Clearly this is not a dinner for your average Wednesday night. But, if you want to put on a beer-geek worthy BBQ over the summer, featuring a hard-to-find brew that will impress your friends, this will meal will be sure to give you some serious beer cred.
It is a well kept secret that smoking (meat!) is just about the easiest way to cook. Load up a smoker with charcoal and wood chips and let the meat sit for 8-12 hours. Check it every once in awhile to make sure your heat is in the right range (225-250 degrees Fahrenheit); add more charcoal if need be. Otherwise, kick back and lavish in the smell.
The Bell's Batch 9000 is a rich and heavy beer--probably not the one you want to be sipping on during a 90-degree summer afternoon. But it's fantastic with chuck roast, and makes a great addition to a vinegar-based Carolina BBQ sauce. I recommend having a case of your favorite IPA on hand (preferably a homebrewed one) to greet people at the door, and saving the Batch 9000 to drink in smaller portions with the meat.
Hickory-smoked chuck roast
Ingredients for 12
- 6 lbs chuck roast
- 10-14 lbs charcoal
- Hickory wood chips
- 1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground chipotle pepper
- 1/2 tsp cayenne
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
Mix the spices in a bowl and spread evenly over meat. Press into the meat and let rest at least one hour or preferably overnight.
Put about 7 and a half lbs of charcoal in a smoker and light it. Wait until the flames have died down and the charcoal has turned to ash before adding the wood chips. Each smoker is a bit different, so follow the directions for your own smoker. Add the meat last, cover and let sit without opening the smoker for at least 4 hours. Once the internal temperature of the meat has hit 165 degrees, pull it out and wrap it in aluminum foil. Put back on the smoker and cook until the internal temperature is 205 degrees, about 4 more hours. Pull the meat out (still in the foil) and put in the refrigerator to rest 1-2 hours. After resting, take the meat out and pull with a fork. Serve on or with freshly-baked rolls and drizzle with Carolina-style BBQ sauce.
Carolina-style BBQ sauce with Bell's Batch 9000
- 1 cup brown mustard
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 cup Bell's Batch 9000
- 2 tbsp chili powder
- 1 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
- 1/2 tsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp hickory smoke flavor
Mix mustard, sugars, vinegar, water, and powdered spices together in a medium-sized saucepan. Bring to a boil and let simmer for 20 minutes. Add Bell's Batch 9000 and let simmer another 15 minutes. Add soy sauce, butter, and smoke flavor and let simmer 10-15 minutes, until desired thickness.
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I can't sing the praises of this smoked chuck roast and BBQ sauce enough, especially as a complement to the Bell's Batch 9000. You can make the meat a day ahead of time, pull it, and keep it refrigerated before serving the next day if you like (although I recommend having a good BBQ spot nearby where you can satisfy your inevitable craving for smoked meat after smelling the hickory all day long). Reheat the roast at 200 degrees for 1-2 hours before serving. (Try placing a casserole dish full of water underneath the meat, however, so that it doesn't dry out too much.)
For locals, I used a combination of spices from Darn Hot Peppers in Cobden whenever the recipe called for chili powder, and two beautiful, 3 lb. roasts from Lick Creek Beef.
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