

w 1/2 of the meat above the liquid , in a not so hot oven.

 

it will take longer , but you might get some nice color on the 1/2 above the liquid.

 

@ an estimated 50 % of the cooking time , rotate the meat so the under-liquid is above the

 

liquid .   cook until fork tender.

 

300 F ?     several hours.   the fork test tells you when  its done.

 

some resistance to the fork , give you meat w a little more resistance than

 

fall apart meat.    done ness this way is up too the chef.

Edited February 3, 2020 by rotuts (log)

[Norm Matthews]

A friend of mine braised chuck in a way that I have tried and it is quite good: 1 packet of powdered Ranch dressing, 1 packet of powdered Italian dressing and 1 packet of brown gravy sprinkled over the top, add 1/2 cup water and any vegetables you want or hold off on the vegetables until later if you don't want them cooked as long. Cover and braise for until tender.  We went to my nephew's for Super Bowl and he had that whisky. I took a sip. It wasn't bad. Check liquid level and add more if it starts to dry out, but it probably won't. 

 

Edited February 3, 2020 by Norm Matthews (log)

[kayb]

I like peanut butter. I like whiskey. The thought of one flavored with the other makes me break out in hives.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

6 hours ago, kayb said:

I like peanut butter. I like whiskey. The thought of one flavored with the other makes me break out in hives.

 

Combination sounds pretty good to me actually.  Rye and peanuts are not unknown here.

 

[chromedome]

7 hours ago, kayb said:

I like peanut butter. I like whiskey. The thought of one flavored with the other makes me break out in hives.

It's not a combination that really speaks to me, but I can certainly see mixologists having fun with cocktails that riff on the PBJ or Reese's.

 

 

[Smithy]

Back to the roast: my sister reports that it's 2.5 pounds. She describes the dimensions this way:

Quote

The roast is 2.5 pounds.  The side with the fat and its opposite are 4X6 inch rectangles.  The other surfaces are roughly triangular. 6 inches on the long sides and 5 inches along the short side.

 

[SLB]

That sounds about perfect, @Smithy.  Not big enough to create agony if it comes out poorly; but just dense enough to cook slowly.

 

On the peanut-butter-whiskey . . . I confess that I am ok with it.  I mean, think of how it might play in a hard sauce . . . .  I wouldn't drink it neat, but I'm sure I could figure something out.  

 

But my real question is for @kayb -- do you eat the full quarter each year?  I realize I don't know anything about your household size.  I've been splitting quarters with a friend, but the jealousy is beginning to get the best of me.  I'm trying to figure out if I can handle a whole quarter at a time.  [And I recognize -- this is not exactly a question that can be answered by one's Internet Friends . . . ].

Edited February 4, 2020 by SLB (log)

[kayb]

I generally get close; what's left is usually ground beef, and I hand that off to the kids when it's time for the next one. Last year, though, I guess I didn't cook as much, and had enough left I skipped a year. I'll be ready this fall for another one.

 

There are two of us, but my daughter often does not eat at home, so say 1.5. I often have other kids here on the weekends and cook then, too.