Corned Tri Tip Experiment - YUM!

[noboundaries]

So, to address the elephant in the room, most of you non-California folks are probably freaking out that I'd corn a tri tip. It was a $2.98 / lb Select grade I had in the freezer. Tri tips used to be like chicken, pork, hamburger, and steaks here in Cali until about 3-4 years ago, so no big deal for me. I've corned rounds and briskets but never a tri tip. Let's see what happens.

My corning brine based on the weight of the meat, water, and spices (kinda shigged off Amazing ribs).
3.242 lbs trimmed tri tip
1 cup brown sugar
5 Tbs pickling spice
1 Tbs black peppercorns
3-4 cups water
.25 oz sea salt per cup of water (25g this batch)
Spices, salt, and water to 4 cups.
5.060 lbs total.
6g Prague #1 salt

Ensure meat is submerged completely. Brine in fridge for 10-14 days depending on meat thickness.
05/26/22 start date, morning.

Rinse 6/6. Soak in fresh water for 4-6 hours. Dry with paper towels. Season with MSS and rest uncovered overnight in fridge to develop pellicle. Pic below is the tri tip after a night uncovered in the fridge.

0915: 6/7 Started fire in Kettle basket offset under flip-up. Knocked ash off old briquettes. Added 1.5" x 6" branch of mesquite. Covered with cold charcoal. Added 10 hot briquettes. Bottom vents ⅛" open. Top full open.


1015. Loaded cold meat direct from fridge. This smoke: 225°F climbed to 275°F at 1245.


1245: Meat 163°F. Double foil wrapped with 1 cup HOT(200°F) beef broth. Opened bottom vents to bump heat higher. Chamber climbed to 310°F then dropped a little. Take meat to 195°F IT.

Wrapped and bumping temp.

1350: Meat hit 196°F. Chamber was 295°F. Closed all vents and left meat wrapped on smoker. Chamber temp climbed to 304°F then started dropping within 5 minutes.

1405: Meat temp reached 207°F as chamber temp dropped. (I thought oops, we'll see).

1412: Chamber and meat temp at 207°F.

1448: Chamber temp 136°F. Meat temp started dropping off 207°F. Hit 203°F for 1st drop. Meat stayed at 207°F for 36 mins after chamber temp dropped past 207°F.

1520: Chamber temp 113°F; meat temp 192°F. Moved to 170°F house oven to rest until ready to serve. Kettle acted as a hot box for 90 minutes.

1820: removed from oven. Meat temp 167°F. Total 5 hours after hitting target. .

Sliced against the grain.

Juicy and tender. Not salty, which I like. Just on the verge of crumbling, but melt-in-the-mouth tender.

I'd definitely do it again!

 

[Sven Svensson]

Tri-tip are plentiful as cats around here. I love that idea. Thanks for the great write-up And pictures. That’s one cut that’s hard to screw up so I bet it was fantastic.

 

[noboundaries]

Thanks, Sven. Waiting on my wife to get home before slicing for sandwiches. The pieces I sliced and ate were awesome!

 

[bigfurmn]

Dang that looks awesome. Looking forward to doing my first tri soon. Currently in the freezer until I have time for it.

 

[bauchjw]

Wow! What a cool idea! It looks so delicious my mouth is watering When I first got into grilling, then smoking, stationed in San Diego TriTip was so cheap it was my go to party meat. I never thought I’d do anything but rare to medium rare, then medium for my wife. But that brisket style was so amazing that I would love to try this. Great writeup, thank you!

 

[Rafter H BBQ]

No justification needed here Ray, that looks top notch! Nicely done!

 

[noboundaries]

Wow! What a cool idea! It looks so delicious my mouth is watering When I first got into grilling, then smoking, stationed in San Diego TriTip was so cheap it was my go to party meat. I never thought I’d do anything but rare to medium rare, then medium for my wife. But that brisket style was so amazing that I would love to try this. Great writeup, thank you!

Happy to help, Jed! Tri tip is the chameleon of beef. Rare to 207°F, it ALL works. When I saw that 207°F IT, I thought this was going to be a fail. Nope! So juicy and tender.

 

[noboundaries]

No justification needed here Ray, that looks top notch! Nicely done!

Thanks, Justin. We had sandwiches for dinner on homemade rustic bread. Too hungry to take pics.

 

[noboundaries]

Dang that looks awesome. Looking forward to doing my first tri soon. Currently in the freezer until I have time for it.

