My First Pulled Beef--need some help

[pentree68]

I attempted my first pulled beef on my traeger yesterday. injected it then placed it on grill at 225 degrees until internal temp go to 155. the put it in a turkey bag loaded with onions--peppers & jalapenos (great idea). then added a little low fat/low salt beef broth and sealed the bag and wrapped in aluminum foil and ran it until internal temp was 205. then wrapped in heavy towel and inside my ice chest for 2 hours. tasted great--especially if you added some of those peppers & jalapenos to the sandwich along with some creamy horseradish sauce. but i was hoping the meat would pull as easy as my pulled pork i did a few weekends back. still kind of tough to pull. i used a cut of arm chuck roast. would have liked it more tender. suggestions????
bobbie

 

[TentHunter]

Remember that was a tough cut of beef you cooked. I think good pulled beef is harder to do than pork and it sounds like it turned out pretty dang good even if it didn't pull as easily as you'd hoped.

Overall I'd say great job!

Did you do the coffee/broth injection? If so how was it?

===============================================================

For pulled pork/beef/brisket I'm a firm believer in letting the feel of a probe, not the final temp, tell me how done it is: A lot of resistance = not done. Slight resistance = good for slicing without falling apart. No resistance like soft butter = the connective tissue has totally broken down and it will pull easily.

One other note: whether you Foil-Towel-Cooler or not, be sure they're still piping HOT when you go to pull them. As they cool down they get harder to pull.

Get a pair of the insulated gloves from BPS and pull them Chris Lilly style: Chris Lilly pulling pork shoulder - YouTube

 

[pentree68]

TentHunter:
thank you for your suggestion. i really appreciate the suggestions the experts give me. for injection-- i used your brown sugar, beer & cider vinegar. then when i placed the meat in my turkey bag at 155 degrees I added a little beef broth. Can't complain about the taste. I had a friend of mine--originally from Philly--who took a warm hogie bun--big pile of pulled beef, sauerkraut, mustard, creamy horseradish sauce and then some of those peppers and jalapenos i had in the turkey bag along with a cold beer. seemed to love it. no complaints from him. i guess the beef would have pulled easier. do you suggest any other cuts of beef i should try??? and yes when i pulled them out of the ice chest wrapped in heavy towel--they were in the ice chest 2 hours--they were still piping hot.

 

[Buffalotom]

This weekend we smoked two buffalo chuck roasts. When they were ready to pull around 198, One roast pulled very easy. The other one had more fat in the middle and needed another half an hour for the heat to breakdown the tissue. When that was done you could not tell one from another. It does not matter what cut, whether on the same animal or whatever, the cuts of meat will be different in texture and make up. Some do take longer.IMHO

 

[Buffalotom]

TentHunter what is that knife the Chris Lilly is using to cut up the Pork in the Youtube video? That looks lethal.

 

[RickB]

I attempted my first pulled beef on my traeger yesterday. injected it then placed it on grill at 225 degrees until internal temp go to 155. the put it in a turkey bag loaded with onions--peppers & jalapenos (great idea). then added a little low fat/low salt beef broth and sealed the bag and wrapped in aluminum foil and ran it until internal temp was 205. then wrapped in heavy towel and inside my ice chest for 2 hours. tasted great--especially if you added some of those peppers & jalapenos to the sandwich along with some creamy horseradish sauce. but i was hoping the meat would pull as easy as my pulled pork i did a few weekends back. still kind of tough to pull. i used a cut of arm chuck roast. would have liked it more tender. suggestions????
bobbie

I cooked one this weekend with themsame result as you. Pulled mine at 205 and still took another hour in the oven at 400 to get it to pull. After all that was not that wild about it anyway. I think when it comes to beef im foing with a different cut.

 

[pentree68]

Rick:
if you try again with a different cut let me know.
bobbie

 

[TentHunter]

do you suggest any other cuts of beef i should try???

Brisket poiont is also good, but I think Chuck is great for pulled beef. And I think BuffaloTom hit the nail on the head. Some just take longer.

Again, I think you ended up with some good pulled beef from the sounds of it!

TentHunter what is that knife the Chris Lilly is using to cut up the Pork in the Youtube video? That looks lethal.

I'm not sure, but I agree, it does look lethal!