What to do with Bottom Round?

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papadave

Fire Starter
Original poster
Oct 5, 2007
46
10
Mississippi Gulf Coast
Have a bottom round roast to cook. Can it be used for pulled beef or is it best to slice it? If sliced is best can I stop it at 160 degrees internal temp so it will be medium. Should it be low and slow?
Thanks for your advice.
 
First off prop it up! heh sorry...

160's probably too high for medium. It will go up about 10 degrees during the rest period.
I love pulled anything, so I'm gonna disqualify myself from the other question :{)
 
For the low and slow question, the lower and slower the better. Bottom round, like all of the lower cuts, have much more connective tissue. The longer (up to a point) it smokes, the more that touch stuff will melt away. With that said, it has a tendency to get real dry really quick, so keep basting it (every half an hour works best for me); I've injected the last couple of roasts I've done, and that seems to help.

Now, I normally like pulled meat, but for this cut, I like to pop it in the fridge overnight after it rests. Then slice it really thin for sammies. I think the texture is better this way, and your juice returns to the meat a little better since it's cooled, which really enhances the flavour.
 
The fridge idea sounds good. Think I'll do the thin slice and make some au jus to dip it in. If you don't mind what do you inject it with?
 
This is what I've been using lately. The liquid is what I inject with. Any leftover liquid gets dumped in with the meat in a zip top bag for an over night marinade. Poor the leftover juice in the bag first, or you will totally hose up your nice rub. Also, slather the meat with yellow mustard first to help the rub stick.

Rub:
1/3 cup Turbinado Sugar
1/3 cup Salt (Course)
1/3 cup paprika
1/3 cup fresh black pepper

Liquid (mix very well):
1 can Cola (shake until flat)
1/2 cup EVOO
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp cayanne pepper
 
personally I like to turn bottom round into pastrami or corned beef.......I also have slow roasted them in my smoker for thin sliced roast beef sammies.......
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The Italian sammies sound too good to pass up. Will get started on injecting in the AM. Thanks for all the input. Gonna have to slow down on all this smokin'. Startin' to gain weight. But it's sooooo good!
 
I like to use the bottom round for jerky, but the method Geek discribes sounds like something I need to add to my "Must-Do" folder. Thanks for sharing Josh!!
 
sorry i keep getting in late on these .. first off this website is great..very wise cooks here..and way to many good cooks lol. a bottom round is really not a smoker cut..but heres an idea..smoked swiss steaks..the round cut is usualy used for the swiss steak ..slice your roast into 3/4 inch cuts ..smoke till 150 degrees.. remove and use a coarse meat hammer beat to a tenderness make up a mushroom onion gravy top it off in gravy then either place in a covered container and put back in smoker or use your home oven..just enough time to heat to a serving temp and allow the gravy to thicken..remember to add a small amount of beef based water to keep it from drying out..smoke on ..mike
 
every swiss steak i have ever had or done, was tomato based, this sounds more like a Salisbury steak..........but it still sounds good


d8de
 
I'm w/ Mavadikin (sp).

Round is not something that I would generally want to smoke, and bottom round in particular. If I had it and I had to smoke it though, I would cook it well done but not over 200*, refrigerate it and slice it as thinly as possible. Round doesn't lend itself well to pulling because of it's tight grained narrow stranded musculature.

certain cuts of the top round such as rump roast are good cooked med to med rare dry roasted, but IMHO, bottom round is primarily a braising cut.

I do like the Geek's acid marinade idea, and if you have a vacpac marinating pan, this would be a good place to use it.
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