Once you do one, you'll join the TT Lover's club.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Yes,yes,yes. That looks delicious. Reading a lot of the posts here lately, that meat would not slice and just crumble if taken beyond 190-195F. (You and I both know better) I’m glad you posted this as 207F held does still slice fine. That is a wonderful piece of meat, very nicely done. Thanks for posting. Big like.

 

[noboundaries]

Yes,yes,yes. That looks delicious. Reading a lot of the posts here lately, that meat would not slice and just crumble if taken beyond 190-195F. (You and I both know better) I’m glad you posted this as 207F held does still slice fine. That is a wonderful piece of meat, very nicely done. Thanks for posting. Big like.

Thans, SE! I've never taken a TT beyond 195°F. I was actually shocked the chamber temp rose after shutting all the vents. Didn't last long, but the TT IT kept rising. I thought about yanking it off the Kettle, but this was always meant to be an experiment so I let it ride.

Two things amazed me. First, that it would take the meat temp so long to drop after the chamber dropped past the meat temp. And second, how great the meat tasted and sliced at 207°F. Granted, corning may have had something to do with it, but dang, this was one successful experiment. It was filled with a lot of new techniques that taught this old dog some new tricks.

 

[SmokinEdge]

The higher the grade of meat, the more you need to watch the temps on IT. We cook a bunch of choice and select grade meats. They are much more forgiving with temp, but often are just as flavorful juicy and delicious.

 

[noboundaries]

The higher the grade of meat, the more you need to watch the temps on IT. We cook a bunch of choice and select grade meats. They are much more forgiving with temp, but often are just as flavorful juicy and delicious.

Yeah, the last time I cooked a Choice grade TT was more than 3 years ago. Select is all I buy these days for the price. I'm very selective, and don't see or taste much of a difference in the ones I choose.

 

[bill1]

Sure looks good Ray!
But I had to look up pickling spice on Amazon. Sounds like what's in a jar of pickles, besides a lot of vinegar.
Can't say I ever associated Corned Beef with dill pickles flavor. So is that pretty crucial to the final product? Your 5th pic makes pretty clear a lot of that stuff came along for the cooking ride.
So what else have I been missing adding Pickling Spice to? I'm wondering if I need to get some of that for my spice arsenal even if I don't use it on TT for a while.
And did you really not use any vinegar in the brine?

 

[Steve H]

Here's another thread that boils my nerves!!!! That's because they are rare as heck and pricy as hell here. And I REALLY want to try this! Looks fantastic!

 

[gmc2003]

Great idea and with even greater results Ray. TTs are still pretty sparse around here. So when I can find one its a real treat. If I can get my hands on a couple this summer I'll be sure to give this a go.

Point for sure
Chris

 

[noboundaries]

Sure looks good Ray!
But I had to look up pickling spice on Amazon. Sounds like what's in a jar of pickles, besides a lot of vinegar.
Can't say I ever associated Corned Beef with dill pickles flavor. So is that pretty crucial to the final product?

Hey, Bill. Thanks.

There was actually no dill pickle taste with the meat. I really don't like rubs and flavors that overpower the flavor of the meat. This was a fairly light, not salty corned flavor. Most of the pickling spice was rinsed off prior to the fresh watercsoak. What you're seeing is the MSS spices that swelled during the wrap.

Zero vinegar used.

 

[noboundaries]

Here's another thread that boils my nerves!!!! That's because they are rare as heck and pricy as hell here. And I REALLY want to try this! Looks fantastic!

Thanks, Steve. Didn't mean to boil anything, but glad I lit a spark.

Packer briskets used to be rare here in Cali unless you asked for one. Flats were available. The points were probably ground for burger meat. Now packers are easily available.

My wife will only eat my corned beef. Everything commercial is WAAAAY too salty for her. A 24 hour fresh water soak for with several water changes make them palatable but she really didn't like the flavor. She loved this!+

 

[noboundaries]

Great idea and with even greater results Ray. TTs are still pretty sparse around here. So when I can find one its a real treat. If I can get my hands on a couple this summer I'll be sure to give this a go.

Point for sure
Chris

Thanks, Chris, for the nice words and the point.

I would never corn an expensive cut of meat, and I understand TTs are pricy outside of Cali. Heck, the prices out here have doubled to quadrupled compared to the recent past.

I've had this on my to-do experiment list for a while. Thought I'd better do it now before the prices climbed further. Turned out better than I expected given the temps involved.

 

[Steve H]

Didn't mean to boil anything

Lol! I know. Just kidding!