Pulled Beef??

I've got a question for the experts here: Is there such a thing a BBQ Pulled Beef, and if so what cut would I use?

Here's why I am asking. I've got a Jewish friend that loves my pulled pork and ribs. She's having a party in a few months and has asked if I could help her out. She doesn't have a problem with eating the stuff, but won't serve it to her extended family. I suggested that I could smoke a couple of large chickens beer-can style, pull the meat and throw some sauce on it, so that her guests could make sandwiches. But she would prefer beef.

The only thing I can think of is the beef brisket, which (1) I'm not happy with the two that I cooked previously turned out, and (2) even if done right, it doesn't have the texture of pulled pork, i.e. it's got to be sliced, and is more chewy. I know some commercial product are available (yuck), but I'm wondering what cut of meat is used, i.e Pot Roast, and how long does it have to cook.

How about boneless chuck roast cooked slow and low. I have done it in the crock pot and it was very good.

I have made pulled beef out of a chuck roast-i will look for the recipe and post it..

This is the one I make-you can use a chuck roast instead.Very good!!

INGREDIENTS:
4 pounds beef round steak
1 cup chopped onions
1 12-ounce can beer
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup ketchup
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
1 tablespoon chili powder
20 sandwich or hamburger buns
PREPARATION:
Trim excess fat from round steak and cut into chuncks. Place in a preheated slow cooker on high. Reduce heat to low and stir to brown meat. Add remaining ingredients (except the buns) and cook, covered for 8 to 10 hours. Then remove meat from slow cooker and shred. Replace meat and stir so that the meat is well coated in sauce. Serve on buns. Makes about 20 sandwiches.

Cook: 2-3 hours
Servings: Serves 6
3-4 lbs. boneless beef brisket
1 bottle chili sauce
1 can Coke
1 packet dry onion soup mix


Preheat oven to 300°F.
Combine chili sauce, Coke and soup mix.
Place brisket in a foil-lined baking pan. Pour sauce mixture over brisket and cover with another sheet of foil sealing edges.
Bake at 300°F for 3 to 3-1/2 hours until tender.
Carve brisket against the grain and serve the pan juices as a sauce.
Here is a recipe using brisket that my jewish friend makes all the time...instead of slicing the beef,she shreds it and mixes the sauce in.

Great responses so far. Yes! Pulled beef can be great. I'd couple it with a little heavier sauce like you would find on brisket, vs. the stuff you see with pulled pork.

When I make pulled beef, I will use a shoulder clod or a chuck roll. But these are too large for what you are looking for. So just use a boneless chuck roast. Cover it fairly heavy with your BBQ rub and throw it in the smoker at 225-230*. Let it cook until the internal temp hits 165 then take it out and wrap it in foil. Put the foiled roast in a foil pan and throw it back in the smoker until you get an internal temp of 195*. When it hits 195*, take it out and put it in a cooler, cover with a towel, and let it rest for a few hours. It will hold temp and will reabsorb some of the moisture that is inside the foil at this point.

When you are ready to pull the beef, take the roast out of the foil and use a couple of forks to shred it. Take the juice in the foil pan and foil and defat it. Once defatted, mix it back in with the pulled beef. There is a lot of flavor in that liquid. It will be excellent.

John

RibDog nailed it.

I made pulled beef for work a couple weeks ago with pretty much the same recipe and method as him. People loved it (but not as much as my pulled pork).

If you follow his recipe, leave the sauce on the side and let people apply their own. Here's a good less-vinegary Carolina style sauce.

No. 5 Sauce (Courtesy Steve Petrone)

1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup vinegar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon worchestershire sauce
1 tablespoon rub

Opional but very good: 1/4 cup meat drippings

quote:

Posted - 02/15/2007 : 21:53:51
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When I make pulled beef, I will use a shoulder clod or a chuck roll. But these are too large for what you are looking for. So just use a boneless chuck roast. Cover it fairly heavy with your BBQ rub and throw it in the smoker at 225-230*. Let it cook until the internal temp hits 165 then take it out and wrap it in foil. Put the foiled roast in a foil pan and throw it back in the smoker until you get an internal temp of 195*. When it hits 195*, take it out and put it in a cooler, cover with a towel, and let it rest for a few hours. It will hold temp and will reabsorb some of the moisture that is inside the foil at this point.

When you are ready to pull the beef, take the roast out of the foil and use a couple of forks to shred it. Take the juice in the foil pan and foil and defat it. Once defatted, mix it back in with the pulled beef. There is a lot of flavor in that liquid. It will be excellent.

John

RibDog:
Thanks. That's what I was looking for. Unfortunately, looks like I won't be able to try this out for a while, due to the weather forecast for Central PA. But I should be able to "practice" on a few roasts before early May. The crockpot recipe also looks good, but I'm looking to get some smoke flavor on the meat.

Use your pulled pork recipe and use a bottom round roast for the beef. Add a little liquid smoke and you are good to go!

I'm not sure this will satsify your need, but there is a spanish recipe "Ropa Vieja" which means "old clothes" delicious of pulled beef.

There are many recipes on the net.
Daisy Martine'z recipe is great very similar how I've made it, enclosed from CBS news:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/10/21/earlyshow/saturday/chef/main962383.shtml

quote:

Originally posted by RibDog

I use a shoulder clod or a chuck roll. John

RibDog is right on point the only differance is I use a top round or bottom round which ever looks best that day. It falls apart and is stringy just like pulled pork. My customers love it.

