i picked up a 2.5 lbs wagyu tri tip from a local gourmet butcher, dry brined it for 24 hours, then did it low and slow at 225 till it hit 115,then seared it off. I had to put it back on the cooler side to bring it up to 130. It looked great but it was the toughest tri tip I have ever cooked! It wasn’t my first rodeo, I’ve cooked and served many tri tips, but none so tough as this. The biggest difference that I can think of is I dry brined this one for a whole day, I usually only do a few hours but I would think that would have helped me.
Did you make sure you were cutting it against the grain? I've made the mistake of not cutting against the grain and it makes the steak pretty chewy. Tri Tip grain will usually run two different ways requiring two different cuts.
I'll do them like that every now and then as well, Thom. It really is good and you never have to worry about toughness. We went to a FD fundraiser dinner last weekend and the TT was so tough you could barely cut it. Incorrectly sliced for sure, but a little more time over the fire would not have hurt them one bit.
I just cooked a wagyu tri tip from dartagnan. Did it the same way as you, low and slow to about 120 then seared off. I also dry brined for almost a full day. Was delicious and tender. Assuming you sliced correctly i can only think it must have just been an unhappy cow.
Must have been just a tough critter. I had one once that was mushy and totally disgusting. The flavor was fine, but I could not get over the texture and gave the whole thing to the dogs. Must have come from a really lazy cow.
Maybe it wasn't Wagyu! Just a thought. Some butchers are scum. I used to work for one like that back in HS. A customer would pick out a piece of meat to have ground into ground beef. He would take it into the walk-in to grind it there and substitute a cheaper cut. He got caught one time! And, there are different grades of Wagyu marbling. Cuts like Tri Tip are usually the lowest.
Last edited by Omega-Man; July 23, 2018, 08:35 AM.
I'm leaning on a tough piece of meat. I got it from a reliable butcher and cut it against the grain. Next tri tip on the SnS I will go to 120, then sear rather than 115. In hindsight I think 115 is a bit early - but that was what worked better with the lower searing temp of my gasser (even with grill grates). With the Slow N Sear I can get sear in about two minutes a side so not enough time for the core temp to rise to 127 or so.
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Okay, so I was going to start a new post about my tri tip not being very tender yesterday, and I found this thread. I read extensively about tri tip from AR. I used SV at 130 F after dry brining. Seared it over charcoal and it looked really pretty. Beautiful medium rare finish. Sliced across the grain. Awesome flavor. But this steer must have grown up on the streets branded as either a Blood or a Crip. Parts of that feller's tri tip belonged at the Birkenstock Factory. It got eaten, mind you, but I need to find a new source of tri tip before I try that again. Is the State of California exporting all their tough cuts to other, less suspecting regions? I had never heard of tri tip before I started hanging out here.
Wagyu is just a breed. The breed is now grown in the US and Australia. Like all breeds, there's no guarantee that a wagyu is going to be tender. A Wagyu grown in some factory production ranch in the US isn't going to be any better than a feed lot Hereford. The whole Wagyu, "American Kobe" (insert ad buzz words here), marketing thing is just designed to take advantage of Trend Lemmings.
Maybe it was the grade. Maybe the wet aging. The problem with cryo bags is that you can't see how the meat is marbled. Then again, trip-tip is pretty lean so it's not going to be easy.
Then again, how it's cooked makes a big difference. I've had good luck doing Sous Vide for 8 hours at 131°F. I let it rest for a bit after taking it out of the water bath so the surface temp goes down to 125°. Then reseason (salt pepper, granulated garlic) and drop it on a blazing hot, lump charcoal or oak coals, until the desired char is obtained.
Oh yeah, the grain. Probably the most important step.
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I've made 2 "Wagyu" tri tips from Snake River Farms and both were tough. I wasn't impressed. Good taste, just tough and NOT in any feasible way worth the price, IMO. I think it's a gamble not a guarantee. Or...maybe they saw my mailing address and though "what does a Michigan guy know about tri tip? Send him this one'.
I also wonder if sometimes what's labeled tri tip is actually a cut from a little higher up from the lower end of the sirloin. Reason why I say this is my butcher sold me 2 cuts of meat as tri tips. One had the distinctive triangle shape of a tri tip and one was more oblong shaped.
The real tri tip cooked up exactly as expected. The "probably not a tri tip" was markedly drier and tougher even though it was cooked right alongside the real tri tip.
Interesting that this thread popped back up. Since i posted here ive cooked a few more tri-tips, these ones being prime. So far ive found my favorite method by far is not low and slow and is much closer to hot and fast. I load the SNS with a full lit chimney and put grill grates upside down over the rest of the grate. Let them heat up then cook on the furthest away upside down grate and turn often. You defintely get a little more of that "well done" ring than low and slow, but for some reason this has just produced much more consistently good results for me with tri-tip.
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