Smoked Rump Roast

I have been wanting a smoker for quite some time so in 2013, I borrowed a friend's small electric True North smoker for The Great Smoker Experiment Part 1 and Part 2.  I prepared a batch of sliced beef for jerky.  Half was prepared in my traditional method using my dehydrator and the other half prepared in the smoker.  I liked the results so set out to find a suitable smoker. While another friend is getting excellent results with a variety of smoked meats especially summer sausage using the True North smoker, I decided I did not want an electric smoker.  The price of electricity in Ontario is the highest in Canada and threatening to go higher plus electricity is not the most efficient way to cook anything to begin with.

When we were at Sam's Club in January of 2014, I spotted a Dyna-Glo smoker that I thought would work nicely.  We went back in lat February and they no longer had it so I went online to Walmart.ca and found the same smoker with free shipping to my door!  The smoker arrived then sat in the box on the lower level while we spent the month of May in Florida and Aruba.  Finally, back home and settled, my husband put the smoker together for me.

This propane gas smoker has a 15,000 BTU burner, heavy duty enameled steel wood chip box, heavy duty steel water bowl, 4 adjustable smoking racks and electronic ignition.  The temperature can easily be adjusted.  There is a thermometer making it easy to keep an eye on the smoking temperature. 

The smoker was assembled on our old deck.  Two days after I seasoned and experimented with this smoker for the first time, my husband moved it to the garage where it sat during the tear down of the existing deck and construction of the new deck.  The main portion of the new deck is 20' x 30, the attached lower pool deck is still being worked on as are portions of the main deck.  It has been a huge project!

Smoking adds a lovely element to foods.  The flavour is very much dependent on the kind of wood chips used.  There is a wide range of smoking chips available wherever grilling accessories are sold.  I used sugar maple chips for the rump roast experiment.

I rubbed a 3.6 lb rump roast in garlic pepper.  It was an easy prep, simply making sure the roast was well covered.  As I get better at smoking, I will be experimenting with rubs but first things first.  My goal with this roast was putting the smoker through its paces and getting an edible result.  Don't laugh!  Sometimes, a goal of edible is all it takes to get a bit creative in the kitchen.

I seasoned the smoker then it was ready for its maiden run.  Smoking differs from other methods of cooking in that you really do need to keep an eye on it.  There's no running to the store or leaving the smoker unattended for any length of time.  It is important that the water bowl does not run dry.   If it does, the meat will be dried out instead of moist and tender.  It is also important to keep the smoker at the proper temperature.  Too high of a temperature will result in dry, over cooked meat while too low of a temperature will allow pathogens to multiply that can result in food borne illness. 

Once the smoking begins, the smoking chamber is left closed tightly.  The lower chamber houses the burner and water bowl.  It can be opened briefly to add water if necessary.  While it is called a water bowl, you can actually use other liquids like stock to impart more flavour to the food being smoked.

Larger chunks of meats are smoked according to weight.  I smoked this rump roast at 225°F for 5 hours 24 min (1.5 hr/lb).  I did run the water bowl dry briefly but caught it before any excessive drying occurred.  I simply added more water and noted it in my kitchen journal as a lesson learned.

The resulting smoked roast had developed a lovely, hard crust with a nice smokey aroma.  I thought the crust was a bit dark but checking online saw that it was fine.  I wanted nice slices for lunch meat.  Once the smoked rump roast was cooled, it was ready for slicing.  Cooled meats always slice nicer than warm meats. 

I bought a Hometrends Food Slicer on sale at Walmart while waiting for the smoker to arrive.  I have also wanted a food slicer for homemade lunch meats for quite some time.  This food slicer is premium coated steel and die cast aluminum housing featuring a heavy-duty 130 watt motor, adjustable and removable 7.5” (19 cm) hardened blade, adjustable thickness control knob, removable carriage system for easy cleaning and suction feet for stable, non-slip operation.

I adjusted the thickness to quite thin then placed the smoked rump roast on the food slicer bed.  The slicer made quick work of slicing the meat into thin slice of uniform thickness perfect for lunch meat.  My only complaint is the sliced meat falls onto the counter at the back of the slicer so it is necessary for the counter to be squeaky clean before using the slicer then cleaned again after but other than that, I'm pleased with the results.

The true test of a successful smoking is the pinkish smoke ring.  I actually had a smoke ring!  The next test of course is the taste.  I was pleasantly surprised at the flavour.  My husband declared the slice smoked roast delicious as he pile his ciabatta bun!  I packaged the rest of the slices into Ziploc bags then popped them into the freezer.  The packages were for lunch meat while camping with the kids and grandkids the following week.

The smoke rump roast slices were a hit while camping.  I'm looking forward to doing a lot more experimenting with smoking.  Smoking a roast for lunch meat is a definite keeper!  I'll experiment with rubs but really the garlic pepper gave good results.  I will be careful to not let the water bowl run dry next time but other than that I am very pleased with the results.