Jack@DrofBBQ.com

I use a shoulder roast, slow cook it or smoke it as you would your pork. It is stringy and falls apart easily when done.

quote:

Originally posted by Dr of BBQ

quote:

Originally posted by RibDog

I use a shoulder clod or a chuck roll. John

RibDog is right on point the only differance is I use a top round or bottom round which ever looks best that day. It falls apart and is stringy just like pulled pork. My customers love it.

Jack@DrofBBQ.com

Having sampled the good Dr's wares, I would follow his lead on this one.

Gosh!! Am i missing something?/ Pray tell me what the difference between Itaian beef sandwich (Not sliced)and pulled beef is?/ then tell me what happens if u add BBQ sauce,I think that is called a BBQ'ed Beef Sandwich..Did i read this whole series of posts correctly, or am I off in space??

quote:

Originally posted by genewj

Gosh!! Am i missing something?/ Pray tell me what the difference between Itaian beef sandwich (Not sliced)and pulled beef is?/ then tell me what happens if u add BBQ sauce,I think that is called a BBQ'ed Beef Sandwich..Did i read this whole series of posts correctly, or am I off in space??

Earth to genewj ...

They difference is flavor and texture. The pulled beef is slow smoked and rubbed with spices and can be consumed without sauce because it is so tasty by itself. The cooking process also causes the fat to render out of the meat and the collagen to break down, resulting in tender shreds of beef when pulled apart. No slicing required or even possible when cooked properly.

This link discusses the process for pork, same as for beef.
http://getyourgrillon.net/2007/02/13/the-great-transfiguration/

Jim

I take a 3 lb. roast and 18 oz. bottle of whatever barbecue sauce is on sale, slow cook it in a 5 quart oval cooker on low for 8 hours, pull it apart with 2 forks, then slow cook it for another hour. You may not think the last hour is important, but it is because your roast won't be cooked all the way through and may make someone sick. I'll add a dash of liquid smoke, onions, bell peppers, and/or a smashed garlic clove after pulling the beef apart.

If u have read any of the Italian beef recipes u will realize the are all done in a slow cooker..Beef on the BBQ i associate with Brisket..I'm no interested in doing a topround or bottom round of 10 plus #'s on the smoker..and I have a great smoker..

quote:

Originally posted by genewj

Beef on the BBQ i associate with Brisket..I'm no interested in doing a topround or bottom round of 10 plus #'s on the smoker..and I have a great smoker..

Gene Gene Gene,
You are certainly my friend and if I have it and you need it you got it. But, and with all due respect, that said maybe Im missing something here BUT your the guy that cooks ribs in a convection oven. I'm sorry but if you cook any meat in an oven, crock pot, roaster, or anything but a smoker it's not Smoked or BBQ. It may be good it, it may be tender, it may sell well, but it's not SMOKED or BBQ. No matter what you warm it in, or how much sauce or worse yet Liquid Smoke (yuck) you pour over its just NOT BBQ.

I have been very quiet about this kind of post on this The BBQ Thread thinking someone else would point this out to the dozens of posters that talk about cooking good BBQ in the house. You just cant do it, unless you have a smoker in your living room. LMAO

Now if your using a cut of beef (any cut) and smoking it in a smoker when its done its BBQ Beef. But that said and I agree most people associate BBQ Beef as Brisket. But with the rising prices on Brisket, having to fight the tremendous amounts of fat, that needs to be trimmed and thrown away, I stopped using brisket, and love working with top round. But I call it Beef BBQ not Brisket.

Now if you want to make really killer good Italian Beef Sandwiches here is how.By the way this is an old family recipe and I have used it hundreds of times cooking up to 50 Lbs at a time.

1- 3 or 3 and ½ Lb. Boneless Rump Roast or Top or Bottom Round.
2- Put it in the oven in a big pot for 30 minutes to brown or brown it in the pot on the stovetop.
3- Combine 2 cups hot water (I nuke mine) with 2 beef bouillon cubes.
NOW Add the following
5- 1 Tablespoon Salt
6- 1 and ½ Tablespoon Pepper
7- 1 Tablespoon Oregano
8- 1 Dash of Garlic Salt
9- 4 Cloves Smashed Garlic

Mix the above well and pour mixture over the meat. Cook for about 3 hours in your OVEN at 350 degrees in a pot with a tight lid.

While the beef is cooking slightly brown wide slices of green peppers and onions in butter. Cover and steam 20 minutes on low heat.

When the meat starts to fall apart remove it from the juice and pull it apart and then return it to the pot with the juice. Add the green pepper and onions and serve with Italian rolls.

*Note this is not BBQ. LMAO

Jack

Jack, first off god forbid I'd ever use liquid smoke..I do cook my ribs in the convection oven,and then finish them off for 30-60 minutes in the BBQ smoker using a combination of Hickory and oak. U cannot tell the difference between them and those cooked in the BBQ the whole time, except they maybe more tender, they have a smoke ring and all. Pulled pork , I do in the convection oven until internal temp is 195, then in the smoker for at least 1.5 hrs again, the smoke flavoer is there the tenderness is there and it tastes wonderful..

Bushie pulls his beef a lot.

Adj

You sure its his beef and not his..... oops if i say that my post will disappear!



Doc

Doesn't everyone have a smoker in their living room?? LMAO

Why pull Beef?