just a few basic questions

[baconmonster]

hi all,

i bought one of those cheap charcoal smokers a few years back and that seemed to do me alright but i recently got me a decent sized gas smoker and i can't wait to cut my teeth on that bad boy.  a friend has graciously donated two 3.5 lb rump roasts for my effort on saturday night.i'm not a complete novice when it comes to food,( i did cook for about 10 years out of high school) but have never tried anything like this before.

the questions that i have for you learned smokers are fairly straight foreword:

1. whats your opinion as to my time & temp per pound?

2. what's your stance searing the outside of the meat on a hot grill before cooking in the smoker? 

3. like said, i've never done this cut of meat before so i'm not really sure how tough its gonna be. is this a cut that can be cooked to a med-rare and sliced for sammies or will it need to go to a shredded state?

any insight that you could pass along would be greatly appreciated.

thanks much

 

[smokeamotive]

Fisrt of all Welcome to SMF!  And check out the 5 day e-course, Theres lots of info in there for the beginner. As I have never smoked a rump roast before I cannot comment specifically about this cut of meat but I'm sure someone will come along and have some insight. But to the basics.

1. As far as temps, I would run your smoker from 200 to 225 deg. Low and slow is the way to go!

2. NO never sear a piece of meat that you are going to smoke. If you sear the meat you seal the outside of the it and you won't get all that smokey goodness into the meat.

3. As far as how tough this cut is I don't know, but there are alot of good folks around here that are more qualified to answer that than I am.

Also check in the forums and do a search such as go to beef (You already found this) and in the search box at the top of the page type in "rump roast" if its in there, you'll find it.

Also go to the Roll call thread and introduce yourself so all the good folks here can give you a big SMF welcome!  Good Luck and again Welcome!!!!!