Please Help, My Roast Came Out Tough

[bluebottle]

Yesterday, I smoked a Beef Cross Rib Roast (along with a Pork Shoulder Blade Roast, a Turkey, and some Lamb Chops). The Chops and the Turkey came out fine, but the Beef and the Pork came out tough. I used an offset smoker with Mesquite and kept the temp between 180 & 200 and cooked both roasts to an internal temp of 135. In a regular oven (at 350), my roasts always come out juicy & tender at this internal temp, but on my smoker they came out juicy, but tough & almost rubbery. Any ideas why? Is this the wrong kind of meat to use? Thanks for your help, Bluebottle

 

[chris_harper]

you should have kept the temp between 225-240°. i would have taken them to 200° internal. but that is me. mesquite is my favorite wood to use for smoking. go thru the beef section, and the pork section, and look for threads with the meat you want to know about. at the bottom of the pages, look for the "show threads" box, and put it on show from beginning. you should be able to find answers for everything you want to know about. hope this helps.

 

[bwsmith_2000]

Greetings Mr. Bluebottle,
I'm not sure what happened but I would tend to think it is the cut of meat. The last beef I did was a sirloin tip (last week end). It was tied or trussed by the butcher and weighed about 4 1/4 lb. I smoked it at about 225 to 240* until I had an internal temp of 240. It took about 4 1/2 hours. It came out to be some of the best beef I have done. (I used some of Tulsa Jeff's rub prior to smoking.) My wife is almost insistent that I do another this weekend. I guess the bottom line is that at the low and slow temps you used, you should have had great results. And by the way, I like mine a little on the rare side too so I usually pull it at 135* to 140*.

But if I read you right, you usually use the same cuts of meat and cook them at a higher temp and they come out great. I can't figure it but if I had to guess, I'd lean towards a tough piece of meat.

 

[gunslinger]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong please, but a roast at 130º ain't no where near done, not even rare. Well, a little too rare. I like my beef bleeding too, but 135º? And I wouldn't even consider eating pork AT ALL at that temp. I know this for sure, for a tender roast, your cook temp was WAY to low.

 

[bigal]

I agree Tom. I think a roast is similar to brisket. 225*-240 and take internal to 205* is what I do. Roasts are tough, not meant to be tender at 140*.

Bluebottle, as far as doing in oven to 135 and getting good results...great! Maybe try the same temp(350) in the smoker to see what happens.

I don't cook in ovens, I always use the smoker. So I really can't say much, but a smoker is very similar to an oven.......w/less clean up.

I have 2 roasts in fridge now and plan on take'n them to 205+ in smoker, I personally wouldn't think of take'n it to only 135 or 140.......but we also like med well to well done meat.

would it be bad to put it back on the smoker and take it to 200........whats left of it anyway? If you don't like it, what do you have to loose?

Good luck Bluebottle, wish I could give you an intelligent answer, but that might worry people who know me...

 

[deejaydebi]

Bluebottle

I'm with Tom on this one. 130 is way to raw and for pork that's even dangerous.

A shoulder MINIMUM should go to 175 degrees for slicing or 205 for pulling.

I would smoke between 230 and 250

I think a Beef Cross Rib Roast is like a pot roast no? Again I would smoke between 230 and 250. In a smoke meat tends to hang at a temperature for a long time (plateu). You probably coud have left it in to tenderize for another few hours and still had it rare if that was your objective.

PLEASE cook your pork longer! You could get seriously ill.

 

[gremlin]

I don' know about the temp and time thing with smoking it but a good steak....mmmmmmmmm as Woody Haraldson said.."knock the horns off, slap its butt and put it on the plate.
I use the thirty thirty rule. Same as my guarantees.