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And here's how NOT to cook Tri-Tip

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    And here's how NOT to cook Tri-Tip

    When I was a novice pilot in my late teens, I used to devour flying magazines. There was always an article in one of them, "I learned about flying from that." or something very close, and always dealt with somebody's screw up and what lesson it taught them. Today, I learned about BBQ from this.

    I spent a good deal of my life, from age 25 to 55, living and working in Hawaii. So, do I know teriyaki? You bet your a__ I do. Teriyaki beef, teriyaki pork, teriyaki chicken, teriyaki burgers served in every plate lunch joint in the islands, along with an enormous amount of carbs like rice and macaroni salad. So you'd think I'd know better because my wife and I have cooked a lot tough, stringy short ribs in teriyaki sauce.

    I wanted to take a break from rubs so I was browsing through Paul Kirk's book "Championship BBQ Sauces", (wonderful book) and came across a recipe for teriyaki flank steak. We didn't have any flank steak but I'd taken half a Tri-Tip out of the freezer in the morning and it was waiting for something to happen. Why I thought Tri-Tip was of similar texture to flank steak, I don't know, but I'll use old age as an excuse. So I made up the marinade, poured it over the Tri-Tip in a vacuum bag and vacuum sealed it in the chamber vacuum sealer and then put it back in the refrigerator to meditate for couple of hours.

    I fired up the RecTec Stampede because I'd already cooked over charcoal almost every night this week, and put the meat in the cooker at 275°. When it hit 115° internal, I Searzalled the top of it and left it in the smoker to finish cooking. I just can't make myself waste as much charcoal as it would take to sear it on the PK-360. When it hit 130°, I took it out and tented it in foil because my wife wasn't quite done cooking her Thai food dinner, and it just rested maybe 5 or 10 minutes.

    When I sliced it, it looked great and my mouth started watering. When I had the first taste, my heart kind of dropped into what's left of my stomach. I learned that tender meat, and this was melt in your mouth tender, does not at all taste good with Teriyaki sauce, so believe me when I say that this looks a lot better than it tasted.

    Click image for larger version  Name:	Teriaki 1.jpg Views:	1 Size:	627.4 KB ID:	736665
    Click image for larger version  Name:	Teriaki 2.jpg Views:	1 Size:	365.1 KB ID:	736666

    Click image for larger version  Name:	Teriaki 3.jpg Views:	1 Size:	332.7 KB ID:	736667
    Last edited by AZ Fogey; August 28, 2019, 10:23 PM. Reason: @JCfgrill pointed out a 100° error.

    #2
    Well it does look fantastic.
    I've only done one tri tip and that was with dry rub.
    Surprising though, always thought Teriyaki was a go to marinade for any meat.

    Comment


      #3
      If it was as bad as you say, I’d have trimmed it off or hit it with some soy sauce. The meat looks good, so it’s salvageable.

      Comment


        #4
        FireMan very good idea. It just never occurs to me to try to salvage a cook gone bad. "I learned about BBQ from that." LOL.
        Last edited by AZ Fogey; August 28, 2019, 10:24 PM.

        Comment


          #5
          I’ve always considered tri tip to be similar to flank steak in taste and texture. I like it more than flank steak, but I say it’s similar.

          Comment


          • JoeSousa
            JoeSousa commented
            Editing a comment
            Same here. If a rub or seasoning or sauce is good on one it is probably good on the other.

          #6
          It does look good. As far as searing. Have you tried using a Weber chimney? Just turn it upside down and fill the bottom. Light it and let it get screamin' hot and sear on that. I bought a 14" ss grate on Amazon and use that on the chimney. It's much easier to use than a larger grate.

          Comment


          • AZ Fogey
            AZ Fogey commented
            Editing a comment
            I've thought about doing just that, but I'd been cleaning up left over charcoal and ash all week and didn't want to deal with it today.

          #7
          My only thought (literally 😎) is that real teriyaki sauce is a glaze ... not a marinade. I think that Vac-sealing with the teriyaki simply overwhelmed the flavor of the tri-tip.

