Best method for sous vide chuck roast?

Hey Chris-

I have done chuck roast twice with great success both times. The first I did at 135 degrees for 24 hours and the second for 40+ hours. I didn't see a great change in textures between the two. I used common supermarket roasts.

A suggestion......experiment. Cook your roast for say, 6 hours. Taste it. If it doesn't meet your approval, rebag and give it another round in the bath.

ps. Next time I will lower the cooking temperature. I am finding that sous vide rare is different than oven/grill/pan rare.......far more tender and
fully cooked.

regards

I've also done sous vide chuck roast at 131F and 135F and they both turned out really good. One way to test doneness semi-regularly, if you vacuum seal it, is to cut off 2" pieces of it and bag them separately. You can then just pull out one and check the tenderness of it. It won't be exactly like the roast but it should be close enough for you to know if it's almost done or not.

I ended up doing 131F for 2 days. The meat was tender, but there were some chewy parts in the areas where (I am guessing here) the collagen didn't fully break down. Would this be a cut that might benefit from a higher temperature for that reason?

Hey Chris-

Higher temp will increase doneness ( ie. from medium rare to medium). A longer cooking time, particularly at lower temperatures, will break down the collagen.

regards

Hey Chris-

Higher temp will increase doneness ( ie. from medium rare to medium). A longer cooking time, particularly at lower temperatures, will break down the collagen.

regards

Hey Chris-

Higher temp will increase doneness ( ie. from medium rare to medium). A longer cooking time, particularly at lower temperatures, will break down the collagen.

regards

Okay. Maybe I should try 3 days next time then.

We cook large amounts, 1,600 lbs. at a time of chuck roast. They weight about 12 lbs. each. They are seasoned and bagged. We use a cook-tank that circulated the hot water and is computer programed to monitor internal temperatures and then hold at that for whatever about of time we have determined to give us the best results. We set the water temperature for 150 F. and hold for 24 hrs. We are looking for a Pot Roast flavor and texture profile, not beef steak. Have you ever been served rare or med rare pot roast? If you want Pot Roast, then a higher temperature for a longer time will give you those results. Hope this is of some help to you!
Chef John