Bánh Mi with Smoked Chuck Roast

CATEGORY

Meat

SERVINGS

6

PREP TIME

10 minutes

COOK TIME

300 minutes

CALORIES

150

This homemade Smoked Beef Chuck Roast Bánh Mi will leave you wanting more. Perfect for any grill or smoker you may own, this dish is sure to be a hit.

Bánh Mi is essentially a Vietnamese sub sandwich. Inspired by a combination of French and Vietnamese cuisine, this dish has become a staple of Vietnamese street food and can be found at Vietnamese restaurants all over the world. When the French colonized Vietnam, they brought the baguette with them, which evolved over time and yielded this amazing sandwich in the 1950s. It is usually made with ham or steamed pork, but this chuck roast variation is perfect for bringing in that smoky barbeque flavor.

A beef chuck roast, or chuck steak, is a cut of meat taken from the front shoulder of the cow. It is a relatively inexpensive cut of beef, which makes it perfect for cooking on a budget. It is very often used in pot roasts and other slow cooker meals, as it becomes very tender and retains a great beefy flavor when cooked low and slow. The cooking method described below is a great way to prepare a chuck roast, no matter the dish you make with it.

There are a lot of ways to use a smoked chuck roast. Sandwiches and stews are the obvious candidates, but it is fantastic in tacos, gyros, curry, and much more. Pretty much anything you add meat to can have chuck roast added as a substitute. Smoking a chuck roast on the weekend and using it in your meals for the week is a great way to save time and money, whether you are cooking for the whole family or just yourself.

Author:
Rico Gubernick @unclechicosbbq

INGREDIENTS

• 3-4 lb beef chuck roast

• 1/4 cup beef broth

• 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

• 3 French baguettes cut in half

SPICY MAYO

• 1/2 cup mayo

• 1 tbs Sriracha

• 1 lime

• 1/2 clove minced garlic

PICKLED VEGETABLES

• 1 Persian cucumber or English seedless

• 1 cup julienned carrots or ribbons made with a peeler

• 1 cup Daikon radish julienned

• 1/2 cup white vinegar

• 1/2 cup rice vinegar

• 1/4 cup sugar

• 1 tsp kosher salt

• 1 thinly sliced jalapeño with seeds removed and sliced on the bias

• Cilantro sprigs for garnish on the sandwich

DIRECTIONS

1. Season chuck roast with your favorite rub and lay it on your grill grate or hang on the Pit Barrel^® with a wood chunks of your choice.

2. Cook until the chuck roast internal temperature reaches 160º or until a good bark forms after 160º. Pull and double wrap in aluminum foil with the beef broth and Worcestershire sauce.

3. Let it cook until the internal temperature hits 205º, take it out, and let sit in an empty cooler for at least a half-hour.

4. Now pull chuck roast for the sandwiches.

5. Prepare a quick pickle of the vegetables by placing vegetables in a sterilized mason jar and boiling the vinegar, sugar, and salt and pouring the liquid over the veggies. Let sit for at least 30 minutes. The longer it sits the better.

6. Mix Sriracha, garlic, and lime juice into the mayo, amounts can be adjusted according to taste. Season with salt and pepper. You can add a touch of minced ginger or a pinch of horseradish if you like.

7. To assemble the Bánh Mi, spread a good layer of Sriracha aioli on bottom portion of the baguette. Place a thin layer of sliced cucumber on top of the aioli. Layer pulled beef on the sandwich. Place handfuls of pickled veggies evenly over the meat. Garnish top with sliced jalapeños and sprigs of cilantro.

RECIPE NOTE

Desired Temp: 205º

Chuck roasts are usually made in a slow cooker or with a pot roast, but the Pit Barrel® adds another level of flavor to this classic cut. Hanging your meat allows the drippings to fall and vaporize on the coals, so those flavors are incorporated into the smoke and continue to baste your meat in flavor as it cooks. This humid environment also lets you cook at a higher temperature while retaining as much moisture as possible in your meat, which means your food will be done a lot faster with similar or better results compared to other cooking methods. For more depth of flavor, add a few wood chunks of your choice to the charcoal basket.

You will want to wrap it in aluminum foil once the internal temperature reaches 160ºF and add some beef stock, which will further help to keep moisture in and accentuate the flavor of your meat. You will finish cooking it on the grill grate once it is wrapped until it reaches 205ºF. Cooking to this temperature and leaving it to rest for a few minutes should break down the connective tissue and yield a wonderfully tender roast that is easy to pull for your sandwiches.

A note from the author, Rico Gubernick @unclechicosbbq -
"I am lucky enough to live in Orange County, California home to a rich population of Vietnamese. Vietnamese cuisine is amazing, from savory pho to French pastries. One of my favorites is a Bánh mi sandwich. Bánh means bread and is traditionally filled with meats and pickled veggies like daikon radish, carrots, and jalapenos. The bread is a traditional French style baguette with a crusty exterior and fluffy and airy inside. I decided that a Pit Barrel^® version was in order as the traditional meats used, in my opinion, lack flavor and that smokey punch. I added a little Sriracha lime aioli to add that luxurious creamy fat that any good sandwich."