Day 1 - Phase 1

First thing to do is to trim the fat off the outside of the roasts. I like to trim all off if possible exposing the meat to the smoke.

Chop a whole garlic and coat the roasts with the chopped garlic and some Course ground black pepper. The easiest way to do this is to shake pepper on the cutting board and then evenly spread out the chopped Garlic. Once you have done this simply roll the roasts over the garlic and it will evenly coat the roast. Do this to all Three Roasts. I smoked 2 top rounds and a chuck roast. Buy what's on sale but buy lean meat.  Rub on a liberal amount of Dark Brown Sugar. Let the roasts glaze in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Place the roasts into a smoker preheated. 170-180 degrees for pellet smokers and 225 for wood burners. I like to smoke at lower temps for the 1st hour on pellet smokers as they will produce more smoke flavor. After 1 hour increase the temperature to 225 degrees.

Pull the roasts from the smoker when they reach an internal temperature of 150 degrees. This will be medium rare. The reason for medium rare is that we want the juices to cook out and meld with the sauces in the Crockpot. The smoking process should take about 4 hours roughly. Let the roasts cool in foil and refrigerate until the next day. This can be done in one day if you get up early.

In the video and pictures I did 4 roasts. We sliced and ate one. :-)

Day 2 - Phase 2

Now it's time to slice the beef. Pour any drippings from the roast into the Crockpot.  Slice the beef using a sharp knife or in my case I used a meat slicer. Cut a mix of thin and thick slices. Pick through and cut out any fat remaining.

Once the beef is sliced divide it in two equal portions and place it in 2 aluminum pans. Pre-heat your smoker to the lowest temp possible. Traeger's will set to smoke. My Yoder YS640 actually went as low as under 100 degrees with a ambient air temp of 45 degrees. If you have a cold smoker that will do as well. We don't want to cook the meat as much as get extra smoke into it. We also want to keep it moist. Smoke for 45 minutes turning the meat every 15 minutes. This will also allow heat to escape the cooking chamber and keep it cooler. After 45 minutes remove the beef and it's time to get it into the Crockpot. I'm using a Rival 6 qt capacity Crockpot.

In a sauce pan melt about 1/4 stick of butter. Coarsely Chop 3 cloves of fresh Garlic and 2 slices of Sweet onion. Put the onion and Garlic in the pan and sauté over medium heat until the garlic starts to brown. Remove from heat and this will be added to the Crockpot later.

Pour 1/4 the bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's in the Crockpot then add a layer of sliced roast. Follow by 1/2 the sautéed garlic & onion and then build another layer. Once all the beef and BBQ sauce is in the Crockpot then add 20 oz. of Cherry Dr. Pepper. Add 1/2 Tsp coarse ground black pepper, 3/4 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup of honey. Coarsely chop 1/2 sweet onion and add it to the Crockpot. With food preparation gloves on hand mix the contents.

Place the lid on the Crockpot and set to high for 1 hour. After one hour set the Crockpot to low. Slow cook the beef for 8 to 9 hours. Stir with large strong spoon every 2 hours or so.

When the beef is done it will be the most tender & juicy BBQ beef. The juice from the meat will meld with the other contents and sauce to make an amazing thin sauce. The beef will fall apart in your mouth and this is what BBQ is all about!