Our pitmaster loves smoking on his ceramic smoker and a good roast beef sandwich.
After a recent stop at Arby’s, {yes, the fast food joint}, he realized how expensive a roast beef sandwich really is…
“Wonder if we could make our own roast beef, like Arby’s,?” he said out loud.
Without any knowledge of where to begin, we decided to give it a go.
But of course, we were not going to just pop a beef roast into the oven, we had to SMOKE it!
PICKING OUT THE MEAT FOR ROAST BEEF
Just as the sandwich indicates, we chose a type of beef roast.
A good cut of beef was going to be essential, since we would be smoking it, which requires a longer cooking time.
We chose an Eye of Round roast because it is a more economical cut of beef.
The eye of round roast is cut from the rear leg of the beef steer and does not contain very much fat.
PREPPING THE BEEF ROAST
We purchased a 2.66 pound roast, which would be plenty for 4 sandwiches.
After trimming off all the residual silver skin, we dusted it with Oakridge Black Ops.
We chose this rub because it has been a game changer for our beef brisket competitions.
READ MORE – 10th PLACE AT THE DOC HOLIDAY BRISKET COMPETITION – READ MOREWe followed with a light coat of John Henry’s Pecan Rub.
Finally, we placed the roast on a wire rack, inside an aluminum tray, and poured a Dr. Pepper in the bottom of the pan, just till it touched the baking rack.
The roast rested on the counter for about an hour.
This allowed plenty of time to heat up and prepare our ceramic smoker.
PREPARING THE CERAMIC SMOKER
Keeping a clean smoker is essential to good quality food coming off the vessel.
Make sure you read MAINTENANCE OF YOUR BIG GREEN EGG, which is good advice regardless of what type of ceramic cooker you own.
Because we did not want to use a strong flavored wood, we chose cherry chunks to be placed in our smoker.
After getting the internal temperature of the smoker up to 235º, we put the roast on.
We used the ceramic feet accessories to hold the aluminium pan off the rack of the smoker, to avoid scorching the pan.
While maintaining 235º, the roast smoked for about 4 hours, then reached a stall.
While checking the meat temperature, we discovered the Dr. Pepper had completely evaporated, therefore, we added water to the aluminium pan (just enough to reach the rack).
We removed the pan from the vessel and tented with aluminum foil, then placed the roast back into the smoker.
After an additional hour, the roast was removed from the smoker.
It had shot up to an internal temperature of 170º – we were aiming for 165º.
MAKING THE ROAST BEEF SANDWICHES
The roast rested for about 30 minutes.
Since it was cool enough to handle, we placed it in our, recently purchased, meat slicer.
The thinner the slices, the better the flavor.
For serving, place a pile of slices – about 7-8 – on your favorite type of hamburger bun, top with our “A” sauce and enjoy.
IF YOU WANT OUR “ROAST BEEF SAUCE” RECIPE
BELOW ARE THE ACCESSORIES USED DURING THIS RECIPE
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Roast Beef Sandwich (Arbys copycat)
Equipment
- Ceramic smoker
Ingredients
For the beef
- 2 - 3 lb. Beef roast Eye of round, rump roast, any lean cut of beef roast
- 1 Tablespoon class beef rub We used Oakridge Black Ops beef rub
- 2 tsp John Henry's Pecan Rub
- 10-12 oz Dr. Pepper
For the "A" sauce
- 1 cup Simply Heinz Ketchup make sure it has NO fructose sugar on the ingredient list
- 2 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
- 8 Tbsp water
- 3/4 tsp Franks Red Hot Sauce
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 4 Tbsp Dixie Crystals Light Brown Sugar
- 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
Instructions
For the "A" sauce
- Place all ingredients in a small saucepan. Stir to combine. Place over very low heat. Stirring occasionally, heat until just about to simmer. Do NOT allow it to boil. Once heated through, turn the heat off and allow to cool completely. It will keep in an air-tight container for about 4-5 days refrigerated.
For the roast beef
- Trim off any residual silver skin and fat from the roast.
- Give a liberal dusting of the Oakridge Black Ops Beef Rub
- Follow with a light coating of John Henry's Pecan Rub
- Place the roast in a disposable aluminum tray, with a small wire rack in the bottom.
- Pour Dr. Pepper around the edges of the roast, careful not to touch the roast, so the rub does not wash off. Do not above the rack level.
- Allow the roast at room temperature for about an hour.
Preparing the ceramic smoker
- Make sure your grill grate is clean.
- Set up Smoker for direct grilling. We added cherry wood to our charcoal.
- Use Big Green Egg ceramic feet to elevate the aluminum pan. You can use wadded up foil, or a shallow, inverted pan. You want to avoid direct contact between the roast pan and the grate.
- Once the smoker is at 235ºF, place the pan in the smoker.
- Smoke the roast for 4-5 hours or until it reaches an internal temperature of 165ºF.
- Remove the roast from the smoker and tent with foil. Allow it to rest for 20-30 minutes.
- Place roast in a deli-slicer and cut, forming thin sandwich slices.
- Place a pile of slices on a brioche hamburger bun. Top with our "A" sauce and enjoy.
