Holding tri-tip to serve for crowd

[bbq_esq]

I was listening to some episodes of Malcom Reed's podcast, and I have heard him talk about holding tri-tips before slicing and serving a few different times with what sounded like excellent results.

I am huge fan of longer heated holds/rests for my briskets and butts, both because the result seems to be better and it is so much less stressful than trying to nail specific time to serve. Just get it done way early and have it ready to go.

I wouldn't have thought this would really work on something like a tri-tip. I'm typically aiming for medium rare on a tri-tip, but usually a long hold is going to be at a temp over 140 for safety purposes. My concern would be your temps creeping up past where you want to end up.

From the podcast, it sounded like they cooked a bunch of tri-tips slow (think reverse sear temps) and brought them up to like 115, then let them rest until they stop carrying over and the temp goes back down vs up (which is what I would do on a reverse sear steak/roast normally). Then, instead of going right to searing, it sounds like they went into a dry cooler or cambro for an hour before they got seared off.

Anyone done something like this with tri-tip before? I may have to run an experiment on this and report back.

To be clear, I'm not talking about serving a tri-tip like a brisket, but the more typical way (like a steak).

[Huskee]

I've never dunnit longer than 10-15 mins with trip tip or prime rib or other any larger hunk that's best in the medium rare range, I've always just cooked them all on-site, took them off heat long enough to prepare the fire to sear, and we ate when we ate, but I suppose it can be done. The issue like you mention is how long it would be held between 40-140F, or the risk of sailing past your target if you don't pull it off soon enough.

There's always the option of sous vide que (SVQ). Cook it, cool it (no danger once cooled), then when it's near chow time sear -or front sear then indirect if you must- up to your target temp. Not sure how much time this would realistically save, but at least with this you eliminate the safety concerns and the overshooting your temp concern.

[TripleB]

Like Huskee said, I’d go with the SV for a crowd.

before I had a SV, I did a cook for a crowd (40+) and served TT. We staggered the TT on the grill and pulled them off at the desired temp, sliced and served. Fortunately, some like their meat medium rare and some well done, so it worked out well.