Smoked bottom round roast cooked low and slow over oak for the perfect BBQ beef dish. Prepared Texas-style with a quick-drying brine and peppers and garlic, this delicious cut of meat can feed a crowd! Learn how to smoke the ground with our easy incense recipe.
Today we’re going to break down the basics of ground making, from dry salting to seasoning, and how to smoke it for the perfect dish of tenderly sliced roast beef.
Like the Smoked Top Round Roast, the Beef Bottom Round Roast is best served sliced. This makes it ideal for sandwiches or in combination with other nice smoked side dishes .
What is a round ground beef roast?
The lower round is derived from the cow’s hind leg and rump, often known as the round. Here are various subsections of the meat round, including the top round, the bottom round, and the eye round.
Since the leg is a well-trained part of the cow, the lower part is lean and marbled. This makes it thin and tends to become dry or hard. As such, slow “wet” heat methods such as sous vide or slow cooking are commonly used to prepare it. However, with a good dry brine, we can cook it efficiently in the smoker.
The bottom round is usually served thinly sliced and can be dried or smoked to form jerky, or eaten plain or in a barbecue sandwich.
Bottom round roast vs top round roast
Top and bottom beef roasts are often confused, but there are distinct differences between the two. While both cuts are best cooked in moist environments, they still need to be treated in slightly different ways.
The top round is a beef roast that is cut from the inside of the round or hind leg of the beef, while the bottom round is cut from the outside of the round. Why the names? The primary round “is placed on the butcher block with the outside and inside up, so these cuts became known as the bottom and top rounds.”
A big difference is that the top round is more tender than the bottom round. The butt is a better toned muscle which makes it leaner and with less fat content. It tastes more authentically “meaty” because it comes from a primal cut closer to the animal’s muscle.
While the upper IS typically purchased whole or in halves, the lower consists of three parts: the eyelet, the flat, and the heel. For this recipe we use a whole under roast.
Where to buy the bottom round roast?
Stir fry is not as common in supermarkets and butcher shops as it is harder to sell than other cuts. However, it is possible to find them some places.
The best way to buy round bottom roasts or other cuts of beef is to order them directly from the butcher. However, if you can’t get there in person and buy a roast online, make sure the seller ships the meat overnight so your meat arrives fresh.
Better wood
The best wood for smoking stir fry is oak. Breaking the wood into chunks or chips is better for smoking than chunks because it burns more evenly.
Dry brine
To compensate for the poor texture of the soil, we use a dry brine with salt to keep the meat moist and tender. It should also help bring out the natural flavors of the cut of meat.
For good dry brine, we only need half a teaspoon of kosher salt per pound of meat. For this recipe, we’re using a 3-pound round base, so we’re going to use 1 ½ teaspoons of salt. Simply apply a layer of salt to the meat overnight before leaving it in the fridge overnight or at least two hours.
Time and temperature
Smoke for about 30-40 minutes per pound of meat at 107°C(225°F). For our 3 pound round of beef, we smoke for 90 to 120 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 55°C(130°F) to achieve medium doneness.
Quick tips
- Beef should not be cooked over medium rare to avoid drying out.
- Double wrap your roast in foil if you want it ready sooner and are worried about the meat drying out
- If you cover with aluminum foil, be careful not to let it touch the meat as it cooks, as this can cause the roast to smoke and overcook.
- Take the roast out of the fridge 40 minutes before cooking and let it come to room temperature.