Recipe(tried): Tender Beef Hint -

Hi Pam - I've never had the kind of BBQ beef you refer to, but have had similar beef done in the Cuban way - very tender and shredded easily.

I'm basically a New Englander, transplanted from the Midwest years ago - and we do alot of beef in those places. You can make any type of roast by LONG, SLOW COOKING! The secret is not to try to rush it - give a roast (pot roast) plenty of time to cook and at a temperature of about 325 or 350. The texture and moistness of the beef when finished depends on the cut of beef.

As with a lot of meats, the more fat marbled through it, the moister and tenderer it will cook to. So actually, the cheaper cuts of beef cook the tenderest and moistest - such as a nice cut of chuck roast. When you start using rump roast, top or bottom sirloin, or even eye of the round as an oven roast, they will definitely get tender, but will also seem drier, so I usually make sure to have a little gravy to ladle over the slices when serving.

A roast that is oven roasted at a higher temperature for shorter periods of time, without liquid added, produce a nice crusty outside, and rarer inside, which also will be tender, but not that "falling apart" fork-tender you refer to.

I would imagine that the Texas BBQ was broasted or roasted for many long slow hours producing the texture you liked, and then the BBQ sauce or flavoring added during the last hour or two of cooking.

I would think that the slow cooker would produce what you are looking for, perhaps still not enough time to break down those fibers. Give it a little more time, and add liquid if it starts getting dried out.

Hope I've helped a little -

June