Welcome!


This is a membership forum. Guests can view 5 pages for free. To participate, please join.

[ Pitmaster Club Information | Join Now | Login | Contact Us ]

Only 4 free page views remaining.

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Tri-Tip Technique

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Tri-Tip Technique

    I should dedicate this to ecowper. He talked me into getting a Fireboard. I'm also dedicating it to the rest of you here who have talked me into moving into this century when it comes to BBQ. I will share with everyone my 30 year technique that goes against convention. I can only tell you about it because the Fireboard has now told me what is going on. As a background - I have been smoking tri-tips since I was 20 years old. I'm 52 now. I have pretty much done the same thing from Weber BBQ's to COS' to my uprights. Early on, I found that the "steaky" tri-tips were not to my liking. I adapted a cooking technique that made them come out really nice. Folks tell me that they have never had tri-tip cooked like mine and I get invited to cook them for people everywhere I have lived. For the first few years I marinated them. In my 30's I began to I rub them. I have always used a water pan. I cook at 200-225 according to my "on unit" thermometer for "about" 4 hours until they feel done. I couldn't, until today, explain exactly what "done" was. For me, the roast started firm, the roast got floppy and then turned firm. Once firm, I take it off. Most of the time it had a smoke ring and it is slightly pink in the middle and medium to medium well on the ends. With the Fireboard, I was able to see exactly what was happening tonight. I BBQ'd two tri-tips side by side. One was large and the other was medium size. My BBQ temp was between 205 and 225 per the Fireboard, for 4 hours. The external BBQ thermo was showing 225-230. In the first hour, the tri-tip temp went to 153. In the second hour it hit 162 and held at that temp for the next two hours. In the 4th hour, I pulled them when the "felt" right. The temp at pulling had just inched up to 172 on the smaller one and 167 on the larger. Again, this is not the traditional tri-tip that folks are used to. It pulls apart like a nicely cooked brisket - a little tug. It melts in your mouth. It is really nice cooled, cut thin and served on the second day on a roll. I also now know why Breadhead 's SV tri-tip didn't taste right to me but was "fantastic" according to my daughter. The internal temps, compared to what I was used to, were completely different. I'm going to go with his times but play with temps. I'm also guessing that if I got the tri-tip to 167 at a hotter BBQ environment for a shorter time, I would not have had a similar result. So with the Fireboard, I now know that when the temp gets to 165 it is going to start climbing quickly and it is time to take it off. While I would still turn out good tri-tip without the tool, I would not be able to share it because before today it didn't make sense and I couldn't quantify it. Thanks you all.
    Last edited by tbob4; January 24, 2017, 12:14 AM.

    #2
    I can see that being awesome. I've cooked the highest grade tri-tips you can get and to me just simply smoking to medium-rare doesn't do crap for the texture.

    The only way I can get a medium-rare texture with tri-tip to my liking is sous vide.

    Now I have a good excuse to take one of them dudes way up there.



    Comment


      #3
      I think that tri-tip can take the higher temps, because of the fat content they sometimes have. I wish I could get them more often here. They are a rare find in any stores around me.

      Comment


        #4
        tbob4 I am glad you find Your FireBoard useful! I do too. Your description of Your Cook was Great! Thunder77, Jerod Broussard, Fifty Years ago Tri-tip's were called Hamburger in My Folks Meat Market? Last Week My local Meat Market, Prime Cut Meats, had 5 - 6 wrapped an in the Case ready for sale! First time I have seen them, +- $8.90/Lb!
        Might have to Try One?
        Eat Well and Prosper! From a Backyard Cremator in Fargo ND, Dan

        Comment


          #5
          Tri-Tip seems to be one of those meets that's very forgiving. I cooked mine recently to a nice medium rare- 135F and my family loved it. Did two-zones cooking, slowly in my Weber grill with indirect heat and seared it on my Weber gas grill. My family loved it. Might could have gone a bit darker on the sear, but was trying to avoid blackening too much. Yet others cook it more like a brisket it and it still comes out excellent. This one really did come out like a poor man's prime rib. The place I bought it from wet-ages everything at least 30 days so that may have helped with the texture.
          Click image for larger version

Name:	20170108_190137-2.jpg
Views:	178
Size:	172.3 KB
ID:	267197

          Comment


            #6
            Click image for larger version

Name:	IMG_2730.JPG
Views:	166
Size:	368.5 KB
ID:	267213Click image for larger version

Name:	IMG_2732.JPG
Views:	170
Size:	380.0 KB
ID:	267214
            These photos are from last night's cook. The top shows the difference between 167 and 172. Note the pink still present at 167. The bottom photo shows the roast with a gentle tug. Notice it pulling apart uniformly but not breaking. Again, I don't know if this would work if cooked hot and fast to those temps.

