I picked up a couple of 3 pound cross rib roast yesterday and am not sure how to prepare them. I know that the cross rib is from the shoulder, same as the chuck, but they appear to be much leaner with less connective tissue but still require low and slow. My first thought is to coat with oil and salt/pepper, sous vide at 133° for 40 hours, chill and then smoke until IT is back to 133°. Anyone have a good scenario for cooking this cut of meat?

One other question, if I use my first thought procedure, what smoke temperature profile should I use, low/high, all low or all high (low = 160° and high = suggestions?).

How would you prefer to eat this cut of meat - sliced thin like roast beef, sliced like a brisket, shredded/pulled, etc.?

Definitely not shredded, probably more like brisket for supper served with a mushroom/wine sauce and then slicing leftovers thin for sandwiches.

I've never cooked that cut of meat so I am no help here.  Looking forward to how it turns out for you so I can learn something.

There's usually quite a lot of connective tissue (collagen) in a cross rib roast.  Your plan to SV it looks fine.  I would have selected 135° for Med-Rare and no longer than 30 hours, but I don't see a significant difference.

After trimming and packaging the the two roast, I decided that $2.99 was a good price, so I went back and bought 3 more. They all went into sous vide and the last one finished this morning. All at 133° for 40 hours. 4 will go into the freezer and one will be for supper tonight. I will add a light coating of beef rub but have still not decided on a smoke temperature profile. Low will add better smoke flavor and take longer but high will be more predictable time wise and yield better sear/bark. A combination would be the obvious answer but timing becomes an issue since I'm having company over and I'd like to serve it hot from the grill. Any suggestions as to timing and at what IT should I switch to hot and what temperature would you use for hot?

When I SV a roast and then smoke it, I flash chill it like you plan and then I just smoke it at 225° until the internal temperature is ≈125°.  That takes ≈1¾ hours.

I think that your proposed temperatures are okay (160° for smoke and then something higher for finishing) but I don't know how to deal with the two-temperature timing.

Thanks Paul, at 225° did the surface sear (brown) adequately? 225° seems like a good compromise for both smoke and timing.

All I know is I need some of these beef deals...

Thanks Paul, at 225° did the surface sear (brown) adequately?

Color-wise for our tastes, yes.  My roasts seem to come out of SV with an appetizing brown color.

I doubt that there's any Maillard reaction browning or overlaid taste without a higher temperature.

I hope that this reply isn't too late for your needs.

Color-wise for our tastes, yes.  My roasts seem to come out of SV with an appetizing brown color.

Smoked last night, pulled at IT of 125° and it turned out perfect.

Smoked last night, pulled at IT of 125° and it turned out perfect.

No doubt about that.