Trying tri tip cooked like a brisket...

[Troutman]

THIS ^^ is why I love the Pit, always something new to explore. Patiently waiting the results, I love side-by-sides.....

[Johnny Booth]

😂 stole that.

[DaveD]

Alrighty, we're underway. Got the kettle fired up and stable at about 220F/104C, and the TT on the grate...

After overnight dry brine:


Doused with Cowboy Crust:


Put a probe in the thickest core and one in the thin end and onto the kettle. ITs were just under freezing, didn't take long to start rising and natch, the thin end is getting warmer faster.

Gave it one more hit of CC to make up for the handling divots.


At 40 minutes in, core is already at about 90F/32C, tip at 120/49. Keeeeeeeeep going...

[Troutman]

I really like those Spiceology spices. Just ordered $50 bucks worth to get free shipping. Didn’t need ‘em, just wanted’em. Cook on brother 👍👏👏

[DaveD]

Update! Everything is nominal. After about 3 hours, the core temp was in the low 160sF/low70sC so I pulled it off and wrapped snugly in two layers of butcher paper. Pushed the probes back in through the paper but of course not the exact same places. For the tip probe, I clearly got it too close to the core and needed to go back and move it one last time.

The story so far:

Third and fourth dots are when I spritzed & took photos. After the second spritz the kettle really took off, and I had to crank the vents way back to rein it in. The big disturbance in the Force at about 2:30pm is when I did the wrap & reposition. Fairly typical for me to see temps fall for a bit after paper wrapping before turning around again... do others see that too?

About an hour in, core IT ~110/43:


Two hours in, core IT ~140/60:


Three hours in, shortly before wrapping, core IT ~160/70.


More later...

[DaveD]

Welp, post-wrapping, the cut continued to slowly cool down, losing 5F in an hour. So I bumped up the fire and got things eventually to around 300/150, and we have liftoff again. Going to be a little later dinner than anticipated... guess I should have started earlier!

[bbqLuv]

I would pair that with PBR for sure. Tri-Tip cooked like a Brisket, I just may have to try that.

[DaveD]

Alrighty, here's the deliverables. Bottom line up front: Little short of spectacular. Greatly exceeded expectations.

After wrapping in butcher paper, the cut really cooled off, losing over 5F in an hour, and I had to get the temp up to ~300F/150C to get things moving again, as mentioned above. But finally the core temp reached 200/93 so I pulled it out and let it rest on the counter for 30 minutes or so. Not proud of my kettle temp profile in this plot, but it got the job done...


And here we are:




Plated with Them Taters and some steamed zucchini, and my lovely bride chopped up some iceberg & tomato-like objects for a simple salad.




It was just fantastic. We felt it had the bite of a brisket flat but with the juicy tenderness of point, really best of both worlds texture wise. The flavor was definitely brisket-y, but there was no mistaking that distinctive tri tip beefiness. The bark had a hint of those amazing flavors you get when you sear a TT in the usual way.

My preconceived notion going into this experiment was that even if it was as good as it could get, I'd enjoy it, chalk it up to the "yep, I've done that" category, and probably not do it again. Nope! This is just so good, I reckon I'll be switching off between this and my SVQ usual on the regular for tri tips going forward. Definitely surprised at how good this turned out to be.

I would definitely start earlier than 11:30am, though. Not sure why I always see such a temp depression right after wrapping, especially in paper. That set me back significantly, over an hour of temp decrease. No bueno.

So if you were on the fence about trying this, do go for it, especially if you can get hold of a Prime piece. I'm sure that marbling is important.

[Finster]

So glad it worked out for you….not that I didn’t think it would.
This just reaffirms my opinion that folks that question so strongly why you would do this, have never tried it….imo.

[Troutman]

Well you convinced me. Kind of reminds me of the same result I got with a big piece of pork belly I cooked like a brisket. Well done sire !!

[Smoked Transistors]

Awesome color, bark, and smoke ring. I love tri tips smoked like brisket. Great job on this, you nailed it. I can taste the beefiness just looking at your photos, and the leftovers are spectacular for tacos, chili, or whatever you can dream up.

[WayneT]

Thanks for your well documented (verbose?) design, plan and cook of an exploratory method. This adds to the body of knowledge which is the goal of science, whether the hypotheses are proven or not and, I think you’ve made believers out of some skeptics. Well played!

I think I’ve seen some Tri-tips at Costco and May have to smoke one soon.

[Santamarina]

I’ve been on the fence about this cook method. As a life-long Californian who’s cooked countless tri-tip in the Santa Maria tradition this just seemed “wrong” - like a Texan putting beans in chili.

Yet it seems like you’ve found a solid alternate to the traditional tri-tip cook. One of my fears is that it’d end up as tough as shoe leather, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

However, aside from a strong sale, in my neck of the woods brisket is cheaper than tri-tip by several $/lb, so I’m planning to keep them distinct in preparation.

But if some strange thing happened and I needed to adjust on the fly after meat was procured I’m now confident that I could make a brisket-style tri-tip.

Thanks for documenting your experience!

[fzxdoc]

Nice work! I enjoyed reading about the cook, and agree with many here who say that it might be fun to try.

Two questions:
1. Would you do this again, or have you had your fun?

2. What would you change about this cook, were you to repeat it?

Kathryn

[DaveD]

Nice work! I enjoyed reading about the cook, and agree with many here who say that it might be fun to try.

Two questions:
1. Would you do this again, or have you had your fun?

Here's what I said in my "deliverables" post above: "My preconceived notion going into this experiment was that even if it was as good as it could get, I'd enjoy it, chalk it up to the "yep, I've done that" category, and probably not do it again. Nope! This is just so good, I reckon I'll be switching off between this and my SVQ usual on the regular for tri tips going forward. Definitely surprised at how good this turned out to be." So that's a "yes I'll definitely do this again"

2. What would you change about this cook, were you to repeat it?

Start earlier, no question. Not sure I understand why wrapping in paper always makes the meat serious stall out for me, but it's very consistent. I'd want the cut on the kettle no later than 10am.

[fzxdoc]

Would you start out at a higher kettle temp, Dave, say, 250ish, or still aim for 225° for starters and see where it takes you next time?

K.

[DaveD]

I followed several recommendations that said sticking w/225F is preferred until after the wrap, so given how well this turned out, I'd likely stick with that. The time unwrapped wasn't the rate-limiting step...

[Smoker_Boy]

Foil doesn't let any moisture through.
Paper does.

Could this be the reason for the stall you see??

[DaveD]

Yup, could be, although I'd have thought that the paper would inhibit evaporation enough to forestall it... More data are needed!

[Johnny Booth]

Smoker_Boy - That could be. With brisket, I always wet the paper, or use some tallow. That way the paper does not breath quite as much. I also bump the temp right after the wrap to re-heat the meat.

[IdahoJim]

I've seen a brisket cool down after wrapping with paper. I think it's because while the paper is dry moisture is still evaporating from the meat until the paper is saturated with water or grease/tallow. I've seen videos where people put tallow on the paper before wrapping. I think that is to avoid the cooling down. For a tri-tip, I don't think I'd wrap. When I did mine I think it only took 4 to 5 hours at 250.