Required Materials:
Beef Chuck Roast
Your favorite beef seasoning or simple salt and pepper
Wire racks for easy transferring
Aluminum baking trays
1 cup your favorite BBQ sauce
1 cup beef stock
I wanted to jump on the new trend of making faux beef burnt ends using a beef chuck roast. The internet has been calling them “poor man’s burnt ends” even though I think this roast was the same price per lb as a brisket. It is convenient that you can buy a smaller roast vs brisket point, or a full packer and prepare in a lot less time.
I picked up a 6.5 lb roast from Costco, it came in two large chunks with one being a bit larger than the other. I did very minimal trimming and took off only obvious pieces of fat that would not render. I seasoned the meat with a good coating of Plow Boys Bovine Bold, and I decided to keep the roast whole for the first part of the cook. I have seen them prepared a few different ways with cutting them into cubes from the beginning, while others had smoked it as a full roast from the start. I thought it would get more smoke if I cooked it slower as a full roast vs. cubing from the beginning. For this cook I used my Traeger Timberline 1300 because it is the easier pit to maintain low temps around 200. I smoked both whole roasts at 200f on Super Smoke for about 2.5 hours running hickory pellets. Once the internal temp was about 115f, I then cut them into as close to 1 inch by 1-inch cubes as I could using a sharp filet knife. Having a sharp knife here is important to not tear the meat and help cut through the ribbons of fat through the cut of meat.
I transferred the cubes to wire racks making them easier to transport onto the pit. I would recommend spraying the racks with some oil or duck fat to prevent sticking. I bumped the smoker up to 225 and smoked for about 90 minutes on Super Smoke. After this time, I think they built all the bark I was looking for - now it’s time to tenderize.
Next step involves transferring to a full aluminum hotel pan with equal parts beef broth and our team’s competition BBQ sauce which will introduce a good amount of sweetness. I would recommend about a cup of each. Secure the lid with layer of foil and put them back on the smoker to braise for another 90 minutes. This step is going to steam and tenderize the meat. It is important to not have too much liquid in the pan because you do not want the beef to fall apart and turn into beef pot roast.
The last step I think made all the difference. I used a slotted spoon to remove the meat from the sheet pan and put back on the wire racks one more time. Then I cranked up the Traeger to 475f and gave it a few minutes to heat up. Once we were over 400, I put the meat back on the smoker for a last bath in some high heat to caramelize the sugars and give each cube a quick sear. This gave the burnt ends the texture they needed. We had some friends from the neighborhood join us for a taste test and when they left, they were almost completely gone. They were extremely tender, buttery, savory, beefy and delicious. Keeping the juices from the tray became the absolute best dipping sauce to dunk the burnt end in before devouring. Being from Minnesota we do not have a lot of options for legit burnt ends, so I am not an expert on how to compare these to TX or KC brisket point burnt ends, but they were a fun cook with a delicious result. We will be doing these again.
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