Tri-tip


 
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John Mason

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Did one of these for Mother's Day following the instructions in the Cooking section. WOW! First time I've cooked one, but it won't be the last. If you haven't tried one, you owe it to yourself to give this one a go.

My experience varied from the instructions in that it took quite a while to get the temp up. Stayed at 275 for a long time, then finally went up to 300-325 when the sand heated up. Maybe I was supposed to go with a dry pan. I also used a bit of apple wood with the red oak.

My wife even liked it! Which is good 'cause she gets a little tired of BBQ - thinks I do it TOO much (impossible!). This was closer to a grilled item.
 
John,

I've had tri-tip both smoked at 225 and grilled direct over hot coals, and I really prefer the grilled version. I also find that if you take them up to 140 degrees you'll get a nice medium rare, with the ends a little more well done, closer to medium.

I know what you mean about the wife, mine gets sick of barbecue as well. Like yours, she never complains about tri-tip, however!

Rick
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Rick Jones:
[qb] John,

I've had tri-tip both smoked at 225 and grilled direct over hot coals, and I really prefer the grilled version. I also find that if you take them up to 140 degrees you'll get a nice medium rare, with the ends a little more well done, closer to medium.

I know what you mean about the wife, mine gets sick of barbecue as well. Like yours, she never complains about tri-tip, however!

Rick [/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>I'm raising my hand on this one, too. Cindy gets kinda tired of BBQ, but LOVES a nice tri-tip or grilled prok tenderloins. Both are great for slicing thin and making sandwiches the next day or so!
 
Tri-Tip is always better when cooked on the grill.

Cook it covered & indirect @ 300 degrees.

Then open up the airflow and uncover so you can get the grill up to 500 degrees or hotter. Finish it off grilling directly over the heat to form a good crust.

I usually cook it over oak but will cook it over mesquite when doing a Southwestern or Sonoran inspired marinade.

You haven't lived until you are enjoying a few cold ones, watching a little football and eating tri-tip tacos on homemade corn tortillas.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Spyro Ananiades:
[qb] Cook it covered & indirect @ 300 degrees.

Then open up the airflow and uncover so you can get the grill up to 500 degrees or hotter. Finish it off grilling directly over the heat to form a good crust.[/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>That's interesting, I swear by cooking them the exact opposite way...

I sear over high heat first for the crust, then finish it up covered and idirect to bring it up to 125 internal for rare to medium rare.

Next time I will try it your way, just to see which method I like better. If it even makes a difference.
 
I just finished off a tri-tip roast (and a bottle of Merlot) about a half-hour ago.

I use a Weber kettle with Weber's charcoal holders and hardwood lump and throw a chunk of oak on the coals for smoke. Rub with worcester sauce and Montreal Steak Seasoning, then sear for 3-4 minutes per side, then finish up indirect at 350 F. Very nice...
 
HJP,

If there is one thing that I have learned in all of my years of fly fishing it is this... forget about the exact fly that someone is using but rather what he is trying to accomplish with that fly.

If I read a fish report and it say that "our guides have been slamming them on a XYZ Caddis Supreme", I really could careless what the pattern is to tie that fly or where to buy them. I just want to know the size of it, what Caddis it is imitating and what portion of the lifecycle. With that knowledge I can reach into my flybox and using something similar.

So while it might not be the exact recipe that "their guides are using", true success isn't based upon that recipe.

One guy might swear on doing it one way and another guy might swear on doing it another... when push comes to shove while they aren't doing the exact same thing, the methods and results are similar.

Personally, I believe in searing large pieces of meat after the majority of the cooking is done.

The theory that I use is that exterior heat drives the juices/fluids into the center of the roast.

With a low then high heat, my theory is that the juices are push towards the middle of the roast the entire time UNTIL it is pulled off the fire and rested.

Conversely, my theory with high then low heat is that the juices are driven to the middle by the high heat. When the transfer to the low temo is made, it seems that the meat would almost go into a mini-resting period where the juices would redistribute out from the center. Then when pulled off the fire, the roast would go into it's real resting period.

