Meatsicle - Chuck Roast Cubes.

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whtplainssmoker

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
Apr 9, 2011
346
15
White Plains, NY
I was making some chili the other day and my mind wandered into new appetizer land (at least for me).  I made some pork shots on Christmas and as usual, they were a crowd pleaser.  With the Superbowl on Sunday, I wanted to make a manlier appetizer and I came up with the meatier-moink.  I was thinking of cutting a chuck roast into 1 inch cubes, seasoning them with a bbq rub, wrapping them in bacon and smoking them at around 225-250* like moinks or pork shots.  The thinking is I will get a manlier moink-type appetizer, with a beefier flavor.  

My concern  - with a smaller sized piece of meat do I run the risk of a tougher end-product?  I assume the bacon wrapping will keep everything juicy.  But dont know.

Has anyone tried this technique or something similar? 

I will post the results of the experiment this weekend.

Update:  Decided to start by marinating the chuck roast cubes with a beer marinade.  (I'm reserving 6 pieces to season just with SPOG to see the difference). 


I purchased chuck roast chunks for stew.


The cut them into bite-sized chunks.  I was hoping for 1 inch cubes, but I think I went a litte smaller.


Then made the marinade:

1 Warsteiner Ocktober fest beer

3 tbs white wine vinegar

3 tbs vegetable oil

2 tbs molasses

2 tbs mustard

1/2 onion sliced thin and chopped

1 tsp kosher salt


Then I wisked the marinade and placed the meat and marinade in a ziplock bag.  I will probably marinate for about 2 hours, then wrap in bacon and prepare for the smoke. 


The cubes after about 3 hours in the marinade..


wrapped in bacon...


and skewered for the smoker.  Into the mini-WSM at about 220*.  Trying to increase the temp a little.  But its a little cold outside (34*)


Here they are after about 2 hours on the mini-WSM


And the finished product.

The wife says the marinated ones are a little better than the SPOG seasoned.  They do have a more complex flavor profile.  But the unmarinated ones have a beefier flavor.  Overall, the marinated cubes are slightly jucier and have a nice tast of the beer, mustard and onion.  Lot of work for so few appetizers.  But they are very good.

Thanks for looking.
 
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I wanna see pics of this!  Have 2 chuckies in the freezer right now....And I have hoarded bacon!  
icon_eek.gif
 
I will be sure to post pictures when I conduct the experiment.  I plan on making a batch for the superbowl.  If they taste good, then I will have to come up with a good name for them.  
 
I did this with a sirloin steak I found in the back of my freezer. I didn't smoke it, I grilled it. I was afraid the flavor of the steak was compromised from how long it was in the freezer, so I cubed it marinated it, wrapped them in bacon and grilled them. Just before pulling them from the grill I drizzled a little blue cheese dressing on them. These tasty morsels were gone quick. Can't wait to see how yours turn out. I did mine before I got my smoker.
 
Nice work Bro.  Those look awesome.  Are they nice and tender?  I got my 3-2-1 ribs on now, and my pot of chili is awesome.  I'll post the chili later.
 
I wonder about dredging one side of the bacon through brown sugar and rub mix before rolling around the beef. Then use that coated side on the outside of the wrap. That would give another layer of flavor as it caramelized on the outside. You could do the same thing by rolling the completed wrap just before putting in the toothpick.
 
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BT Broiler - The marinated ones were more tender than the rubbed version.  As they cooled off they toughened up a bit, but were still good, so you have to serve them right away.   Problem, as usual, is the bacon at the lower temp. It doesn't crisp up the way it should.  I guess, you could finish in the broiler for 5 minutes to crisp the bacon.

DWard. - patting the bacon in brown sugar sounds like a good idea. If you want that taste of sweetness, that is definitely the way to go.   With the beer and onion flavor from the marinade, I thought the sugar would be one flavor too many.

Kathryn and TheMule. - Thanks for the comments.  Glad you enjoyed it.

As I said in the original post, this was a fair amount of work for a small amount of appetizers.  I ended up with several leftover chunks and didnt want to open another package of bacon, so I just skewered them.  They came our pretty good too.

The benefit of the pork shots over this method is that it is hard to overcook the sausage or kielbasa and you are not going to have a tenderness issue.   These were good, just not melt in your mouth good probably because I was dealing with the smaller cut of meat.
 
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