          Comment


          • AZ Fogey
            AZ Fogey commented
            Editing a comment
            MBMorgan, good point. I've only recently got a vac seal that can do liquids and don't have enough experience to know what the effect on marinades is.

          • AZ Fogey
            AZ Fogey commented
            Editing a comment
            My late wife, her older brother, and her father who was chief cook at Waikiki Lau Li chai Restaurant for years were all fabulous cooks. My brother-in-law gave us the starting point for Teriyaki sauce as a 1-1-1 shoyu, sugar and water, and make adjustments from there according to individual taste. However, Teriyaki is a Japanese concoction and they were, of course, Chinese. Maybe something got lost in the translation, but their version was definitely a marinade.

          #8
          Well, maybe the pics can make the "Hot from the Pit" newsletter. Certainly looks good. Just don't tell anyone!

          Comment


          • AZ Fogey
            AZ Fogey commented
            Editing a comment
            Lol.

          #9
          I think you meant 130, not 230. But I get it. Sorry you were disappointed.

          Comment


          • AZ Fogey
            AZ Fogey commented
            Editing a comment
            Thanks, JCGrill, got it corrected.

          #10
          My parents would always marinate tri tip in soy or teriyaki and liquid smoke before cooking on the gas grill. So I never knew how good it could be until I made one myself. Not that theirs was horrible or inedible, just not great.

          But now you know and you can learn from this experience. And now that you shared others can learn as well. Win-win.

          Comment


          • AZ Fogey
            AZ Fogey commented
            Editing a comment
            I actually did use a marinade on a tri tip last week that was billed as "The Greatest Steak Marinade Ever". It didn't quite live up to it's hype, but it wasn't bad, and I would use it again maybe with some minor variations, but next tri tip is going to be rubbed.

          • JoeSousa
            JoeSousa commented
            Editing a comment
            AZ Fogey I really like Big Bad Beef Rub on tri tip. Most any good beef rub will be decent.

          #11
          You can cook my Tri tip anytime. I’ll take care of the flavor profile though.

          I didn’t read all above but I suspect a brush n glaze would’ve been just fine.

          Nice cook!

          Comment


            #12
            So it looked good and tasted not-so-good is my take home message, AZ Fogey .

            My question is why, since you love teriyaki on beef. Was the teriyaki-to-meat ratio not as high as you normally like it? I've only ever used dry rub on tri tip and the flavor is great that way, but I don't quite get why a marinade might be the ruination of a beautiful tri tip, unless this one made it way too sweet.

            Your tri tip looks perfectly done from the photo. Nice job with that!

            Kathryn

            Comment


            • AZ Fogey
              AZ Fogey commented
              Editing a comment
              fzxdoc I think you hit the nail on the head. I usually use 1 cup of shoyu to 1 cup water to 3/4 cup white sugar plus generous amounts of garlic and ginger. The recipe I used on the tri tip was 1 cup of pineapple juice, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup shoyu, 1 tsp minced ginger and 2 cloves of crushed garlic. So it was double sweetness with no water to dilute it.

            • fzxdoc
              fzxdoc commented
              Editing a comment
              Oh I see, AZ Fogey . I'm not a huge fan of a sweet flavor profile on beef myself. Sounds like FireMan 's solution of adding soy sauce to the leftovers might help save the day.

              K.

            #13
            Not sure why the taste was not there.

            My go to marinade for flank steak is equal parts Kikkoman teriyaki sauce and frozen concentrated limeade. Mix in a whole head of minced garlic and lots of freshly cracked black pepper.

            I’ll also Marinade a London Broil in this and I’ll continually baste it with the marinade as I cook it.

            Comment


            • AZ Fogey
              AZ Fogey commented
              Editing a comment
              ssandy_561 What a mind blowing combination. Salty plus sweet/sour with a garlic and pepper kick. I've got to try that. Thank you.

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