Texas "Pot Roast" aka Fake Brisket

My local grocery store (as I presume most local grocery stores do) likes to sell cuts of meat with random names, forcing the buyer to figure out how exactly to cook it. One cut of meat they used to sell is the London Broil. Luckily, London Broil is actually a cooking method, so it was pretty easy to figure out how to cook this (marinate overnight, grill to medium-rare, slice thin across the grain).

Recently, however, they've started selling something called the Texas Broil. As far as I can tell, it's just a larger cut of the London Broil. The description on the packaging says "Chuck Arm Roast", but last time I checked, cows don't have arms, and the chuck is part of the shoulder.

Chuck is usually a tough meat, calling for the London Broil treatment (cooking it medium-rare keeps it from getting to tough, and thinly slicing across the grain keeps the muscle fibers short, also reducing toughness) or the pot roast treatment (i.e. braising). But that word Texas kept jumping out at me. Texas folk don't care about anything with London in the name, and they certainly aren't going to waste a nice chunk of beef by braising it. Then the idea hit me: smoke it! If I pretend the chuck is a brisket I'll get the tenderness and Texas-ness I'm looking for.

Texas "Pot Roast" aka Fake Brisket

• 1 chuck roast (1.5 lbs)
• 1/4 cup paprika
• 1/4 cup chili powder
• 2 Tbsp. garlic powder
• 2 Tbsp. onion powder
• 1 Tbsp. kosher salt
• 1 Tbsp. cracked black pepper
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 Tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1 c. apple cider vinegar OR good quality beer
• 2-3 tsp red pepper flakes
• several cups mesquite or hickory chips

Mix together the paprika, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, sugar and cayenne pepper until thoroughly blended. Pour about three-quarters of it onto the brisket, rubbing onto every side and into every nook and cranny.

Prepare your smoker or grill for smoking. When it's ready, smoke the steak for at least 6 hours. If you are in a hurry you can get away with 4 hours, and if you have more time it could go up to 8. Mix some of the leftover rub with your vinegar or beer and red pepper flakes, and mop the meat with it about once an hour.

After 4, 6, or 8 hours in the smoker, you will hardly believe this used to be a tough piece of pot-roast. It will be fork tender, smokey, and delicious!