Tri-tip Fail: What Went Wrong?

[TBoneJack]

I smoked my first tri-tip today, and it turned out bad.

The tri-tip was prime-grade, weighed 2.66 lb, and was very well marbled. I bought it from a company called Wild Fork. It was delivered to my house a couple weeks ago frozen in dry ice. I thawed it in the refrigerator this weekend and dry-brined it for 18 hours, sitting on a wire rack uncovered in the refrigerator.

I smoked it in my Weber Kettle with SnS. I used water in the SnS reservoir, and the Kettle easily maintained 223-230 degrees the entire cook, as verified by a Thermoworks Smoke. I used a big chunk of oak wood in the SnS and placed the tri-tip on the cold side of the grill.

It took about an hour to reach an IT of 113 degrees, at which point I filled the SnS with white hot coals and seared on both sides for 2 minutes each side (alternating at one minute intervals). I got a nice sear, but nothing overdone.

When searing was complete, the IT was only about 120 degrees, so I finished to an IT of 130 degrees in a convection oven, then rested for 10 minutes before slicing. Final IT was 135 degrees.

The meat sliced easily, and had a nice edge-to-edge pink color. And it was very juicy. I was pleased, until I took a bite.

It was almost as tough as shoe leather. I should have known it was a bad sign when I could hardly put a meat probe in it at the beginning of the cook.

I carefully watched several Youtube videos on slicing tri-tip, so I know I sliced it correctly. Bit it was very "stringy". There were 2-3 slices in the center of the meat that were tender, but overall it was a tough chew.

I've successfully smoked prime-grade picanhas from Wild Fork using this same technique.

What could have gone wrong?

[jfmorris]

Hmmm. I am wondering if smoking it that long was the right way to treat a tri-tip. I've only done one, and did it hot and fast as I recall, on a raised grate on my kamado.

I guess there can always be a bad hunk of beef.

[smokin fool]

Agreed, I've only done one so far and as I remember it was hot and fast with an extremely hot sear being the finish for this cut.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

I reverse sear 'em all the time and haven't had this issue. Wonder if it was a bad cow?

[Murdy]

Me too, I think I had the fire for the initial part of the cook a little higher, but can't see how that would make much of a difference. I've taken mine up to 120 and then a quick sere and they've been great.

[Jerod Broussard]

To some people, especially me, tri tip is a pretty tough piece of meat. Even when you slice it very thin directly across the grain. I've got a Wild Fork prime tri tip in the freezer and when I cook it is going to the sous vide for 4 hours, chilled, then reversed seared.

[TBoneJack]

I reverse sear 'em all the time and haven't had this issue. Wonder if it was a bad cow?

Maybe. I had a hard time inserting a meat probe into it at the beginning of the cook. Much harder than when I smoke brisket.

[Donw]

Interesting. Just yesterday I cooked a Wild Fork tri-tip on my new SNS grill and basically followed the exact same sequence you did however mine came out fine. I did note that the Wild Fork butchering job was second rate at best and I had a hard time determining how to slice it even though I have sliced quite a few tri-tips in the past. I did also think that this tri-tip was actually tougher than the choice ones I usually cook. Maybe you just got one that was also from an ornery steer to boot.

[STEbbq]

I am gonna vote for bad cow as that sounds like a good process.

[mrteddyprincess]

I agree. I was buying cryovac tri-tips from Market District a few years ago and I followed the same procedure with same results. It really does matter with tri-tip about what cow it comes from. I talked to the butcher at Market District and he refunded my money and gave me one of the tri-tips from the butcher case and it turned out really tender using the same procedure. Now I only buy tri-tips at Costco or from a local butcher.

[bbqLuv]

Prime Tri-tip at Costco does not have that problem. They smoke up great. They were my favorite until I found out they are mechanically tenderized. I assume if a tri-tip steak is dunked in Boiling Water for a few seconds to sanitize and then tenderized with a Jaccard it would be good to go.

Personally, I think they are safe. Never heard of anyone ever getting sick. But you never know.

[ecowper]

I’ve had well over 100 tri-tips and flank steaks from Costco over the years. Never had a problem. And I think if people were getting sick from the tenderizing, Costco would change what they do.

[John Henry]

@TBJ: Sorry to hear of our your TT troubles. Have had more than my share of failures with Tri-Tip so if OK, might offer some of my hard-earned lessons. At our house, we have turned more than one trip tip roast into diced taco meat from several less than successful cooks. But stay with it and you will be rewarded with something special.
Would also note I concur heartily with Moderator Mr. Broussard and his great advice. Yet another case where Jerod and our other AR moderators really got game! JB's comments motivated me to send this along and hope it might be useful to you and others.

Most every grocery purveyor in our town (Phoenix) sells tri tip. Some even sell prime. So most here are pretty familiar with TT. It is a great cut for many reasons but as Jerod's note indicates, tenderness not so much. It may sound kwazee but my best results are SV for 8-12 hours for the choice cuts and maybe 5-8 hours for the primes. (Not to say that Jerod's four hours won't be a great success also, but am just sayin' as to my own journey.) In a lot of ways, SV and TT were made for each other.

