Dan C. FL
TVWBB Pro
Or at least the first I know about. 
I mentioned somewhere on here that I managed to score a Tri Tip at Publix. I'm guessing that it's probably way more expensive here than it is out where people are cooking them all of the time. I think this piece was $21 and some change. I'll keep you in suspense as to whether it was worth it.
I decided that I would try to follow Chris' recipe as closely as I could with a couple of planned variations. The first variation was that I was not going to use Accent. I'm not sure how much of a difference that makes in terms of flavor, but I didn't have any and wasn't going to go buy some just for this one cut of meat (in case it was something we didn't like). Another variation was that I decided to cook it on the kettle. Since it's a higher temp. cook, I decided it's not worth all of the work to set up the WSM. Just figured that I would do indirect and then give her a little sear. Finally, I haven't seen oak in stores around here recently. So, I had some hickory laying around and decided that was what I would use for the smoke. As for the unplanned variation, well...I'm not even sure it's a variation...the recipe calls for non-iodized table salt. At first, I was going to use regular table salt (but I decided that would be too much), then a Google search told me that kosher salt is "non iodized." So, I went with kosher salt instead. I'm still not sure what was meant by non-iodized table salt, so if you know tell me. Please? Anyways, onto the cook:
Gratuitous pre-cook meat shot:
The old, still dirty kettle (I swear I'll clean it one day), set up indirect heat one both sides (drip pan in the middle), loaded up and away she goes:
I thought that it would take the meat about 45 minutes to cook to medium rare based on Chris' recipe and having had just done the turkey breast in the morning. So, after about 20 minutes, I gave her a flip. At about the 30 minute mark, my Spidey Sense told me that the meat was done and I should go check the temp. When I did, I was disappointed to find that I had over shot. The highest reading was like 145* or 150*. Dadgummit. I knew at this point that searing it would be stupid. So, no pretty sear marks. Just pulled her off of the grill. I decided that I'd go ahead and let her rest for 20. I may have overdone meat, but at least I wouldn't have dry overdone meat. I forgot to take a pre-slicing picture, but the tri tip was beautiful.
Here she is all sliced up and ready to serve:
You can see that parts of her still had some pink. You can also see the juices all over the cookie sheet. Mmmmmm.
Oh, and while she was resting, I took a piece of watermelon that the misses had just sliced up and put a little brown sugar and pepper on it and threw it over the coals. By this point, they had burned down a lot, so I never really got those beautiful grill marks. But, I could taste the influence of the grill for sure.
Here's the plated meal:
So, what did I think of the Tri Tip? Well, despite having seriously overcooked it, it was FAN-FREAKIN'-TASTIC!!! Seriously, y'all need to stop hoarding this stuff out west and let us East Coasters have more of it around here. Having had it, I'm kinda mad that it's taken me almost 42 years to find and try it. It was tender, juicy, flavorful and lean. Just a fantastic piece of beef. There were spots that were a little too salty, which I attribute to either the amount of kosher salt I used (3 tbsps, as I was trying to stick to the recipe) or, more likely, uneven application by the chef. That would explain why it was only overly salty in spots. Anyways, my wife put a little ranch dressing on hers. I loved mine plain, but because I got a couple of salty bites, I decided to put some bleu cheese dressing on mine. It was soooo good.
I'd say that our experiment with the grilled watermelon was a success too. We hadn't done that before and, despite the missing grill marks, we really enjoyed the flavor. All in all, it was a darn good meal. I can't wait to repeat it!!
I mentioned somewhere on here that I managed to score a Tri Tip at Publix. I'm guessing that it's probably way more expensive here than it is out where people are cooking them all of the time. I think this piece was $21 and some change. I'll keep you in suspense as to whether it was worth it.I decided that I would try to follow Chris' recipe as closely as I could with a couple of planned variations. The first variation was that I was not going to use Accent. I'm not sure how much of a difference that makes in terms of flavor, but I didn't have any and wasn't going to go buy some just for this one cut of meat (in case it was something we didn't like). Another variation was that I decided to cook it on the kettle. Since it's a higher temp. cook, I decided it's not worth all of the work to set up the WSM. Just figured that I would do indirect and then give her a little sear. Finally, I haven't seen oak in stores around here recently. So, I had some hickory laying around and decided that was what I would use for the smoke. As for the unplanned variation, well...I'm not even sure it's a variation...the recipe calls for non-iodized table salt. At first, I was going to use regular table salt (but I decided that would be too much), then a Google search told me that kosher salt is "non iodized." So, I went with kosher salt instead. I'm still not sure what was meant by non-iodized table salt, so if you know tell me. Please? Anyways, onto the cook:
Gratuitous pre-cook meat shot:
The old, still dirty kettle (I swear I'll clean it one day), set up indirect heat one both sides (drip pan in the middle), loaded up and away she goes:
I thought that it would take the meat about 45 minutes to cook to medium rare based on Chris' recipe and having had just done the turkey breast in the morning. So, after about 20 minutes, I gave her a flip. At about the 30 minute mark, my Spidey Sense told me that the meat was done and I should go check the temp. When I did, I was disappointed to find that I had over shot. The highest reading was like 145* or 150*. Dadgummit.
I knew at this point that searing it would be stupid. So, no pretty sear marks. Just pulled her off of the grill. I decided that I'd go ahead and let her rest for 20. I may have overdone meat, but at least I wouldn't have dry overdone meat. I forgot to take a pre-slicing picture, but the tri tip was beautiful.Here she is all sliced up and ready to serve:
You can see that parts of her still had some pink. You can also see the juices all over the cookie sheet. Mmmmmm.
Oh, and while she was resting, I took a piece of watermelon that the misses had just sliced up and put a little brown sugar and pepper on it and threw it over the coals. By this point, they had burned down a lot, so I never really got those beautiful grill marks. But, I could taste the influence of the grill for sure.
Here's the plated meal:
So, what did I think of the Tri Tip? Well, despite having seriously overcooked it, it was FAN-FREAKIN'-TASTIC!!! Seriously, y'all need to stop hoarding this stuff out west and let us East Coasters have more of it around here. Having had it, I'm kinda mad that it's taken me almost 42 years to find and try it. It was tender, juicy, flavorful and lean. Just a fantastic piece of beef. There were spots that were a little too salty, which I attribute to either the amount of kosher salt I used (3 tbsps, as I was trying to stick to the recipe) or, more likely, uneven application by the chef. That would explain why it was only overly salty in spots. Anyways, my wife put a little ranch dressing on hers. I loved mine plain, but because I got a couple of salty bites, I decided to put some bleu cheese dressing on mine. It was soooo good.
I'd say that our experiment with the grilled watermelon was a success too. We hadn't done that before and, despite the missing grill marks, we really enjoyed the flavor. All in all, it was a darn good meal. I can't wait to repeat it!!
