NY Day tri tip experiment

[DaveD]

Happy New Year one and all! Here's hoping for a great 2023 for everyone.

Starting the new year with an experiment. I've got a Prime tri tip in the sous vide at 131F/55C where it will sit for 7-8 hours. Then I'll dunk it in an ice bath and get it back down to fridge temps as quickly as possible. Next, into the pellet smoker at about 200-225F/93-107C until internal temps reach about 125F/52C. Finally, a sear over blazing coals on the SnS kettle.

I'm hopeful that the meat will pick up some good smoke while the IT climbs back up. I debated whether to use the kettle or the pellet rig for this step; decided I wanted to sear on coals instead of the gasser this time around, so it's very convenient to be able to go directly from the smoker to the sear without having to futz around.

Dry brined overnight and then gave it a light dusting of "Uncle Chris's Steak Seasoning" made by Fiesta. It's EXTRA Fancy, says so right on the label This was another gift from my buddy Jenni in Austin. Its first ingredient is salt, so I went very easy so as not to overdo that. Vac sealed with a glug of EVOO and a bay leaf for the day.




Won't be anything to update on until this afternoon... stay tuned

[bmillin]

I'd skip the smoke. Chill it and sear.In my opinon tri tip does not need smoke.

[DaveD]

Welp, kinda the whole point of the experiment is to see whether chilling and reheating in the smoker gets any noticeable smoke on the meat at all. So these two steps are pretty much essential

[Old Glory]

DaveD was just commenting on the above. If not trying to smoke no need to chill. Just sear and slice. Your plan seems sound, chilling to extend the time in the smoker.

[DaveD]

Copy that OG!

[treesmacker]

It's gonna be great!

[bbqLuv]

Tri tip
One of our favorite cuts. What you are doing sure sounds good.

[DaveD]

Okey doke, here's the deliverables. Freaking great! Now, only after I got the cut onto the cutting board did I suddenly realize I really missed an opportunity here. What I should have done was cut the tri tip in half after the SV stage, and do one half as I did here but the other by not chilling it and simply searing as Old Glory was talking about (if only I'd read that first!). That would really help isolate the effect of the pellet smoker. Oh well... happily, I have two more of these TTs in the chestie, so the proper experiment is still very doable.

All that said, this was an outstanding result, super tasty and incredibly tender, juicy as hell, and what I now recognize as that particular tri tip aroma. Can I taste smoke? Honestly, I don't think I can distinguish between the note provided by smoke during the reheat from the charry goodness of the sear. Hence the need for the proper experiment. Beefiness extraordinaire, but different from what you get from brisket or chuck or ribs... The sear put some great char on the surface, but the stubby end of the cut did get overcooked, up to 140+F/60+C at the narrowest part. So I just ate that bit as I was carving, it'll never be better than right that moment...

Here's the full trajectory:


Slicin' n servin'.




Plated with the leftover Jess Pryles taters from Friday night and some steamed broccoli.

[Old Glory]

Great work that looks amazing!

I'm going to have to look up those taters

[Sweaty Paul]

Looks spectacular! Makes me hungry!

[DaveD]

Old Glory Here's the tater recipe: https://jesspryles.com/best-ever-roast-potatoes/

They are fantastic!

[Old Glory]

Thanks for the link!

[fzxdoc]

FWIW, a thought:

Next time around, after the SV step, maybe smoke and sear in the SNS or smoke in the SnS do the sear part in the gasser if you don't want to wait for the SnS to come to searing temps. I'm thinking that the SnS's smoke profile might be more pronounced than what you get from your pellet cooker.

Do you notice a difference in the smoke profile between the two (SnS kettle vs Pit Boss) in your other cooks? Just curious.

That tri tip looks pretty darn perfect. I'm a huge fan of TT in the SV. Tender and tasty every single time. You did a great job with it.

A former member here turned me on to Uncle Chris's Steak seasoning. It's the bomb for steaks and roasts. Sure, it has a lot of salt, which is why I put it on at the end for a good crust. I'm not a fan of salt in the SV step, fearing that I'd lose more moisture from the meat while in the bath, plus the purge, which I love to use, can come out too salty. One of these days I should do a comparison of salted vs. not salted TT in the SV. It would be easy, since I have two Joules. Kenji has probably already done it though.

Kathryn

[GolfGeezer]

I have done a number of SV Tri-Tips (only way to do it in my book). I originally used Santa Maria rubs before putting it in the SV and was not pleased with them. Now, I just SV the plain TT for 6.5 hours at 131*, then put the rub on before searing, letting it sit a bit since there is a lot of salt in SM rubs. No ice bath. I do not try for smoke on mine - just the rub and then a homemade chimichurri sauce.

[DaveD]

FWIW, a thought:

Next time around, after the SV step, maybe smoke and sear in the SNS or smoke in the SnS do the sear part in the gasser if you don't want to wait for the SnS to come to searing temps. I'm thinking that the SnS's smoke profile might be more pronounced than what you get from your pellet cooker.

