Extremely Poor Man's Burnt Ends

[paleoman]

So far with the Traeger, I've done burgers, pulled pork (first for me in a smoker), and a spatchcocked chicken. I've decided to try the Chuck Roast Burnt Ends that Jeff describes here.

I've never even had burnt ends before, let alone try smoking them, but I hear friends rave about them. I don;t have anything planned for Saturday, so I'm going to give it a go. My local grocery store had bottom round on sale, so I grabbed one that was 4.41 pounds. Not a chuck roast, so it'll be interesting to see how a different cut works out (I guess it's from the outside of back leg, instead of shoulder - supposed to be leaner with less connective tissue, from what I read). It doesn't seem to have as much marbling, as what I see with the chuck roast that Jeff shows in the link.

In any case, I grabbed the roast, applied Worcestershire sauce and Jeff's Original rub, and placed it into the only container I could find that would work...

When I get up tomorrow, I'll start smoking this puppy. I'm wondering if I should place it on the Traeger grates directly, place it in a roasting pan (or 1" high pan) I have with a rack and some water, or try to put it on that small upper rack with a pan of water under. Any suggestions?

Any comments/suggestions based on the different cut of meat?

I'll do some grilled vegetables and some baked beans (neither smoked), maybe some corn bread as well.

 

[Gonna Smoke]

I've never even had burnt ends before, let alone try smoking them

You are in for a treat. Not sure how a round roast will do, but they need some fat...

 

[bigfurmn]

Oh man your gonna love this. I'm totally in for the finish! Make sure to get lots of pictures. We are kinda food porn whores around here.

 

[paleoman]

Oh man your gonna love this. I'm totally in for the finish! Make sure to get lots of pictures. We are kinda food porn whores around here.

Will do - success or failure!

 

[bigfurmn]

Will do - success or failure!

If you got a question at 4am about something, someone here will be up and more then happy to help you. It's gonna be hard to turn out less than ok.

 

[Hijack73]

Round is going to be a bit trickier than chuck. Will still be tasty, but don't be surprised if they are a bit dry. I don't use round unless I'm cooking it medium rare or grinding it (and then I grind it with something fattier. Or making jerky, though I haven't done jerky in a long time.

Burnt ends originated as chunks of brisket point. The marbling is what made them so good. Chuck, if marbled right, is an excellent substitute.

 

[paleoman]

Round is going to be a bit trickier than chuck. Will still be tasty, but don't be surprised if they are a bit dry. I don't use round unless I'm cooking it medium rare or grinding it (and then I grind it with something fattier. Or making jerky, though I haven't done jerky in a long time.

Burnt ends originated as chunks of brisket point. The marbling is what made them so good. Chuck, if marbled right, is an excellent substitute.

Good to know! I don't have high expectations, but will see how it comes out.

 

[paleoman]

Fired up smoker at 5:20am, set to 240˚F. It is 25˚F outside.
Decided to place in pan, on rack, and use a separate pan for water, on the side.

At 5:35am, it was preheated and I put the meat in at 5:40am...

Going back to bed for a bit.

 

[DRKsmoking]

Good start, like the others ---- I am following,


David

 

[paleoman]

It's chugging along. Here are temperature snapshots with two probes (the second is closer to middle)...
2 hrs - 104/99
4 hrs - 145/140
5 hrs - 153/145
6 hrs 20 mins - 156/149
7 hrs - 160/153
8 hrs - 162/154

Appears to be at the "stall"?

I'll open it in a bit to take a quick picture and check the water level in the pan. It's been closed, since I started.

 

[paleoman]

Here's what it looks like at about 8.5 hours...

And temps at 9 hours read 167/160˚F. Maybe starting to climb now?

 

[paleoman]

So, at 10 hours I have 171/163˚F, and at 11 hours (4:40pm) I have 176/169˚. Seems to be running much longer than the estimated 8 hours to get to 190˚F from the link.

Any thoughts on whether I should alter the plan at all?

At this rate, looking at maybe 8-9pm for completion, which is kinda late.

If I wanted to serve this tomorrow, any suggestions on how I could approach that? I've never done that before.

Would I just refrigerate and then reheat?
Or could I cool and then vacuum seal, an sous vide to reheat? If so, at what temp?
Do I need to chill it quickly (somehow)?
Would I need to do anything to introduce some moisture, when reheating? How?

Any guidance would be appreciated!

 

[DougE]

Burnt ends originated as chunks of brisket point. The marbling is what made them so good. Chuck, if marbled right, is an excellent substitute.

Pork belly also makes killer burnt ends. The fat just melts in your mouth with a buttery goodness. Probably clogs an artery or three, but man are they good!

Looking forward to the results but round is awful lean to try turning it into burnt ends.

 

[paleoman]

Pork belly also makes killer burnt ends. The fat just melts in your mouth with a buttery goodness. Probably clogs an artery or three, but man are they good!

Looking forward to the results but round is awful lean to try turning it into burnt ends.

I've never had pork belly at all. Something to put on the To-Do list.

I'm definitely not going to serve it tonight. I'm almost at 12 hours and 180/174 degrees. My first thought, is to vacuum seal into a few bags, refrigerate, and then reheat tomorrow (I think I have a chart for reheat time).

I'm just wondering if I should just go to 190 degrees (or less) and serve it as a roast tomorrow, or if I should continue the process to create the burnt ends (cube, BBQ suace and rub, cook more)...

 

[DougE]

I don't really have much advice to offer as I have never made burnt ends from this cut. When I do make them from pork belly or chuck, I usually cube the meat into inch to inch and a half cubes before smoking. When the cubes hit around 160°, I put them in a foil pan with sauce, covered with foil, for the remainder.

 

[paleoman]

I don't really have much advice to offer as I have never made burnt ends from this cut. When I do make them from pork belly or chuck, I usually cube the meat into inch to inch and a half cubes before smoking. When the cubes hit around 160°, I put them in a foil pan with sauce, covered with foil, for the remainder.

I've been following this link,
https://www.smoking-meat.com/smoked-chuck-roast-burnt-ends
, where Jeff uses a chuck roast (my mistake in getting a bottom round). He cooks it as a roast at 240˚F, until 190˚F (roughly 8 hours) and then cuts, adds sauce/rub, and then cools some more (up to 2 hours) to caramelize the sauce.

The example used two 3 lb chuck roasts. I have one 4.41 lb bottom round, so it is a thicker piece of meat and I'm guessing will take about 14-15 hours to hit 190˚F, from what I see right now (183/180˚F at 12 hrs, 40 mins, going up about 5 degrees per hour).

It's new territory for me (should have used a check roast), but I'm slogging through it...

 

[DougE]

I just find that cubing first speeds the cook along rather than cooking a solid piece, then cubing for the foil pan part.

 

[DougE]

Jeff also has a recipe for pork belly burnt ends that calls for cutting the meat into cubes first.

 

[paleoman]

I just find that cubing first speeds the cook along rather than cooking a solid piece, then cubing for the foil pan part.

That makes sense. Will note that for future reference.

 

[Brokenhandle]

Look forward to how it turns out. Never made burnt ends before... especially out of pork belly. I pick my battles... but wife and I go through 30 to 40 lbs of bacon a year lol!

Yes, I know, redneck logic! Lol!

Ryan