My wife wants to serve tri-tip along with a ham for Christmas dinner. Crazy coincidence that tri-tip went on sale at a grocery store yesterday. The question is, because we have a few weeks before Christmas, do I buy it, dry brine it, vacuum seal it and put it in the fridge? Or, should I do the same method but put it in the freezer? The sale ends Monday but they ran out way before that the last time. I hate to freeze it if I don’t have to. Just a mental thing, I guess. Thanks for the help!
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If it's in cryovac wet age it. If it's not vac seal and freeze or vac seal and wet age. -
Thanks! It won’t be in cryovac, so I was concerned that if I vac sealed it and put it in the fridge it may not keep til X-max.Comment
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....Christmas
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I've been pushing the fridge envelope to the edge. I'm smoking a chuck right now, tonight, for chili tomorrow that was trimmed, received a kosher coarse dry brine, wrapped in wax paper, then wrapped in butcher paper, and put in the fridge for two weeks. It will be awesome - take a quick look at the 'what are you cooking today', it's there, posted today and will be updated with the finished meat later. You can see what the meat looked like when I pulled it straight from the fridge.
Last week I cooked an 8 lb. beef eye of round that was in the fridge air-aging for 2 months @ 38F, prepared the same way. Removed the pellicle before smoking. Really very good but I want to change a few things next time. It's been suggested that I sous vide that cut, and then smoke / sear jfmorris I think responded. I'm sure that's the right approach.
The week before I pulled a bone-in full packer pork loin from the fridge that had been prepared the same way, and been in the 38F fridge for 6 weeks. That was the RICHEST pork I have ever tasted that I've prepared and cooked. Decadent. A lot went into chili, chili that was overpowered by the rich funk of the pork. GOOD funk. I had to compensate to balance the tastes. Whenever I age pork again, I will do exactly the same thing.
(Two days ago I smoked pork country style ribs that were cut for me 8 hours earlier - that works too!)
The moral of the story is to prepare and store your tri-tip properly in the fridge, and assure your fridge temp is appropriate. I have an accurate gauge in mine, on the shelf with the meat. Remove any suet before applying brine & storing. Trim it properly when you remove it. When cooking absolutely assure you exceed the recommended pasteurization times for your final target IT. I think it's a fzxdoc thread that has a good pasteurization chart link.
You'll have a great cook.
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JGo37, thanks for the tips, no pun intended😆! Bought three of them tonight. Will trim, brine, seal and fridge until Christmas. Thanks again!Comment
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Will do! Asked for an SNS for Xmas. Only have a smokenator, so will use that to kiss it with some smoke before the reverse sear. Probably going with Oak to be safe. I live in TX, so thought about blending in a small piece of Mesquite. I tend to tinker too much, so with 12-14people I might just stick with oak.
Thought about searing them with the reverse side of my grill grates for more char but the criss-cross pattern will probably look better for presentation. Once again, tinkering. Better to do this when it’s just my family. They don’t mind being guinea pigs because they know pizza is just a phone call away🤣!Comment
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