Beef Tri-tip - need some advice...

[JC in GB]

I want to try cooking a beef tri tip in the near future. I have never done one or even seen one that I know of so I have some basic questions.

Beef tri-tip is from the sirloin part of the animal?

How much does a tri-tip typically weigh?

I am seeing numbers like 15 lbs is this correct?

Anything special to consider when buying one?

If this is a sirloin, then it would seem a marinade and grill is the right way to cook this cut?

Thanks for any info....

JC

 

[forktender]

I want to try cooking a beef tri tip in the near future. I have never done one or even seen one that I know of so I have some basic questions.

Beef tri-tip is from the sirloin part of the animal? Yes

How much does a tri-tip typically weigh? 4-6 lbs

I am seeing numbers like 15 lbs is this correct? Not likely.
Most likely what you are looking at is a bag with two untrimmed T.Tips in it.

Anything special to consider when buying one? Not really, If they are trimmed, I look for them to have nice even intermuscular fat/ marbling.

If this is a sirloin, then it would seem a marinade and grill is the right way to cook this cut?
A 2-3 hr marinade works awesome on Tri tips, but so does an 5-6 hr dry rub. Just don't cook them past med. rare to med. At the most.
Also it's a good idea to make a shallow slit showing the direction of the grain, the grain runs in two different directions. So until you cook enough of them to know how to cut them the shallow slit on the bottom of the roast is a fail proof guide.


Thanks for any info....

JC

Also, if they are untrimmed take the sharpest knife that you own and make sure to get rid of all of the blue skin or else it will be tough.
You can either smoke until you are about 10* away from your target internal temp then do a hard sear to get a nice dark crust. Or you can grill over smoking hot coals which is my preference when cooking T.tips. just make sure to keep turning every 30 seconds to a minute depending on how hot you coals or grill is. If your cooking over coal do yourself a favor and buy a bag of natural lump Oak wood charcoal or mesquite charcoal, it makes all the difference between good tri tip and great tri tip.
Good luck, don't over cook it or it gets tuff quickly. Make sure you have some horseradish or some chimichurri it goes greats with the grilled beef.
Take some pictures.

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

Tri Tip is from the bottom sirloin.

Typical weight is between 2 and 3 lbs.

15 lbs? That might be sirloin tip roast and rather large one at that.

Select one that has slight marbling running through the grain. The grain runs 3 directions. Overall shape of a Tri Tip resembles a boomerang.

My Tri Tips sit in a marinade overnight and then into the smoker. I don't reverse sear but a lot folks here on the forums do.

 

[BigW.]

It is a sirloin cut. You can can cook it like a steak or a reverse sear is very tasty also. Several threads on here on cooking. I'm a reverse sear guy. They are usually 2 lbs give or take. Good luck.

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

forktender

I think we hit the reply button at the same time!

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

Be forewarned, after having Tri Tip, you just might swear off ever cooking another steak again.

 

[forktender]

forktender

I think we hit the reply button at the same time!

Hahaha, We did!
The thing I love about cooking is there are so many ways to get great end results. Tri tip's are in my wheelhouse, I've literally cooked hundreds of them over oak fire wood coals or lump charcoal. Ive smoked them as well but I really like doing them HOT and fast over direct heat, that char makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

I really do need to try hot and fast on the gasser one of these days.
It's just that the wife and I really love how smoked TTs turn out.
But you know what they say about teaching an old dog a new trick!

 

[forktender]

Man, you guys must be getting your tri tips off of calf's.
The ones we get out here are normally 4 to 6 lbs, I cooked one last week that was massive it was almost 8lbs untrimmed it was the biggest T.T. that I've ever seen. As soon as I saw it I had to buy it, it was $2.79 per pound on sale. I bought two big jumbo's for the Weber kettle. The last one I grilled over straight Granny Smith apple wood limbs that I cut from my tree's last year. The limbs were mainly about 1 1/2'' to 2''. I saved a pretty good pile of it, but to be honest it wasn't as good as the T.T. cook over oak wood.
I live about 30 miles from the Napa Valley and have friends that work in the wineries and a brother that sells plumbing supplies to them. I have them save me used red wine soaked oak staves, they smell so good when you're grilling or smoking with them. I get them by the truck bed load for free after they bottle each year.