            Comment


            • tbob4
              tbob4 commented
              Editing a comment
              Thanks Willy - it's also strange. If I didn't have the Fireboard I never would have shared this because it goes against all advice and I figured folks would think "No, he's doing something different than he thinks he is."

            • ecowper
              ecowper commented
              Editing a comment
              I'm gonna have to try this.

            • Danjohnston949
              Danjohnston949 commented
              Editing a comment
              Me Four!
              From a Backyard Cremator in Fargo ND, Dan

            #7
            Our local store had a sale on tri tip $2.49 a pound, so I bought 4 and decided to try out this cook on one of them Friday in work. Got the weber gasser fired up to 230-250* and with the help of my trusty Smoke I started cooking it, after 5 hours the meat reached 167 so I pulled it. What I found was a moist well done tender piece of meat, not the pull apart kind at all. I am wondering if I missed something

            Comment


              #8
              Brewmaster - Was it good - in texture and taste at that temp and time? If I buy Choice it doesn't have the same elasticity that the Prime does but I find that it tastes just as good and is still tender. When I started cooking it this way years ago I only had Choice cuts and found that rare-medium rare was way too chewy.

              Comment


                #9
                The taste was good the texture was about the same as when I do a reverse sear method using my PBC, the color of the meat was evenly dark but tender using your method and the color using the PBC is a lot pinker, as I said the texture was very similar, would need to do a side by side test to be sure. The biggest thing was the difference in the cook times. I am not sure that it was worth 5 hours of my time. MY friend that I shared it with said that he liked the reverse sear on the PBC better, but it was fun to experiment. Always have to try somtem new

                Comment


                  #10
                  Brewmaster - I'm glad you did it. As I noted, I had no idea what the internal temp was until I got the Fireboard. I would cook for "about" 4 hours until the feel was right. I'm glad you did it and I'm going to keep cooking my method but will look for variables. Your cook and feedback are really important and valuable to me. For example - why did yours take 5 hours to get to 167 and mine just a little over 4? Does it mean that my unit with wood and a large water pan cook differently than the gasser? Again, I'm really glad you did it and gave the feedback.

                  Comment


                    #11
                    I'm new to the Pit (yesterday) and noted that I did tri tip for the first time this past weekend. What I read before doing it was "treat it like a roast". So I did.


                    Sear (~575) on both sides for about 3-4 mins. took it off and let the egg come down to about 325. I have the adjustable rig and used the extender on top, highest setting up in the dome, and let it sit there until they were 130 IT. I wound up cutting the tris in half as one side was a bit thinner and further along, took them off early. Took them (I did two tri tips, 4 people eating, oh well) off and was slicing them in about 5 mins. Enough time to shut the egg down and take in the foil pan of onions that cooked under the TTs.

                    Yes there was some myoglobin that got mopped up by Portuguese rolls and that tri tip was out-freakin-standing. Pics attached. I had such good luck doing it "Like a roast" that its going to be hard to alter that next time I'm fortunate enough to find tri tip.

                    Beef rub on Tri tip - ground coffee, course salt, plain white table sugar. And I did dry brine for the 6 hours I had the meat before it was seared. Doesn't taste like coffee, if you haven't tried it, try it on anything getting high temp.

                    Attached Files

                    Comment


                    • tbob4
                      tbob4 commented
                      Editing a comment
                      That is beautiful!

                    #12
                    Very nice looking!

                    Comment

                    Announcement

                    Collapse
                    No announcement yet.
                    Working...
                    X
                    false
                    0
                    Guest
                    Guest
                    500
                    ["pitmaster-my-membership","login","join-pitmaster","lostpw","reset-password","special-offers","help","nojs","meat-ups","gifts","authaau-alpha","ebooklogin-start","alpha","start"]
                    false
                    false
                    {"count":0,"link":"/forum/announcements/","debug":""}
                    Yes
                    ["\/forum\/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads","\/forum\/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads\/1157845-paid-members-download-your-6-deep-dive-guide-ebooks-for-free-here","\/forum\/the-pitcast","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2019-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2020-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2021-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2022-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/current-2023-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/current-2024-issues","\/forum\/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads\/1165909-trial-members-download-your-free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-here"]
                    /forum/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads/1165909-trial-members-download-your-free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-here