Beef Chuck Roast

Although I love the tri-tip cuts of beef because of its excellent cost/flavor ratio, I also experiment with other cuts from time to time. One of my current favorites is to get a chuck roast. It's a tough cut of meat, but it has a lot of great flavor. Because the chuck roast is a tough cut, cooking it to the right texture takes a lot more time.

The chuck roast is often a much less expensive cut of meat. in the Seattle area I can get it for $10-$11 a pound, and it usually comes in a 3-4 pound chunk. In Utah, I saw it for $7.50 per pound for the same size. That's generally a 20-30% savings on the tri-tip.

The chuck roast also has a large seam of fat in it. Although I believe in eating the fat directly, sometimes I can't quite handle the amount of fat I get when cutting off a portion of the beef. Pineapple, on the other hand, doesn't like the fat so I try and make sure to give her leaner portions.

Tools

• Sous vide cooker: this is essential, my cooker looks like a crock pot, but any kind will work
• Zip-top bags: name-brand will be better; off-brand may leak which results in less-flavorful meat
• Meat tongs
• Skillet or Pan: A thick one (e.g. cast iron) will work more effectively
• Spatter Guard: This is optional, but helps reduce the mess

Note: I do not measure the temperature in this recipe. The cook time is such that I am certain the meat will be at the correct temperature when done.

Ingredients

• Grass-fed chuck roast
• Salt: Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt is easy to apply via pinching
• Mild-flavored oil: I use a refined coconut oil which is liquid at room temperature
• Butter or cooking oil: for my steak I employ virgin coconut oil (solid at room temperature) and for Pineapple's I use butter from grass-fed cows (which you can probably pick up at Costco)

Directions

When I cook this steak I follow a basic process. The process comes from more-detailed instructions.

Quick Reference

1. Cook the meat sous vide to 133 degrees
2. Pan-sear the meat for 30 seconds per side at about 60% heat
3. Salt the meat generously

Full instructions

1. Start heating the sous vide to 135 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Place each piece of meat in its own zip-top bag. You will need a large bag for this. You might even cut the meat in half so it will fit better, or so you can cook the remainder later.
3. Add a couple of tablespoons of the mild-flavored oil to the bag.
4. Submerge most of the zip-top bag in water to drive out the air.
1. The oil is there to fill in the gaps instead of leaving bubbles next to the meat.
5. Zip seal the zip-top bag.
6. Place the bag in the sous vide (you can put the meat in before the device is at temperature)
7. After the sous vide is at the correct temperature, let it cook for 72 hours.
1. You read that right: 3 days. This amount of time allows the meat to relax and start breaking down so that it isn't tough anymore.
8. After the 3-day waiting period, start heating the skillet/pan on the stove stop with 2 tablespoons of either cooking oil or butter
1. For a gas range, I recommend a smaller heating element to avoid potential flames
2. I recommend setting the temperature to about 60% of maximum; where butter will bubble quite a bit when initially put in the pan but won't cook away for a few minutes
3. You may want to use the spatter guard to reduce the mess and subsequent cleanup
9. Remove the beef from the zip-top bag
10. Slice the meat into portions
11. Sear the beef in the skillet for 30 seconds per side
1. You should get nice caramelization on each side. Butter or olive oil will give you a darker color than coconut oil, so if you use coconut oil you might cook it for 45 seconds per side.
2. Make sure that there is plenty of oil/butter between the pan and the beef and that you cook over the center of the heat. You will get uneven cooking if the meat is toward the side of the pan or the pan is significantly larger than the heating element.
12. Place the steak on a serving plate
13. Salt the steak generously on the top, flip the steak and salt the bottom (which is now the top)
1. Grab a large pinch of salt
1. As much as you can reasonably grab between your thumb and forefinger
2. Sprinkle the salt from about 6-10 inches above the steak
1. Sprinkle by moving your thumb and finger back and forth in opposite directions
2. But also move your arm up and down the steak to get an even coating everywhere
3. I usually salt enough that the salt is still white for about a half second before it turns translucent
4. If you seared using salted butter you should use about half as much salt
5. Adjust the salt to your taste
14. Serve/Enjoy immediately

Because Pineapple and I are the only people in our house, such a slab will last us several days. This particular roast also works well for large gatherings. Just get it cooking several days early and you will have an awesome, flavorful, tender cut of meat everyone will be raving about.

Juices

After cooking, the zip-top bag will have a lot of juices left in it. You could discard them, but I prefer to eat it like a soup. The juices are flavorful, which indicates good nutrition, so as long as you enjoy the flavor you won't be wasting that portion of the beef.

In a single sitting I:

1. take a portion of the juice proportionate to the amount of meat I will be consuming
2. generously salt it (a couple of pinches of salt)
3. stir
4. eat it like a soup

You could also use the juices to make a beef stew (add some good veggies), or a stock (reduce it for days on a low burner), or even au ju for dipping some sort of bread (which I, of course, won't eat). However, I do not have any specific recipes for those options because I love eating straight juices.