My conclusion is that it would be better to expose the meat to the higher temp when the meat has already been exposed to 300 for X amount of minutes. The shock shouldn't be as bad.

Who knows...

See when I deal with cuts that are 1" and thinner, I do the exact thing that you do.

You read around the net for different prime rib recipes, they all talk about searing the roast and creating the crust FIRST... then lowering the heat.

But then you find a few experts that will do the exact opposite... cook low and slow... then hammer it with heat in the last 10-15 minutes to create the crust.

anyway, I think that the only way we can settle this is for you to send me atleast 3-5 of your best tri-tip attempts so that I can compare them to mine.

Just e-mail me for the shipping info...

Thanks!
 
In his book "I'm Just Here For The Food", Alton Brown advocates cooking roasts low and slow first, then searing at the end of cooking. This results in a larger area of inside meat that's cooked to the desired degree of doneness. This is the method I've used in the Tri-tip and Beef Rib Roast - Dry Aged articles.

Regards,
Chris
 
Spyro, good points!

I think the important thing to grasp here is that you should sear the meat at some point.

My only question on searing at the end, how do you control the final temp? How do you know when to blast with 500? heat and then how long. Seems to me you run a risk of way over shooting or under shooting your final temp.

With the initial sear, I can very easily control my final temp as the temp goes up very slowly during the low and slow portion. If searing at the end, I have to assume the temp will go up much quicker and you have no idea when it might stop climbing.

Chris, I know Alton does his that way, but I have never seen his explanation for why. Do you know?
 
I don't know what the "final" temp was on the tri-tip I did, but the temp went to 138, then I took the grate out of the WSM and set it directly on the charcoal ring until the tri-tip had a nice sizzle on it, flipped it and did the same to the other side. When I cut into it, there was no pink /infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif , it was just past pink, but still moist and tasty. Next time I'll start the searing at a bit lower temp.
 
John,

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>I don't know what the "final" temp was on the tri-tip I did, but the temp went to 138, then I took the grate out of the WSM and set it directly on the charcoal ring until the tri-tip had a nice sizzle on it, flipped it and did the same to the other side. When I cut into it, there was no pink , it was just past pink, but still moist and tasty. Next time I'll start the searing at a bit lower temp. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Well that is your problem... the temp was way too high. It probably finished off at 160 degrees.

At 120 degrees is when I put a sear on my tri-tip... I put it directly over the coals and keep the fire UNCOVERED. By the time a good crust is formed, the internal is at around 130 which will rest up to 140 degrees.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Kevin Taylor:
[qb]Chris, I know Alton does his that way, but I have never seen his explanation for why. Do you know? [/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>In the chapter on Roasting, Brown discusses the goal of ending with a high percentage of inside meat done to your liking, e.g. medium rare. He discusses two methods: 1) starting at 500*F to sear the meat, then dropping to 200*F and cooking until done, or 2) starting at 200*F, cooking to 10*F below target temp, then cranking the heat to 500*F and cooking until a crust has formed.

About the first method, Brown writes, "The only problem here is that meats that meet high heat right from the get-go tend to lose more moisture than those that heated up slowly,". Thus he recommends the second method over the first.

Regards,
Chris
 
If anyone has seen AB's prime rib cook episode, wherein he does the high-temp searing post-cook, you can see the wisdom of method #2. He allows the roast to rest while he takes the oven up to 500*, thus giving time to redistribute the moisture within the meat before applying the crusting sear.
 
I have cooked tri tip all high heat, high then low, low then high, and at 300* until I hit temp of 140* internal and thats it. I like the last method for thin slices served on sandwiches. But for serving as medium or thicker I find low then high is my prefered method. One of the joys of good Q is the right to do what you think tastes best to you and your friends and family. I also think that the people here are perfectionist, we tend to be our own worst critic. This is not a bad thing, the people who eat my food seem to like my mistakes ( and boy are there many /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif ).
 
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