Tonight's Last Minute Tri-Tip

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shooter99

Newbie
Original poster
Dec 24, 2012
2
10
Rocklin, CA
I really needed to smoke something tonight. So I decided on some tri-tip.  Here is the story (and backstory)...

Backstory:  I am a lurker.  I am on this site everyday soaking up info.  But I am not a big fan of posting.  A little shy I guess.  But I have learned (and continue to learn) so much from the folks here that I decided that I finally had to post something.  So here goes...

Story:  I had a crappy day at work today.  The only thing that kept me going was the thought of throwing something on the smoker when I got home.  I had no idea what I would smoke, but I just knew that I had to smoke something to make me feal better.  So after getting home and mowing the lawn, I decided on smoking a tri tip.  I am from Northern CA so the choice was a little obvious...

I ran to the store at 5:45 pm and picked up a small 2 pound tri tip.  When I got home, I was lazy and just threw some Famous Dave's Rib Rub on the meat while I fired up the smoker.  The smoker I used tonight was an MES 30" (I also have a Char-Griller side fire box cheapo unit).  I love Famous Dave's rub (my family has a cabin on the lake in Hayward WI where Famous Dave started...).  For smoke, I used an AMZN dust smoker with hickory sawdust.  (Hickory is all I had, I would have rather used some oak to be true to the Santa Maria tri-tip.)  Fired up the MES to 225 degrees and threw on the meat.

I have a Maverick thermo and my intention was to put the meat probe in at around 45 minutes into the smoke.  Great plan, but it didn't happen.  Unfortunately I got tied up on the phone dealing with work stuff.  But all the time while I was on the phone the MES and AMZN were plugging along great! Steady 225 degrees and nice TBS. I was finally able to stick the meat thermo in at around 1 hr 20 min into the smoke.  To my surprise, the meat was already at 143 degrees.  So I immediately fired up my propane grill so I could reverse sear the tri tip.  Once the grill was up to max temp, I put the trip tip on for 2 minutes per side to sear.  Then I removed and wrapped in foil to rest for 30 minutes.

During the rest period, the meat reached an IT of 158 degrees.  A little higher that I would like, but not too bad considering the circumstances...

After the rest period, I sliced up the meat.  First cut along the grain splitting the meat in half.  Next cut, and all other slices, 90 degrees to the first cut.  I haved lived in Northern CA for the last 17 years so slicing up a tri trip should be natural, but I always hesitate when I do it!...

The meat turned out great.  Maybe a little bit overdone, but not bad for me (I like it a little bit on the done side...).  Served it up to myself with some fresh sour dough bread from the store (still warm when I bought it).  It was great.  I am not sure which I like better - the smoked meat itself or the fresh bread soaked in the juices.  ????  Nothing against the meat - but I think I am leaning towards the soaked bread....

If you are still reading this, thanks for your time!

Thanks,

Shooter

PS: The pics are not the greatest. They are from my phone.  And I was more focused on smoking/eating than documenting...






 
Looks great man! 
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  I wish I could find tri tip around here - I've never even tasted it 
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   Very nice smoke 
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  & don't be shy - post away - we won't bite 
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Very cool Shooter! It is amazing how a few mins at the smoker can help wash all that old work grim off your mind. Smoke is very forgiving, I guess its because at low and slow it takes longer to really mess it up, not saying it can't be done, just not easily.

No sense standing in the bushes watching, we are all just happy to be able to smoke and share, just like you did.

Any day you can smoke is a great day! Enjoy the smoke!

And thanks for participating, we enjoy a great story
 
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