Brisket vs. Tri-tip

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smokeyt

Newbie
Original poster
Nov 27, 2016
11
11
Newton North Carolina
Now I know that brisket is king of the grill. My brother wants me to smoke a brisket for his birthday. But I thought about going with a tri tip what are y'alls opinion?
 
I love Tri tip and brisket is tasty as well! But very different cuts,have you cooked TT before? Any special reason you want to go against his birthday request? I would think the TT would be a much less time consuming and a great reason to go that way.
 
I'd do a TT in a heartbeat...maybe 3 or 4. Yeah, brisket is truly a nice treat, but I don't smoke 'em these days if I'm not making burnt ends from the entire point muscle. Nice thing about TT is you don't have to smoke it all night and into the next day to have your smoke fix...a couple of hours and you're there. Slice them cross-grain, nice and thin, and there isn't much that would top them for tenderness...unless you want to match them up against tenderloin...but that wouldn't be a fair comparison because that's in a class all it's own.

Eric
 
I've been doing Tri's lately, but have been really missing briskets!  The flavor and texture and beauty after smoking for 12-18 hrs has no substitute.  I had a thin sliced tenderloin roast with my TG turkey, and i am still longing for brisket.

Mike
 
It's his birthday, right?
Do the brisket.

Yep that.

Brisket and Tri tip are two totally different cuts. We prefer tri tip, but that's our preference. We also
Like to have brisket . Both are very different though.

If your brother has requested brisket cook brisket!
 
Like others have said they are 2 different beast. If you want very rich then id go with Brisket but that comes with alot of smoker time. If you want great tender meat in a short time then tri tip.


But being its his b-day id go Brisket.
 
I'd do a TT in a heartbeat...maybe 3 or 4. Yeah, brisket is truly a nice treat, but I don't smoke 'em these days if I'm not making burnt ends from the entire point muscle. Nice thing about TT is you don't have to smoke it all night and into the next day to have your smoke fix...a couple of hours and you're there. Slice them cross-grain, nice and thin, and there isn't much that would top them for tenderness...unless you want to match them up against tenderloin...but that wouldn't be a fair comparison because that's in a class all it's own.

Eric
Newbie here. I've been wanting to smoke TT, when you're smoking TT for a couple hours at what temp do you keep it? Thanks
 
Hey Alex. Nice resurrection of an old thread.

The number of TT's I've grilled or smoked number in the four figures. They are best smoked at a low temp of 200-225F until an internal temp of 115-120F, then slap them on a blazing hot grill over gas or charcoal for about 2-3 minutes a side for the reverse sear. A smoked-only TT is pretty anemic looking, but it tastes great. It needs the reverse sear to pretty it up.
 
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Hey Alex. Nice resurrection of an old thread.

The number of TT's I've grilled or smoked number in the four figures. They are best smoked at a low temp of 200-225F until an internal temp of 115-120F, then slap them on a blazing hot grill over gas or charcoal for about 2-3 minutes a side for the reverse sear. A smoked-only TT is pretty anemic looking, but it tastes great. It needs the reverse sear to pretty it up.


I go even lower and try and keep my pit temp around 180.

Take the Tri tip to an internal temp of 120-125. Then sear to finish on a high temp grill.

We like ours cooked to an internal temp of 135.
 
My choice to TT is season, smoke for 90 mins. then Sous Vide for 2 hrs at 125 and finish with a hot sear.
 
It's his birthday, right?
Do the brisket.

I agree Smoke what he requested, Why not throw in a TT and some ribs and really surprise him.
That way you could see how everyone liked the TT.

Gary
 
Yes tri-tip is really easy because it is so quick, even at the 225 degree smoking temps (or lower). Cook it to a rare end temp (130-135), and then slice it as thin as you can. I have a cheap Chef's Choic 615 slicer that is perfect for this simple cut of meat.

Whatever you do, don't treat it like a big fatty piece of meat that has to be cooked all day to 200+ degrees.

I generally serve it in sandwiches with a mayo/sour cream/horseradish sauce and a huge pile of onions sauted for a long time in a CI skillet, in butter.
 
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