First Tri-Tip

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bwarbiany

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Sep 30, 2013
122
18
Orange County, CA
Have some friends coming over Saturday, and I'm going to do 3 racks of spares. Just got word that an additional family is joining us, so I decided that perhaps we should add some beef to the mix!


Looks like this is 2 tri-tips, so I'm trying to decide whether to cook them both up or freeze one. But that's a different discussion.

My plan will be to rub them up with SPG & some ancho/chipotle chile powder, toss them on the smoker at 225 with some hickory, then reverse sear.

I have a few questions:

1) Wife and friends are not quite all med-rare folks. So I'm assuming I want to target a finishing IT of about 140. Good?

2) To finish at 140, I should sear to an IT in the 130-135 range, and carry-over will get me the rest of the way. Yes?

3) Plan will be to get the IT to ~115-120 and then sear as hot as my gas grill will go (dome often says ~600 deg, not sure how accurate that is). Should I pull cooler or hotter for better results?

4) And the winner question (working backwards) - I will be going straight from the fridge to the smoker. What's a rough  estimate of a 2-lb tri at 225 degrees to go from 40 deg fridge temp to ~115 IT?

Thanks to all, and I'll be sure to add some QView of the tri and the ribs on Saturday 
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Yes if you pull at 135, you will carry over to 140.

I run my smoker at 265-285 when I do tri tips and they don't take long to get to 115. I'd say 1.25-1.5 hours tops. At 225 it'll take a bit longer.
 
Also note that the end cuts will be more well done, as with any roast.

Depending on the number of well done fans, you don't have to ruin the whole cut.

Cook plenty, though.  It will disappear fast!

Good luck and good smoking.
 
Thanks everyone...

driedstick, I might normally crank up the temp, but since they'll be sitting in the smoker with some ribs, it's 225 for both.

Venture, I think I may end up doing both of them, which means I can do one a bit on the north side of medium, and one medium rare for those of us who actually like moisture in our beef 
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I do this every Christmas with prime rim and leg o lamb... I cook my meats rare to med rare.. if someone else wants more done... it hits a hot pan or grill a few mins each side after said meat cut is sliced...

It doesnt take much time at all so its worth it to me ;)


Cant wait to see some grub ..
 
Learned a downside to shopping for tri-tip at Costco. They blade-tenderize the meat. So I had to cook it to an IT of about 160 deg, which is WAY hotter than tri-tip should go. As much as I like Costco meats, I will not be buying tri-tip there any longer -- time to go to the butcher for it. Not like tri-tip needs to be blade-tenderized anyway...

Rubbed ribs ready to go.


Tri-tip added, about 1/2 hour after foiling the ribs.


Working with the ribs to carmelize the sauce on the grill, bones were simply falling out... What a shame 
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The ribs.


The two sliced tri-tips.


And the whole spread.

 
 
Newbie here....what is blade tenderizing?
Look up Jaccard meat tenderizers. It's a small tool with a whole bunch of very thin blades, which is pushed into the meat to sever bits of connective tissue. By doing this, it makes the meat more tender.

The problem is twofold:

1) Bacteria can live on the surface of meat. This bacteria is quickly killed when cooking, as the surface is exposed to high enough temps. But the blades of the tenderizer can push that bacteria deep within the meat to the center. In order to ensure the meat is safe, you need to cook to an internal temp well beyond medium rare or medium, which is how I prefer my tri-tip.

2) These tenderizers are very difficult to clean, so once you've gotten some bacteria on the blades, contaminating all future pieces of meat is a very strong possibility.
 
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