I am planning to grill 6-8 tri-tips for my parents' 50th anniversary party over July 4 weekend, serving about 25 family including lots of strapping teen/20's young men with big appetites. I live on the west coast where tri-tip is common and I have cooked probably over a thousand of them over the years, primarily using the Reverse Sear technique in recent years since I don't have a sous vide set up.
I can pick up known tri-tips from my butcher here and pack them in my carry-on luggage when I fly out, or I talked to a specialty butcher out there who can source local tri-tips if I give him a weeks notice. He said they are un-graded from local ranchers, grass-fed and corn finished, and would compare to Prime Plus and they are dry-aged 21-24 days. I have no experience grilling dry-aged beef and I would hate to mess up expensive high-grade meat for a big crowd on my shake-down cruise. From what I read, dry-aging loses some of the moisture. How does it cook? Anything I need to pay attention to? I am looking for edge-to-edge medium rare and I don't want dry meat.
I will be working with unfamiliar grills, probably a Weber and a couple gassers to have enough capacity. I am confident I can manage the low-and-slow portion but the grills may struggle on the high-end sear. I will take a couple Smokes and my Thermapen, but I won't have enough channels for 6-8 tri-tips and will have to move probes around to monitor temps closely.
Let me know your experience grilling dry-aged vs fresh or wet-aged meat, particularly tri-tip. Anything different I should pay attention to? Or just monitor temps like I always do?
Bonus question: has anybody taken Thermapens or meat temp probes on an airplane? Will TSA allow it in carry-on? Of course, every TSA station is different...they all say something different and say "it's TSA policy". I may just UPS my probes.
Thanks. My reputation as a pit/grill master is on the line here!
I can pick up known tri-tips from my butcher here and pack them in my carry-on luggage when I fly out, or I talked to a specialty butcher out there who can source local tri-tips if I give him a weeks notice. He said they are un-graded from local ranchers, grass-fed and corn finished, and would compare to Prime Plus and they are dry-aged 21-24 days. I have no experience grilling dry-aged beef and I would hate to mess up expensive high-grade meat for a big crowd on my shake-down cruise. From what I read, dry-aging loses some of the moisture. How does it cook? Anything I need to pay attention to? I am looking for edge-to-edge medium rare and I don't want dry meat.
I will be working with unfamiliar grills, probably a Weber and a couple gassers to have enough capacity. I am confident I can manage the low-and-slow portion but the grills may struggle on the high-end sear. I will take a couple Smokes and my Thermapen, but I won't have enough channels for 6-8 tri-tips and will have to move probes around to monitor temps closely.
Let me know your experience grilling dry-aged vs fresh or wet-aged meat, particularly tri-tip. Anything different I should pay attention to? Or just monitor temps like I always do?
Bonus question: has anybody taken Thermapens or meat temp probes on an airplane? Will TSA allow it in carry-on? Of course, every TSA station is different...they all say something different and say "it's TSA policy". I may just UPS my probes.
Thanks. My reputation as a pit/grill master is on the line here!
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