Do you notice a difference in the smoke profile between the two (SnS kettle vs Pit Boss) in your other cooks? Just curious.

Don't know how I missed seeing this reply way back in January! But as it happens, my next cook, on Sunday, is the second of the three Prime tri-tips I got at once, of which the one here was the first. I'm going to try it this way for sure. I think it's easy to get the SnS ready to sear very quickly, just do the smoking step with about 1/3 of the insert going with a chunk of wood, then dump a blazing chimney in and it'll be ready to go.

And I'm well aware that the classic tri tip doesn't "need" smoke. But I sure can't see any reason not to give it a go

[RlsRls]

I've mentioned this before , but, I just don't get the chilling down the meat after SV, if your serving /eating it same day.. Am I missing something? Just SV , then sear, and eat! If it's for service days later, then that makes sense, but same day? somebody help me understand! Thanks.

[Bob K]

RlsRls he’s doing the chill step so he can put it in the smoker to try to get some smoke. Putting it in the smoker straight from SV would bring the temp up past desired doneness. Chilling first gives him more time in the smoke.

[DaveD]

Bob K said it exactly right. Thanks Bob! RlsRls, it's entirely so that I can get some smoke flavor. Otherwise I wouldn't bother. But that's the experiment I'm running

[fzxdoc]

I've mentioned this before , but, I just don't get the chilling down the meat after SV, if your serving /eating it same day.. Am I missing something? Just SV , then sear, and eat! If it's for service days later, then that makes sense, but same day? somebody help me understand! Thanks.

I'm with you, RlsRls , for most SV then sear cooks on the same day. Usually, taking the meat out of the SV bag and letting it rest for a few minutes is plenty of time for the surface to cool enough to be able to take on a good sear without raising the core temp.

To be able to smoke the meat for an hour or two then sear it for SVQ, of course I chill it way down. It's a necessary step but I dislike doing it because it often chills so efficiently that I end up having to scrape the congealed juices off the meat before putting it on the smoker. What a mess. If I'm doing the SVQ on the same day, then, I remove the meat and put it in a clean bag to chill it down. That way I can easily process and use the purge for sauce or au jus.

Kathryn

[DaveD]

Oooo, another great tip! I will do just that, re-bag the cut before chilling it, which will allow me to pat it nice and dry as well. I don't recall (and lack the photographic evidence!) how much purge there was when I did the first one, but if there's enough to work with, having some nice jus would be great. Thanks Kathryn!

[Bad Hat BBQ]

Thanks for posting all of this....good info AND discussion

[DaveD]

Welp, might as well keep using this thread to document tomorrow's cook, so that it's all here in one place - this is actually my most complete record of what I did, my notes are sparse.

This is the second of three Prime tri tips I got from Creekstone last December. Got it salted with Diamond Crystal kosher to dry brine overnight, and it'll spend the day tomorrow in the meat jacuzzi (vac seal w/garlic powder, coarse black pepper, bay leaf)... stay tuned!

[DaveD]

Had to kind of mash it into the SV tub after sealing it up, owing to its highly elongated shape, but that's no biggy. Catch y'all this afternoon

[DaveD]

Alrighty folks, today's results were AMAZINGLY good. Holy guacamole. Incredibly tender, explosively juicy, and the conclusion was very clear, we did pick up significant smoke in the flavor, distinguishable from the sear crust. That sear crust is I think the best I have ever put on a piece of meat. Probably had one slice more than I really needed, but...

After 8 hours at 131F/55C, took out the cut from the bag (got about 1/4 cup/50-60ml of purge, which I didn't end up using), patted it dry, and resealed to put in the ice bath for a while. Temp got down only to just under 70F/21C, and after another pat-dry, hit it with some Uncle Chris's Extra Fancy. Had the SnS kettle going with a moderate pile of B&B and a chunk of hickory, since I needed it for not much more than an hour, leaving ample room for the lit chimney for the sear.





Ten seconds of fiery goodness:

Rested it loosely covered in foil for about ten minutes, then sliced up and served with some of Them Taters from the Jess Pryles recipe and some asparagus. Taters were perfect, with crispy surfaces and uber creamy interiors, but the asparagus was of inferior quality, a little bit woody. But a wonderful meal for sure.

[treesmacker]

WOW!

[fzxdoc]

I think you've got this cook nailed, DaveD . What a beautiful meal. It's good to hear that in only one hour you got the smokiness you were looking for on that hunk of meat. Congrats!

Kathryn

[realdocBBQ]

Ok... it's settled. I gotta do this.

I haven't cooked or smoked anything for quite a while. Well, I guess I smoked a buncha meat for my buddy's daughter's wedding on Mar 31st, but that's the only thing I've done in... I dunno, months prolly.

Been too busy building smokers to be cooking on smokers. <sigh>

Life's a struggle, you gotta prioritize.