Smoking a Chuck for eating the next day?

[husker3in4]

I usually like to target smoking/resting/eating all in one shot. But I have to work Saturday and still want to devour a smoked chuck for the game (7pm kickoff). I want to smoke it Thursday and reheat it sat evening.

So would I take out of the smoker when its done ,and let it rest, uncovered, on the counter until its cool and refrigerate? or would I wrap it in foil/towels and let it cool slower so it gets more rest before it cools?

When reheating, back in the smoker for an hour or 2? or just pop it in the oven fat 300 for an hour?

Slice it when its cooled? or slice it after reheat?

I usually smoke my chucks the same way I do briskets: cover in OO, rub, then smoke @ 230 until 160, place it in a pan (uncovered) until its probe tender. I don't usually wrap it at all until I'm resting it.

Please help guy, I don't want my chuck to suck like my huskers do this year!

 

[zwiller]

I never eat my stuff same day I smoke. So many ways to reheat and I think they all basically work. For chuck I am usually making it for tacos so, I cube it up and throw in a crock. Add little water and some tex mex seasoning. (I inject and no rub). Chuck goes unwrapped to 205F, ziploc, counter to cool, and then fridge. I halve it, vac seal one and freeze a rainy day.

 

[husker3in4]

Im going to want to slice it..

 

[ristau5741]

slice after reheating, otherwise it may dry out.

But Yea, since I have no good source of wood, I buy the big box store pricey stuff. so to offset the costs, I fill the smoker to capacity. and smoke as much as I can fit. once it cooled, run it past the scale, either foil and wrap, of run it through hte food saver, and freeze.

 

[smokerjim]

I would take it out of smoker when done, let cool, wrap or zip loc bag it and put in fridge, I personally would just heat in oven and slice, but you could slice when cooled, and when your ready to heat it put in foil pan with some beef broth or something, cover and heat it up.. I think either way it will be great.

 

[husker3in4]

suggestions for reheat temp and time? covered or uncovered? I figure covered would destroy the bark..

 

[smokerjim]

I usually reheat at 275-300, not sure about chuck but st. louis ribs usually takes about 40 minutes. that might give you an idea. I think covering is a personal preference, I don't know if it would make a difference either way, but I usually cover everything I reheat with a little liquid , seems to get up to temp much quicker. if your worried about your bark leave it uncovered it may just take a bit longer. good luck let us know how it turns out.

 

[tallbm]

I usually like to target smoking/resting/eating all in one shot. But I have to work Saturday and still want to devour a smoked chuck for the game (7pm kickoff). I want to smoke it Thursday and reheat it sat evening.

So would I take out of the smoker when its done ,and let it rest, uncovered, on the counter until its cool and refrigerate? or would I wrap it in foil/towels and let it cool slower so it gets more rest before it cools?

When reheating, back in the smoker for an hour or 2? or just pop it in the oven fat 300 for an hour?

Slice it when its cooled? or slice it after reheat?

I usually smoke my chucks the same way I do briskets: cover in OO, rub, then smoke @ 230 until 160, place it in a pan (uncovered) until its probe tender. I don't usually wrap it at all until I'm resting it.

Please help guy, I don't want my chuck to suck like my huskers do this year!

Pull off smoker and wrap in double foil and let it cool off enough to put in your fridge.
Reheat in oven at like 350F and plan for it to take a while.

Reheat to an IT of 170F+ this should get it back hot enough to behave like it would have if you had pulled it from the smoker and rested it. At temps like 160F it may still not have the tenderness texture you are looking for. I say this because it is easy to pull a reheated pork butt at 170F+ but not easy at 160F-165F. So using that knowledge go to 170F or a little higher for getting it ready to slice and serve.

Honestly if you want to slice while it is cold it will slice WAY better than when it is hot. You could slice while still in the foil. Foil it back together tightly and reheat and it will be fine AND reheat faster anyhow.
It's up to you which way you may want to go but armed with this info you can go either way and turn out an amazing chunk of meat.

BTW, it will taste better the next day. BBQ always does :)

 

[husker3in4]

Thanks for your help guys. I smoked it Thursday, took about 8 hours for a 3.5lb chuck. Took it out and let it cool on the counter, lightly covered. Once it was cooled down enough I tightly covered it and put in the fridge til Saturday. The oven was in use so I put it back in the smoker (no smoke) at 275, it took about 90 mins and it was ready to go (temp 165ish). Sliced up great and was very tasty. Will probably do this again next weekend for the game, as maybe my reheat success contributed to my huskers not sucking as bad last week?

 

[tallbm]

Thanks for your help guys. I smoked it Thursday, took about 8 hours for a 3.5lb chuck. Took it out and let it cool on the counter, lightly covered. Once it was cooled down enough I tightly covered it and put in the fridge til Saturday. The oven was in use so I put it back in the smoker (no smoke) at 275, it took about 90 mins and it was ready to go (temp 165ish). Sliced up great and was very tasty. Will probably do this again next weekend for the game, as maybe my reheat success contributed to my huskers not sucking as bad last week?

Fantastic! I'm sure it did help the team out some and man isn't it better the next few days :D

 

[husker3in4]

Well I closed off the vent a little to keep more smoke in and it was extra smokey, just how I like it!

 

[BigW.]

Please continue to smoke a chuck every weekend. It may or may not have helped with the win. I would not take a chance with pulled pork.

 

[zwiller]

Congrats on the success. I tend to think if the smoke level is not strong enough for you, you might need to move to more aggressive wood flavor. Oak is my standby but mesquite is also great on beef.

 

[husker3in4]

I pretty much use hickory on everything. Other woods are good, hickory is just my standby as I like the bit of sweetness it adds. Havent tried oak, how is it compared to hickory?

 

[zwiller]

I Havent tried oak, how is it compared to hickory?

Better

I find it just a bit stronger than hickory and has a vanilla/whisky note. Dead serious about what @BigW is suggesting. If you smoked chucks every weekend you would take your game up big time. You learn tons with repetition. I did 50lbs PP for daughters grad party and smoking about every weekend I learned immensely. I tried lots of woods and mixes and actually decided to try oak as a matter of elimination and knew halfway through that smoke that it was "the one". I also tried little changes to rubs and my injections, tweaked and took notes.

Anyway, oak on beef in standard Texas protocol. It just works.