- Aug 27, 2008
- 5,170
- 409
Hey all! I've been seeing tri-rip threads on SMF for over 5 years, with rave reviews from even the simplest of preparations and cooking methods, and I kept putting it on the back burner due to having so many things I wanted to smoke, and so many methods I wanted to explore further, not to mention all the fun experiments with dry rub recipes. On our last trip to Sam's Club, we caught them at a bad time and there weren't a lot of choices at the meat counter for some of the cuts I wanted to grab for the ride home due to the flooding in CO at the time...trucks were running late, if at all, so stock was low. Anyway, while I looked over what they did have, I began to ponder getting off the beaten path and cooking something I haven't done at all, or very little. I grabbed a little beef and pork alike, but what really caught my eye was this 4lb pack of tri-tips. Off to the 150qt cooler and into ice they went, and promptly frozen upon arriving home.
They were still partially frozen around noon today after a 6-hr bagged thaw in the original tray package 2 days ago, and 42 hours in my fridge, but that's cool with me...more time for more smoke to collect on the meat, I say...won't hurt the beef to smoke it with frost inside, so that's exactly what I'm doing today, and I might add, it's about time I got to find out what these nice looking cuts are all about.
I decided to keep the seasoning and smoke simple, just so I don't get too much going on the first time around. So, freshly cracked black peppercorn, sea salt, and hickory over charcoal fire is my game plan. Nothing special, nothing that will detract from what looks to be a finely marbled piece of tender beef.
I haven't decided just yet whether to do a reverse sear on these or not, as one appears to be about 1.75lb while the larger is close to 2.25lb...I'll wait and see, but I may have enough hot coals in the smoker to transfer into a grill and let 'er rip for a couple minutes when I get close to the 130* range. Of course, the smaller one will be a bit more done than the other, but I could shoot for med with it and med-rare with the larger. I figured just a simple free-hand thin slice to plate them up after a little resting...no plan yet on sides, so we'll see what happens when the smoke clears this evening.
A decent random application of S & P on both sides and I let it set in the pan for about 10 minutes while the charcoal was finishing getting happy:
Into the Gourmet while it's still getting up to temp, but generating some good heavy smoke with chunk hickory...tossed 'em in @ 2:00 pm MT:
I stuck a probe in from the side about 4" under the top grate and was around 180* and climbing...target range of 205-215* at that position gives me close to 10* higher at grate level above it, so that's my temp for now. Oh, wet water pan for good smoke reaction. I'll plug a probe into the meat in a couple hours and see what's what and go from there. I may pull them out earlier than target I/T if I need to push them harder on timing for dinner and drop them over a good hot coal bed in the grill.
Ah, at last, I get to knock another cut of beef off the ol' "must do" list and find out just how good these really are!!!
Time to add some hot coals and keep the Gourmet happy!!! LOL!!!
Thanks for peekin'!! See ya on the rebound with the finish and slices!!!
Eric
They were still partially frozen around noon today after a 6-hr bagged thaw in the original tray package 2 days ago, and 42 hours in my fridge, but that's cool with me...more time for more smoke to collect on the meat, I say...won't hurt the beef to smoke it with frost inside, so that's exactly what I'm doing today, and I might add, it's about time I got to find out what these nice looking cuts are all about.
I decided to keep the seasoning and smoke simple, just so I don't get too much going on the first time around. So, freshly cracked black peppercorn, sea salt, and hickory over charcoal fire is my game plan. Nothing special, nothing that will detract from what looks to be a finely marbled piece of tender beef.
I haven't decided just yet whether to do a reverse sear on these or not, as one appears to be about 1.75lb while the larger is close to 2.25lb...I'll wait and see, but I may have enough hot coals in the smoker to transfer into a grill and let 'er rip for a couple minutes when I get close to the 130* range. Of course, the smaller one will be a bit more done than the other, but I could shoot for med with it and med-rare with the larger. I figured just a simple free-hand thin slice to plate them up after a little resting...no plan yet on sides, so we'll see what happens when the smoke clears this evening.
A decent random application of S & P on both sides and I let it set in the pan for about 10 minutes while the charcoal was finishing getting happy:
Into the Gourmet while it's still getting up to temp, but generating some good heavy smoke with chunk hickory...tossed 'em in @ 2:00 pm MT:
I stuck a probe in from the side about 4" under the top grate and was around 180* and climbing...target range of 205-215* at that position gives me close to 10* higher at grate level above it, so that's my temp for now. Oh, wet water pan for good smoke reaction. I'll plug a probe into the meat in a couple hours and see what's what and go from there. I may pull them out earlier than target I/T if I need to push them harder on timing for dinner and drop them over a good hot coal bed in the grill.
Ah, at last, I get to knock another cut of beef off the ol' "must do" list and find out just how good these really are!!!
Time to add some hot coals and keep the Gourmet happy!!! LOL!!!
Thanks for peekin'!! See ya on the rebound with the finish and slices!!!
Eric
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