Just some more random beef

Chef JimmyJ said:

Looks great Dave. I am pretty proud of that Rub, glad you enjoy it too...JJ

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Yes I do! It's my goto for pastrami! I use whole peppercorns, coriander and juniper and roast it all then grind to the coarseness I like. The mustard and thyme add just a little extra that really works!

Woodcutter said:

I never had those either but they look like they are marbled nice.

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Yes they have a nice marbling, especially from a side view, should render out nice and be a very tender juicy lunchtime snack! Oh yea, just a light dusting of SPOG to bring out the natural flavor of the beef!

Well I finally got everything done. Whew!
So these little things the store called "country style beef ribs" I think were just trimmings from the chuck roasts they had on sale. They tasted just like the chuckies I smoked and had the same texture. I ate one for lunch yesterday and it was good but I wasn't really impressed so the other two went in with the chuckies. Here they are after smoking:

The chuckies came out real good. I smoked them for 5 hours and then (Please nobody shoot me) put them in the crock pot with some beef broth for another 5 hours. I love pot roast and I want it very moist wet and just fall apart tender. I have tried smoking chuckies before and just can't get them moist and wet, tender yes, but just not that moistness like a pot roast in the crock pot. So by smoking them for 5 hours I get that nice smoky flavor in a tender moist pot roast. I have done this a few times in the past and it always comes out perfect. I also put some taters and carrots in the crock and had a Great dinner last night. Anyway here they are right off the smoker:

After I pull them out of the crock pot I just shred them like pulled pork so I can vac/seal some for later:

OK on to the pastrami. This was one of the weirdest things I've ever had happen with my smoker. I was planning on a wet to dry chamber smoke and I didn't want to foil because anytime I have foiled pastrami I get a lot of juices in the foil and the meat has been a little dry. I figured by going with the dry chamber it would lock all the juice in, and it did.....until......
I went with water in a pan for 3 hours at 210* to get some good smoke penetration and then dumped the water. I was figuring on these going about 6 hours since the biggest one was was only 4.25lbs, but oh no........ At 3 hours the IT was around 110* so I thought I was right on track. At 5 hours about 115*.......6 hours about 120....and that's when it started....the stall! I got tired of checking them so I stuck my Mav's meat probe in the hottest one so I could monitor it. At 8 hours it had crept up to 130*. I was getting nervous now, I didn't want them to dry out but I knew I couldn't pull them out or I would have very rare sliced pastrami. My target was no more than 150* but I didn't think I would ever get there. At 10 hours it was 138* and moving slowly. I had slowly bumped the chamber temp up from 210* to about 240* during this whole time, I didn't want to go too high and risk drying the meat out. At 12 1/2 hours it finally made it to 145* so I pulled them out. When I did I probed each one and the thickest one was only 129*. Again i don't want rare pastrami and since this piece was one my friend brought me I didn't want to give it back to him like that. I didn't want to put them back in the smoker and wait another 3 or 4 hours so I did what I didn't want to. I foiled them and put them in the oven at 230* and in 45 minutes the 129* piece went to 145* so out they came. I opened the foil a little just to let some heat out because I didn't want them to keep cooking (my original plan was to just give them a towel tent to cool) and just what I didn't want to see, juices in the foil. Now I'm getting scared, I really don't want dry pastrami! So after cooling for about 30 minutes I stuck them in the fridge, I want them to cool as fast as they can before all the juice runs out.
I had never experienced a stall like that, especially with lean beef. I've made quite a few pastrami and have never had this happen. I couldn't believe it! The thick one was only 3.35lbs and after 12 1/2 hours it was only 129*!?!?!? I know my chamber temps were right on because I checked them with 2 Mav's and I can just tell the temp by where I set the valves to. And the chuckies cooked just fine, they were around 150* at 5 hours! Yea this one just baffled me!

Here they are right out of the smoker before I had to foil them:

So anyway, I wondered all night if they were going to be dry and the only way to tell was to slice them. So this was a great chance to try out my brand new slicer I just got last week:

The slicer works Great and the pastrami came out pretty good! To my surprize it is very moist! But it still makes me wonder how it would have been if I hadn't of foiled it? Just a good reason to try it again!

This pan is for my friend, I think he will be pleased:

Here's what I have for myself:

Close up:

And all sealed up waiting on future consumption:

Thanks for looking! And if anyone has any thoughts on why this could have stalled so long I would love to hear them because I am baffled!!!

Woodcutter said:

Nice haul!

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Thanks Todd!!