I’m still playing around with the Slow ‘n Sear, trying to find the best use for it in my arsenal of tools for my Weber 26.57, Big Kahuna.
This week’s experiment is beef chuck roasts. I picked up two 4 lb. chuck roasts and rubbed one with the rub I typically use on briskets and the other with Big Dick’s Steak It! Of course, they spent the night in the fridge.
Saturday, I set up the SnS and one thing I particularly like is that there is enough room left for a half pan underneath each roast to catch the drippings.
The roasts went on at 11:00. One of my goals was to see how easy it was to maintain my temp because, unlike with my rib cook, I do not spritz the roasts during the cook. My goal was to stay between 225º-250º and I was able to attain that goal. It will take a few more attempts, though, before I feel confident that I can leave to run errands because I did need to adjust the ash sweeper several time to keep the temp in my range.
Here’s a look at about 5 hours (4:00 pm):
This is also when I felt like I needed to add some charcoal:
At 5:30, I pulled them both to pack them up for the trip over to my parents’ house. When I pulled them, their ITs were 163º & 171º. I had to make a stop on the way to my parents’ house, so they didn’t get into the oven until almost 7:00. ITs had dropped to 154º & 149º. Another hour had them up to 208º & 205º and just falling apart good.
It’s hard to see, because I sauced them with their brazing liquid before I took the picture, but there was a beautiful smoke ring.
The Slow ‘n Sear performed admirably. I was able to maintain my temp fairly easily and I’m confident that with a few more uses I’ll get that bottom sweeper dialed in. I would have likely gotten six hours of cook time on the original load of briquettes, which is pretty good. And the ability to have two drip pans is a huge bonus for me.
BTW, both entries were judged to be excellent, with Steak It! carrying the day because it packed a little more punch.
BD
