So far in my short BBQ lifetime, I have made some incredible meals. Now, one thing they have all had in common is that they were pretty significant meals which I wouldn't have without BBQ. In a way BBQ for me has been a turn off on the dinner highway. Simply meals that didn't happen otherwise. This week though, that is all changing.
For this cook, I am making tacos. So a year ago, that meant throwing some ground beef in a skillet with some seasoning. The ease of this made it a staple in my household. So I was a little taken back when Mikey assigned me tacos. It sounded kinda like he was taking my simple household meal and making it far too much of a process for a weeknight.
I quickly realized though, what he was actually doing was allowing me to enjoy the art of BBQ and still cook something simple. It was kinda genius really. The meat for these new tacos was set to be slow smoked chuck roast pulled. See this was new too. I have pulled chicken. I have certainly pulled pork, but never beef.
Like most cooks, I assumed this would be smoke slow at 250 until the beef gets to about 190. And like most cooks, Mikey quickly corrected me. He instructed me to smoke the beef until about 165 internal. At that point put the roast in an aluminum pan along with a sliced pepper, a sliced onion, a bit of butter and a can or two of beer. Different for sure...but I was cooking with beer so I certainly would not complain.
Alright, so I love me some High Life. But considering I was cooking with beer, I switched over to Coors Banquet for that extra class. I picked up a beautiful USDA choice chuck roast. I carefully picked out Southern Links Steak and Brisket Seasoning for my rub. With the roast rubbed and the beautiful white smoke pouring out of my kettle it was time to get this cook going.
In all honesty, this cook went pretty flawlessly. While the roast was smoking, I cut up my peppers and onions. Soon the internal temp hit 165 and I sealed the roast up in its bath of Banquet and started working on everything else that goes with tacos. Just after that point is when I realized that the adage of BBQ being ready when it is ready doesn't quite make everyone happy. The temp was going up slowly and I had a very hungry family on my hands.
Finally, it hit temp. I pulled it off the grill and began to shred it. Soon there was a bowl of the most incredible pulled beef I had ever seen. It was time to eat. After only a couple bites, I realized that this was like unlike any taco Tuesday we have ever had in the family. The difference between a typical skillet ground beef taco and a smoked pulled chuck roast is unbelievable. The family certainly agreed as it was all eaten almost instantly.
Like I said, I can hardly see me pulling off this smoke on a weeknight for a quick taco dinner. At the same time, I would certainly be able to cook this on the weekend and save it for a mid-week meal. It was a very enjoyable BBQ twist to a pretty standard meal in my house.
Ironically the next night I was at Mikey's house to eat pulled chicken and pulled pork tacos which he made. Obviously, there is a difference between them...But at the very least I feel my pulled beef tacos certainly were in the same category.
Until next post, remember kids.....CHUNKS not chips!
