1st Tri-Tips

krooz · Jun 3, 2010

Well, since I got such great support and advice with my 1st brisket go 'round I figured I'd solicit some advice for tri-tips.....beef loin tri-tip roasts to be exact. 3.36lb package containing 2 sections.......

Should I marinate and smoke for 1.5hrs or so looking for 145° internal? Then foil and cooler for an hour or 2? I assume a tri-tip should be sliced and not pulled? Or..... should I just grill these rascals?

Thanks

thunderdome · Jun 3, 2010

Heavy Garlic Salt & Pepper only. Sear. Cook till 130-135 internal. Tent for 15 mins.

Slice away.

I've tried many rubs, marinating, etc, and I still stand by this simple way as my favorite

mballi3011 · Jun 3, 2010

Whether you marinade your tri=tip or not is a personal thing really. I don't marinade my beef but alot of folks here do. Then smoking it for 1 1/2 to me is alittle short I would leave about 3-31/2 hours for the meat to reach a temp of 145° or so. Now that's gonna be a medium to med rare at that temp. I take my beef to 135° but then we like our meat on the rare side too. Are you gonna rub this thing??? If you do I would recommand salt, pepper and some garlic and let the meat do the rest. I like to let the meat do all the talking you are buying a not so cheap chunk of meat so I let it speak for itself. Enjoy

arnie · Jun 4, 2010

I smoked 3 tri tips a couple of months ago.

On the advice of other smokers all I did to them was give them a dusting with a pinch of kosher salt, a pinch of coarse ground pepper, and a pinch of garlic powder.

I popped them in the smoker at 225 for 3 hours.

Wrapped them in foil and let them rest for 30 minutes before carving.

I had placed a pan under them to collect the drippings which I boiled and served as au jus.

The misses has given me permission to do this one again (she's a very picky eater).

venture · Jun 5, 2010

You will find a great difference in tri tips. Yours look to be the trimmed variety, but we only see one side in the pic. Any rub of your choice will work on these. The simple salt, pepper, and garlic will almost always be a good choice. Tri tip is one of the few meats I like to take to medium, as these are commonly grilled slowly rather than smoked. Smoking will work fine, however. The reason I take them to medium is they aren't the most tender cut on the beef, and, unbelievably, this is a rare case where a little more cooking might be more tender to the tooth. They come from the bottom sirloin butt which is made up of the tri tip, the ball tip, and the flap. Done too rare, I find them a little chewy (technical term there). A little work with a jaccard after seasoning or rubbing will help these. Experiment and see what you like. Great flavor and reasonable price, although the price has about tripled now that more people have found out about them. Be sure to slice across the grain. Not as simple as it sounds. Examine your meat before you season/cook and you will see the grain runs about three directions in different parts of the cut. Good luck, and enjoy!

richoso1 · Jun 5, 2010

Most often a Tri Top is sliced, across the grain and on the bias. It's great grilled over red oak as done in Santa Mara, Ca., which is the supposed home of Tri Tip grilling. That pic looks like a trimmed cut compared to the ones I buy locally, I can buy Tri Tip roast for $1,77 lb, untrimmed, what do they go for when they are trimmed? I hope you'll have some Q view for us, and a description of how you prepped it.

bmudd14474 · Jun 5, 2010

richoso1 said:
Most often a Tri Top is sliced, across the grain and on the bias. It's great grilled over red oak as done in Santa Mara, Ca., which is the supposed home of Tri Tip grilling. That pic looks like a trimmed cut compared to the ones I buy locally, I can buy Tri Tip roast for $1,77 lb, untrimmed, what do they go for when they are trimmed? I hope you'll have some Q view for us, and a description of how you prepped it.

DANG $1.77 a lb. I might have to drive down to your neck of the woods to buy a few hundred lbs. Its 2.99 a lb here.

richoso1 · Jun 5, 2010

bmudd14474 said:
DANG $1.77 a lb. I might have to drive down to your neck of the woods to buy a few hundred lbs. Its 2.99 a lb here.

Brian, when it's not on sale, I've seen it go as high as $4.50 lb. It just depends on where you buy it. I wouldn't walk away from $2.99 lb.that is still a good price. I'll pm you the next time a chain market has them on sale.

pineywoods · Jun 5, 2010

We still can't even get tri-tips here never seen one except the great Qview on this site

squirrel · Jun 5, 2010

What an interesting post, I've heard of tri-tips but have yet to cook one. Anxious to see how yours turned out and what your thoughts about the cut are.

arnie · Jun 6, 2010

I have to special order from our local meat locker and pay $4.49 a pound, but its well worth it.

krooz · Jun 7, 2010

Dang, what a hose job - reckon they saw me coming - I paid 5.49 / lb for those!

I had to look up "jaccard" from Venture's post for a definition - shows the sheltered life I've led but it appears to be a must buy.

Lots of great advice - thank you all. I probably won't tackle these now until next week. We have some fresh shark to gnosh on from fishing yesterday and I plan to do 2 butts starting Thursday afternoon. But, I'll definitely post a Qview when I go at the tri-tips....

I'm also jonesing to do a fattie - boy those look good! I'm thinking a pizza format for my first one. Ah, so much to smoke - so little time!

smokey mo · Jun 7, 2010

I just did 10 Tri-Tips for my sons grad party...dry rub-smoked at 250 till they reached 140 then in the foil/cooler till the party started. They are always a hit. Up here in Oregon at the Cash N' Carry they are $2.79/lb and each package averages 15#. They are untrimmed. BTW, I trim mine then while they are in the smoker I lay a peice of the trimmings on top of each on to add flavor and "juice". This last batch I lost about 20% of the weight in fat between the two packages. Good luck...

richoso1 · Jun 7, 2010

morganrt5 said:
I just did 10 Tri-Tips for my sons grad party...dry rub-smoked at 250 till they reached 140 then in the foil/cooler till the party started. They are always a hit. Up here in Oregon at the Cash N' Carry they are $2.79/lb and each package averages 15#. They are untrimmed. BTW, I trim mine then while they are in the smoker I lay a peice of the trimmings on top of each on to add flavor and "juice". This last batch I lost about 20% of the weight in fat between the two packages. Good luck...

I'm very curious as to how you can trim the Tri Tips while they are in the smoker, without getting burned. I trim them on a work bench covered with butcher paper, as I have to move them around and flip them to get a good trim. Can you explain this to me, I can't get a visual..

bayouchilehead · Jun 7, 2010

Pineywoods said:
We still can't even get tri-tips here never seen one except the great Qview on this site

I'll have to see if we carry Tri-tips!!

smokey mo · Jun 7, 2010

I use the same MO as you, I trim them first in the kitchen, because my shop bench is too dirty...THEN they go in the smoker, and before I close the lid I lay small chunks of fat trimmings to the top of the steaks. My wife tells me I have a hard time explaining things to people. I DON'T think my mouth and fingers translate my thoughts very well. :)

Sorry for the corn-fussion.

1st Tri-Tips

Meat Mopper

Master of the Pit

Gone but not forgotten. RIP

Smoking Fanatic

Smoking Guru

Gone but not forgotten. RIP

Legendary Pitmaster

Gone but not forgotten. RIP

SMF Hall of Fame Pitmaster

Master of the Pit

Smoking Fanatic

Meat Mopper

Smoking Fanatic

Gone but not forgotten. RIP

Smoking Fanatic

Smoking Fanatic

Similar threads

Hot Threads