Work Potluck Question


 
P

PSchiller

TVWBB Member
We are having a holiday potluck at work, and I'm in charge of making tri tip for the event. I'm still deciding, but I don't know if I should cook It a day ahead (Thursday evening) and warm it up on Friday before work. Or wake up early on Friday morning and cook it then.


I work at 830am, and food won't actually be served or grazed upon all day (lol) until around noon.


Is there a good way to slice the tri tip at home, before 830 am, and still have it be warm by lunchtime?
 
Get a chafer set up from someplace, I have seen them at Walmart or Gordon Food service for maybe $20.
Once you have one its a very handy thing to use. You can slice, while it's cool, reheat in the oven then, slide the thing on the chafer with an inch of water in it and it should stay hot for four hours or so. I do that for a lot of family feasts! Cheap set up will get you started, then you will see a "NEED" for a real hotel pan set up! My sister in law and I used to do that for church feasts, the equipment has been upgrading for a couple of years.
Weberitis breeds gizmosis (the need for more gizmos to make things which once were simple far more involved)
Hi, I'm Tim and I'm a grillaholic.
 
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I did low and slow at 225 for tri tip and it took under 2 hours to cook a 3 lb tri tip. So if you have to cook before work, you can do them early, and wrap them and store them in a warmer or cooler and before serving, do a reverse sear and slice.
 
A few questions for you?
1 What cooker are you using, the Performer or the WSM?
2 How many people are you cooking for?
3 Is there anything else you will be cooking for the event?


PSchiller said:
We are having a holiday potluck at work, and I'm in charge of making tri tip for the event. I'm still deciding, but I don't know if I should cook It a day ahead (Thursday evening) and warm it up on Friday before work. Or wake up early on Friday morning and cook it then.




I work at 830am, and food won't actually be served or grazed upon all day (lol) until around noon.




Is there a good way to slice the tri tip at home, before 830 am, and still have it be warm by lunchtime?
Click to expand...
 
1. I'm going to use my performer.
2. Roughly 18-20 people.
3. Tri tip is the only thing I'm cooking.


My only concern is keeping the food warm, since I have no proper way of reheating at work other than a microwave, from the time I start my shift til lunchtime...


Bob Ivey said:
A few questions for you?
1 What cooker are you using, the Performer or the WSM?
2 How many people are you cooking for?
3 Is there anything else you will be cooking for the event?
Click to expand...
 
Is it possible to take the WSM to work early and set it up and use it as an oven running at a low temp or to reheat near lunch. You could cook on the performer early Thurs. morning and rest for 20 minutes. Then double rap in heavy foil and then put in a cooler wrapped in thick towels. Then at work an hour before service, set up the WSM and use it as an oven to reheat and then slice and serve.


Just a thought but if possible it could work.
 
How many tri tips are you planning to cook? (2.3 - 2.8# each usually is what I normally see)

20 people might = 20 pounds, so that'd be ~8 TT, I bet you could fit 5 on the grill, maybe 6.

If you do cook it beforehand, I'd start with it cold-ish, maybe out of the fridge for 15-20 minutes max, rub with SPOG or whatever, start the sear around 100F for maybe 5 minutes direct per side on a fairly hot fire, and pull before it hits 115F, then to re-heat & finish cooking to ~125-140F depending on how different people liked theirs, you could re-heat it in the oven or the chafing pans... I've never cooked a steak (a piece of meat people tend to enjoy med-rare) like this so be ready to improvise. I'd also slice on-site once it's finished.

How's the food safety on this???? this shows beef needs to be cooked to 145F, so my above advice might not be a good idea to try at your company party: https://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/charts/mintemp.html


Here's a link to one of my favorite TT cooks if you want to check it out: http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?63975-Tri-Tip-amp-Ravioli&p=709127&viewfull=1#post709127

I think I'd really prefer to cook it onsite, start to finish.
 
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