Chuck roast burnt ends
I've been there, showing up late to a brisket BBQ, and missed out on the burnt ends. Never fear The Kitchen Bucket List has the solution. Grab a nicely marbled chuck roast and smoke it like a brisket and in 6 hours you will have poor man's burnt ends.✨Season✨Smoke✨Rest✨Cube✨Sauce✨
Equipment
- Smoker or BBQ (18-inch) with indirect cooking method (Oven, too.)
- Catch pan
- Remote meat thermometer with sensors
- Heavy duty aluminum foil
- Disposable aluminum pan (10 by 14)
Ingredients
- 2 chuck roasts
Go-to BBQ rub
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- ½ tablespoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon celery seed
- 1 teaspoon smoked Paprika
Burnt ends sauce
- 1 cup BBQ sauce (Your favorite)
- ½ cup butter (Stick of butter)
- ½ cup brown sugar
Instructions
- Unpack the chuck roast and pat dry with a paper towel. Place on a tray to be rubbed and dry brined.
Make Go-to BBQ rub and dry brine
- In a bowl combine the salt, ground black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, celery seed, and smoked Paprika and mix well to make our Go-to BBQ rub.
- Coat the chuck roasts with the rub and place in the refrigerator for at least an hour to dry brine.NOTE: We had some of the rub left. I added it to the drip pan with water. See below. Our chuck roasts dry brined overnight in the fridge for about 20 hours.
Time to smoke
- Smokers select your wood, I used maple and set the temperature to 250℉. BBQers use an indirect cooking method and get the BBQ stable at 250℉.
- I use a drip pan full of water and the remaining Go-to BBQ rub for additional aromatics. I place mine under the grill grate.NOTE: Smokers you can use any heat-proof container on the grill grates to do the same thing.
- Once the smoker or BBQ is stable at 250℉ bring the two chuck roasts from the fridge. Place them on the grill grate and close the lid. If you are using sensors place one in each roast, before placing them in the smoker or BBQ.
- After 3 hours the chuck roasts had reached 160℉ and 165℉ internal temperatures. Each had developed a nice bark. It looked similar to a brisket.
Wrapping, resting, and cubing the chuck roasts
- Time to wrap the chuck roast. I remove one at a time and close the lid in between so the BBQ maintains a stable temperature. I use two layers of heavy duty aluminum foil for each.
- Once the wrapped chuck roasts are back in the smoker or BBQ continue cooking until 195℉ to 205℉ internal temperature. This took about 1½ hours at 250℉. My bigger one was at 203℉ and the smaller one was at 197℉ when I pulled them.
- Rest the two wrapped chuck roasts for 30 minutes in the aluminum foil.
- Remove each chuck roast and cut it into big bite-sized pieces to make the poor man's burnt ends. Place them in the aluminum pan and add the au jus sauce from the aluminum foil wrappings.
- Time to start the burnt ends sauce by pouring the BBQ sauce, sprinkling the brown sugar, and placing the sliced stick of butter (8 tablespoons) over the cubed chuck roasts.
Back out to smoke and caramelize
- Place the pan with the chuck roast pieces back in the smoker or BBQ. Cook for 15 minutes to melt the butter. Take the pan out and close the lid. Mix the pieces to coat with the burnt ends sauce. Place back in the smoker or BBQ and continue to smoke for 45 minutes.
- Remove the chuck roast burnt ends from the smoker or BBQ and serve. Enjoy them all on their own as a meal, appetizer, or even in a bun as a sandwich.
Notes
- Chuck roasts were each over 2 inches thick weighing 3 lbs. and 2 ¾ lbs.
- Bark vs Temp: Since this is a chuck roast you can wrap sooner than a brisket if you have the bark you want for the poor man's burnt ends.
- Oven cook, it is done in the same way as above, without the smoking wood. I would advise a large drip pan with water to catch all the drippings.
