Eye of Round

Brined and smoked eye of round

The eye of round is a lean and very symmectrical cut of beef, located on the back of the rear leg. You cook it either by boiling it, or as we do here, by brining and smoking it on low temperature. You don’t want to cook it for too long, it is ready when the inner temperature reaches 130° F. If you cook it longer (or using high temperature) it will be tough and chewy.

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Servings 4
Cook Time 2 hours
Start the grill 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 30 oz eye of round
  • 7 oz salt
  • 0.7 oz sugar
  • 8.5 cups water

Instructions

  • Start by brining the eye of round using a wet brine. Mix water, salt and sugar in a pan and bring it to a boil so the sugar and salt dissolves completely. Leave it to cool off completely (important for food safety), then place the meat in the pan and store it in the fridge overnight. This is a 10% brine, which means a little saltier than usual (6%). That is on purpose.
    Raw Eye of Round
  • Eye of Round in the brine
  • Light up your grill and prepare it for indirect heat. I’m using the snake method with a brick here as divider in a Weber 18.5 inch grill.
    Eye of Round placed on the grill grates
  • Make sure your cooking temp is roughly 230-260° F. Place the meat on the grate, smoke it with some wood chips or chunks for roughly 2 hours, or until the inner temperature is 130° F, no higher.
    Eye of Round placed on the grill grates
  • When done, wrap it in aluminum foil and let it rest for 20 minutes.
    Eye of Round, ready to wrap
  • Slice the round in thin slices and enjoy on a sandwich, or with boiled potatoes.

6 thoughts on “Brined and smoked eye of round”

  1. I wanna do this to an eye round I have that’s 6 lbs. do I just multiply the ingredients accordingly. I don’t wanna do too much. Thanx

    1. Given that 6 lbs translates into 96 oz, that means you have roughly 3 times the meat. I would only double the brine ingredients (not triple). The reason is that you can most likely fit that 6 lb round in the same pan and still have it fully immersed/covered.

      1. Another option is to leave the meat in the plastic wrap it came in. Now place it in an appropriately sized pot/pan and add plain cold water. Add one quart at a time until the meat is covered. That way you know beforehand how much wet brine you need to make. Throw away the water, unwrap the meat and and start making the real brine.

  2. Thanks. I figured it wouldn’t be triple the ingredients and that it might be dependent on necessary water needed. U answered to both of those points.
    Thanks again
    Steve

    1. You are correct, but I explicitly wanted that overly salty snack style meat. This is commonly done when cold smoking meats, where the salt also preserves the meat.
      This recipe is regular or hot smoked beef, but with that salty flavor, best enjoyed in thin slices.

2.23 from 9 votes (9 ratings without comment)

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