I tried to make chuckies today following the process described in this topic PICS -- How to make Chuckies (Smoked Chuck Roast).
I had two 3.75 lb pieces of 4 inch thick chuck roast. I applied rub liberally then let them sit in the refrigerator for several hours, then I took them out, stuck my probes in them, and immediately put them in my Amerique. The probes read an initial internal meat temperature of 36 degrees straight from the refrigerator. I set the smoker temperature at 180 degrees.
It has now been 12.5 hours and the internal temperature of the meat is still showing under 140 degrees. The Amerique probe stuck into one of the pieces of roast reads 137 degrees. The external probe in the other piece of meat reads 139.
Food is supposed to be in the danger zone no more than 4 hours to avoid toxic levels of bacteria. This meat has been in the smoker at an ambient 180 degrees for 12.5 hours and it is still in the danger zone.
So I'm going to throw this meat out and start over when I can find some more thick chuck roasts. I've never had this kind of problem before. I've never had to throw out meat due to excessive dawdling in the danger zone. It is disheartening, but I'm just not going to risk eating this meat.
To avoid this situation the next time I think I should set my cooker temp higher. Do you think 225 would do the trick? That is the temperature I generally use for both pork shoulder and brisket, and I've never had one take more than four hours to get to 140 at that smoking temp. I would think 225 would work for chuckies too, but this is my first time to ever try to smoke one.
By the way, I recently tested all my thermometers and they are within a degree or two of each other and to a reference mercury thermometer that I use in my darkroom. I also checked the temp of the inside of the smoker just now with a regular oven thermometer and with a third remote probe thermometer with the probe just dangling in the air above the meat. They both display the same temperature as the Amerique control panel display (varying from 179 to 181) and track with it closely as it changes.
Has anyone else ever had a problem like this? Is it just a bad idea to smoke a four inch thick piece of meat at such a low temp (180 degrees)?
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