While we may have members use lower temps than my numbers below, MH has made a believer of me for the absolute and total importance of food safety. So please be sure to follow MH's directives, and BE SURE you are above the magic 131 number. DO NOT SV for this long under 131.5! I use 131.5 or 132--but please note, that's after calibrating to be sure our "actual" bath temp isn't lower into the danger zone under 131. Be diligent with this and don't cut corners with your temps here, as MH as schooled all of us. If you are in any way uncertain of your bath temp reading being correct, there's no harm done to cook this baby at even 133 or 134, although my preference is approx 132F, once I am definitely certain of my actual bath water temp.

At these temps, the results are still plenty rare to quickly sear and serve a very nice medium rare product. With SV and your TT, now you have something really special with beefy flavor, a much more tender cut, and no waste, and all at a more moderate price point than many cuts.

I don't cut our slices as thick as 1.5 inches, but likewise, you also don't need to shave this paper thin to have your diners to be able to enjoy its tenderness. Finally, carefully save that "purge" from your cooking bag, to be fully-boiled and strained as an au jus--so go easy with your dry brine salt levels as you want your purge to not be overly-salty. The au jus is a difference maker poured hot over the product at the table or onto your sandwiches. Am sure your next TT cook will be a success!

[smokenoob]

I like those thoughts

[GolfGeezer]

I highly recommend this approach. I've been doing choice grade TT now at 132* for 6.5 hours SV, then reverse sear via whatever method via a super hot source. If smoke flavor is desired, an hour or two in your smoker first at whatever low smoke temp works for you, then the SV bath, then the sear.

[Mark The Q-er]

I have to wonder if the clue might be in the first paragraph. If the tri tip was frozen, you lose juice before you even start. And as Meathead has pointed out in at least one of his many articles, there's no way to get that back. Then you dry brined it and placed it in the 'fridge uncovered. The 'fridge is a very dry environment, especially with the mild air movement. Things dry out very quickly in there. So the salt would draw out some of what's left of the moisture in the tri tip, making the surface of the roast wet, and then the dry 'fridge could potentially evaporate that moisture before it has a chance to be rehydrated back into the roast. So that's two opportunities of lost moisture before you've even started. You finished it in a dry heat convection oven - another opportunity to lose moisture. You say it was juicy when you sliced it, but the question is, how much did you lose before and after you had it in the SnS? In the future, I'd start with a fresh roast and I'd cover it loosely with plastic wrap when dry brining in the 'fridge. If needed, I'd finish it on the slow side of the SnS or perhaps in a radiant oven. Wrapping it at the end is another option. Good luck.

My first post, be gentle. :-)

[ecowper]

Great thoughts Mark ..... one thing that did jump out at me was the use of the convection oven after the sear. I also tend to smoke the Tri-Tip hotter than 225. I usually run about 275. While I don't normally dry brine the roast that long (more like 3-4 hours usually), I have dry brined that long without a problem. I am inclined to think that slicing may be a problem. If you slice Tri-Tip wrong, it will be very tough.

[fzxdoc]

Did you slice it against the grain? The grain on tri-tip changes about halfway through.

Kathryn

[TBoneJack]

I watched several videos on slicing tri-tip before slicing. I'm pretty sure I did it correctly.

[Bkhuna]

I'm a big fan of Sous Vide for tri-tip. 132 overnight and a fast sear works every time.

[smokenoob]

"The meat sliced easily, and had a nice edge-to-edge pink color. And it was very juicy. I was pleased, until I took a bite."

Given that, I say tough cow, tough luck…
I like my TT IT little lower cause the points get more cooked

[ecowper]

I’ve been cooking Tri-Tip for eons and I do pretty much what you did TBoneJack ….. I don’t normally dry brine that long. More like 3-4 hours. I do my smoke a bit hotter, 250-275. It takes a typical Tri-Tip about 40 minutes to get to an internal of 125 at that temp. Then I sear and pull and have an IT of 135, give or take. I rarely let it set more than 3 or 4 minutes before I slice. Slicing Tri-Tip is very important and the video that fzxdoc posted is good on that point.
A couple things I read above to mention. First is that I don’t think your 18 hour dry brine contributed to the meat being tough. I’ve done it that long many times and had no issues. I do think that slicing is very important, so will mention again. Finally, it is quite possible that you got an ornery hunk o’beef

I actually never buy prime tri-tip, I don’t think it makes much difference at all for this particular cut. Whether I buy it from the grocery store or Costco, I buy choice. The few times I’ve bought tri-tip from my butcher or from somewhere online, I have not noticed enough difference to justify the price.

Final thoughts on this. As mentioned, tri-tip is not "tender". It’s going to be tougher than NY strip, ribeye, etc. Calling it a steak is a misnomer. Even a good cut of tri-tip, cooked right, and sliced right, will be "chewy", although not shoe leather tough.

[Murdy]

As I understand it, it's a component of the bottom of the round? If that is correct, it would make sense that its tougher than even a strip or sirloin.

[Rod]

I've done a lot of TTs treating them as big ole steaks and always reverse sear. I usually get them from Costco and don't ever recall an issue. I also don't expect ribeye tender either. If the butchering was second rate (per Donw ), I wonder if there was a lot of silver skin left on? If you don't remove that I can see where that would make things chewy. Otherwise, bad cow like everyone else has said is probably the culprit.