Smoke a flank or chuck steak or is it a waste of time?

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gregthec

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Hey Folks,

I’m new to this site (or any BBQ type forum) and also new to smoking my food and I have a couple questions.

I recently got a Weber Smokey Mountain (18 inch). The first thing I made were baby back ribs and they came out great.

Now, I was thinking of making some sort of beef thing on the smoker but I was hoping for something that didn’t take more than a couple hours with a cheap cut of beef.

My question is, can I “slow cook” a flank steak or a chuck steak on the smoker for a couple hours and is there a benefit to cooking it this way or should I just grill it? I would marinate the flank steak the night before but does the chuck steak need marinating or brining for it to be tender or will cooking it for a couple hours do the trick.

I welcome any and all tips on a cooking process, recipes and tips. Feel free to rag on me for even thinking of “smoking“ steaks. Recipes are welcome too!

Thanks,
Greg
 
I do flank steaks on my pellet grills all the time. It's a lean cut so slow and low isn't good. I'd typically give it about 30 min to an hour of smoke then sear.

My last one was a "pinwheel" flank steak and it was delicious! Sliced in half horizontally, stuffed and rolled. Then cooked on smoker.

Tons of options and welcome to the addiction!

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk
 
That sounds great. Does cooking on the smoker for 30 minutes taste different vs the grill? I reckoned that one needs for it to cook lower and slower to get the smokey taste.
 
Don't know about flank steaks, but a smoked chuck roast is a real workhorse. You can do a lot of things with it.

For pulled beef bbq, I smoke them for three hours at 270-300 degrees then pan it with beef broth, onion soup mix, beer, or whatever you want. Then it goes in the oven until it pulls easy with a couple of forks. Usually around two hours depending on the size of the chuck. We also make tacos and other mexican stuff with it.

For chili or vegetable beef soup, I smoke them till they reach around 180 degrees internal then let them sit in the fridge for a day or two and then cube and put them into said soup or chili and cook till tender.
 
Have never done smoked flank, but have done chuck numerous times. Pepper Stout Beef is a favorite around here.
 
gregthec said:
That sounds great. Does cooking on the smoker for 30 minutes taste different vs the grill? I reckoned that one needs for it to cook lower and slower to get the smokey taste.
Click to expand...
I've never used a dedicated smoker but yes, 30min to an hour on smoke setting with my pellet grill does give a nice smoke flavor. The temp is around 180-190 degrees.

With a temp probe you could smoke the flank steak until am internal temp of about 125 then do a 2 minute sear on each side. I think you'd want to keep the smoke to 2 hours though and then grill even if it didn't hit the 125 IT.



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love to smoke a chuck roast for a couple of hours - then into an instant pot for and hour--ish then add potatoes, carrots, onion and celery for 5 min or so. Thicken gravy with a corn starch /water slurry.

Makes a fine pot roast dinner - very hearty.
 
I hang flank steak in the Pit Barrel Cooker for making tacos. It comes out with some smoke flavor. I cook to med-rare, takes about 35-45 min. easy cook.
 
Ok guys, ended up getting a flank steak but a London broil cut (?). They didn’t have chuck steaks, only roasts and I couldn’t commit to 5 hours of smoking.

The recipe I’m following uses a rub, (cumin, garlic, salt, etc.) that I’m prepping with tonight. (This recipe https://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/smoked-flank-steak). Goes in the cooker for about and hour. Not in the recipe is searing at the end So I was thinking of searing in a cast iron pan with butter and rosemary to add some crust.

Feel free to add any suggestions you might have. I’ll report back on the results tomorrow some time.

Thanks for all your help!
Greg
 
Looking forward to seeing the results!

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk
 
Zalick said:
I've never used a dedicated smoker but yes, 30min to an hour on smoke setting with my pellet grill does give a nice smoke flavor. The temp is around 180-190 degrees.

With a temp probe you could smoke the flank steak until am internal temp of about 125 then do a 2 minute sear on each side. I think you'd want to keep the smoke to 2 hours though and then grill even if it didn't hit the 125 IT.



Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


How do you like you season your flank steaks?

I did some ribeyes today that were so thinly cut they might as well have counted as flank in terms of thickness.

I feel like indirect is a waste of fuel for such a thin steak unless you can get some decent amount of smoke to surround it and thus impart some of that flavor, and then reverse sear it as you suggested.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
End result:
About an hour long cook and this fairly thick london Broil came out pretty darned good. The surprise was how tender it was, no marinating required. Very good flavor except I went a little over the top on the garlic.
Thanks for your help everyone. Love smokin’!
Greg
 

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And to those who I “thanked”, I may have meant to say I found your posts “helpful” so I went back and checked all those too. Thanks again, all. Next up, 20,000 questions about smoked porchetta!
 
amalik said:
How do you like you season your flank steaks?

I did some ribeyes today that were so thinly cut they might as well have counted as flank in terms of thickness.

I feel like indirect is a waste of fuel for such a thin steak unless you can get some decent amount of smoke to surround it and thus impart some of that flavor, and then reverse sear it as you suggested.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Usually just salt pepper garlic. I also tenderize it quite a bit with a tenderizer if I don't season it the night before.

Yeah, lots of smoke then a sear is great!

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk
 
gregthec said:
End result:

About an hour long cook and this fairly thick london Broil came out pretty darned good. The surprise was how tender it was, no marinating required. Very good flavor except I went a little over the top on the garlic.

Thanks for your help everyone. Love smokin’!

Greg
Click to expand...
Nice work! And no such thing as too much garlic in my book. [emoji41]

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk
 
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