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

$2.79 per pound on sale.

Man you are so lucky.

I can never find TTs under $6.50 per lb in my neck of the woods.
That is for what I suspect is select grade and they're all between 2.0 and 3.5 lbs.

 

[JC in GB]

Thanks for the replies. I have heard a lot of good things about tri-tips and want to give them a try. Chimichurri (sp) sounds great. Those wine barrel staves sound very interesting.

So then when I go to the butcher, I ask for tri-tip steak?

Also, thanks for the tip about the blue skin. I would have likely missed that on my first cook.

JC

 

[RiversideSm0ker]

Man, you guys must be getting your tri tips off of calf's.
The ones we get out here are normally 4 to 6 lbs, I cooked one last week that was massive it was almost 8lbs untrimmed it was the biggest T.T. that I've ever seen. As soon as I saw it I had to buy it, it was $2.79 per pound on sale. I bought two big jumbo's for the Weber kettle. The last one I grilled over straight Granny Smith apple wood limbs that I cut from my tree's last year. The limbs were mainly about 1 1/2'' to 2''. I saved a pretty good pile of it, but to be honest it wasn't as good as the T.T. cook over oak wood.
I live about 30 miles from the Napa Valley and have friends that work in the wineries and a brother that sells plumbing supplies to them. I have them save me used red wine soaked oak staves, they smell so good when you're grilling or smoking with them. I get them by the truck bed load for free after they bottle each year.

I guess so, I've never seen a Tri Tip at 4 pounds here is So Cal. Plenty of 3.5 - 3.75. I'm good with that though. It's my wife's favorite cut for me to smoke. They are rarely under 2.99 any longer. A good price here is 3.99. So good on you for finding that awesome price and that mammoth version. I have cooked hundreds over that years but never have grilled one once. Maybe I will give that a try one of these days.

G

 

[schlotz]

Know Your Tri-tip

 

[chilerelleno]

Yes, it's a cut off the bottom sirloin subprimal.

Size, 1.75-2.75lb average.
3-4lbs is BIG and a 5lb'er HUGE.
I don't think I've ever seen a 6lb'er and I grew up in SoCal where they are very plentiful and cheap.
15lbs is not correct.

Look for what you normally look for when buying any beef, size, marbling and well cut.

I either marinate or dry brine, followed by straight smoking, smoke/reverse sear or straight grilling.
Rare to med rare.

 

[xray]

Looks like everyone has you covered JC. If you could get them for a decent price snag them up!!

I would consider the tri tip to be a roast rather than a steak...at least that’s how they’re labeled here.

The few that I have done have all been dry brined and then reverse seared with good results. If I were to marinade them I would probably grill them directly.

+1 on the chimichurri. Don’t forget some nice toasty garlic bread to mop up all those juices.

 

[JC in GB]

Know Your Tri-tip

Thanks for that. Great read...

 

[Steve H]

TT up my way are stupid priced. I saw one at Wegmans the other day 2.5 pounds for 29.00!

 

[JC in GB]

Thanks ChileR.. I thought 15 lbs was way off. I looked up beef tri-tip on GFS and I think it came back with a whole sirloin.

 

[chilerelleno]

Anything you'd top a steak with works great on Tri-tip.
Chimichurri, garlic, onions, shrooms, bell peppers, compound butter, Bleu cheese, chile toreados, shrimp, crab and more.

Man, y'all got my taste buds in a frenzy now.
What're the odds I've a pack of Tri-tips buried in the freezer?

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

TT up my way are stupid priced. I saw one at Wegmans the other day 2.5 pounds for 29.00!

You can thank the foodie hipsters for ruining another cut that was once considered inexpensive.