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I picked up a 4 pound sirloin roast from my local grocery store to put on my smoker. I have read many articles where people tried to slow-cook a sirloin and failed. Many stated that it was over cooked and tough, but I was able to achieve success on my first go at it. Typically, sirloin is too lean to slow-cook or smoke and becomes dry and tough, just like sirloin steaks do if they are overcooked.

The night before cooking, I unpacked the big four pound sirloin roast and rubbed it down with some fresh cracked peppercorn and sea salt. I believe that the sea salt helped to cure the outer crust of the roast and allowed it to hold the majority of the flavor and juice. I started my smoker around 10:30am, it is an offset smoker (you can check it out by clicking here). Using regular old Kingsford charcoal to start with, I think it's a good way to get some heat built up. When the black is gone from the briquettes I added some Jack Daniels charcoal, which contains wood from actual barrells, and then some Jack Daniels smoking blocks around the perimeter of the pit. Some people say to wrap the roast in aluminum foil, but I chose not to do this since it wouldn't have soaked up the good smoke flavor. Once my smoker cooled back down to 200 degrees F, I took the roast (along with some baking potatoes wrapped in foil) and placed them in the smoker. This happened around 11:30am. Throughout the process I added some smaller, aged and dried cherry twigs directly on the hot coals and closed the ventilation on the bottom of the smoke pit. This created an ample amount of flavorful smoke that soaked in really nicely to the roast. You will want to avoid opening the smoker during the cooking process, as you are only dealing with around 200 or 300 degrees of heat, plus you'll just end up losing the smoke flavor.

I was able to keep the temperature between 200 and 250 degrees throughout the entire cooking process by adding small bits of wood to the pit. Airflow is also important and you want to make sure you are trying different things, like adjusting the upper and lower flu's, or vents. Your wood will typically burn hotter and faster with full ventilation and will generate much less smoke. The opposite is true as well, but by closing off the ventilation completely you stand a good chance of putting your fire out or reducing the temperature to an undesirable level.

I kept the lid closed on my sirloin roast and removed it around 3:30pm, so all in all about 4 hours of cook time. I was a little scared to bring it in and slice it, but I could tell after the first cut that it was nothing short of a perfectly smoked slab of meat. About an inch in all around the outside was bright red and the center was extremely juicy and overall had an incredible flavor. No other seasonings or sauces were needed. I sliced a few thicker slices, about 1/4 inch, and then cut about 3/4 of the roast in an very thin, almost transparent manner for sandwiches (I might add some good barbecue sauce to them!). To slice it I used my Rapala electric filet knife, I know, I know, it's made for filetting fishes but it worked extremely well for beef as well.

I spent about twelve bucks on my sirloin roast and will probably eat it for a week and be much more satisfied than eating twelve dollars worth of fast food burgers, which would only be about 2 days worth of eating.

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