Outside the box thinking for grilling a Tri Tip roast (Q-views included)

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noboundaries

Epic Pitmaster
Original poster
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SMF Premier Member
Sep 7, 2013
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Roseville, CA, a suburb of Sacramento
If you want to have a new experience with Tri Tip, keep reading.

I have easily grilled/smoked/oven roasted more than a thousand tri tips since introduced to the cut of meat back 1984. Tri tips are ubiquitous on the West Coast. You can find them everywhere in Select/Choice/Prime grades. I usually buy Choice, but picked up a couple Select grades recently.

In the oven and on the grill, I seared the meat first, then used indirect heat (or oven heat) to bring the IT of the meat up to 125-135F. Then I would rest it for 30 minutes, slice against the grain, and eat. When I smoked them I'd take the meat to about 125F then reverse sear it on my grill. The texture is very steak-like. Tri tips can be quite tender, but they can also be tough even though you repeat the exact same process. The process below surprised me how tender the meat turned out.

Last weekend, while dealing with a family crisis, the brother of my dad's wife, fixed a Select grade tri tip. He used indirect heat on a gas grill, took the meat to an IT of 150F, then brought it in the house and used the broiler to take the IT to 165F. I remember thinking we'd be eating shoe leather. I was wrong. It was almost fork tender. Easily cut with a butter knife.

I decided I was going to try and duplicate his process on my Weber Kettle. The night before, well, 12:30 AM in the morning actually when I remembered, I got up, trimmed a tri tip, and lightly dusted it with Montreal Steak Seasoning. Into the fridge to dry brine.

At 12:30 PM that same day I started the grilling process. In a small chimney I added 20 new blue bag Kingsford briquettes, then filled the chimney to overflowing with used KBB from the Kettle. I fired that up, put two charcoal baskets in a circular pattern on the charcoal grate against the side of the grill, evenly distributed the hot briquettes, then added four small chunks of hickory. I have no idea what the chamber temp is in my Kettle. I grill to IT.

Here is the 3.6 lb, dry brined tri tip I put on the indirect heating side directly under the vent.
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I flipped the meat each thirty minutes. My intention was to take the meat to 150-155F IT, then reverse sear it to 165F. At 100 minutes, it was obvious the meat had stalled at 150F. I seared each side for 2 minutes, flipping the meat each minute, so 4 minutes total. The meat was still at 150-155F when I finished the sear. The meat on the sear is shown below.
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Then I rested the meat for 40 minutes. Every OUNCE of my being was telling me this was going to be tough and chewy. It really didn't probe tender on the fire. I placed the knife against the grain thinking the worst. OMG, I WAS WRONG! The knife sliced into the meat so easily! It couldn't be cut with a fork, but it was easily cut with a butter knife. I couldn't believe the meat was so tender. It didn't have a steak consistency like I'm used to. It was more of a brisket flat consistency. I will absolutely be repeating this process! Happy Grilling!

Ray
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Looks deeelisous to me!
Thanks, Sonny! My wife is going to take one bite and insist this is how we do tri tip from now on.

That looks fantastic. Only found TT here once.
Thanks, Adam!

Yep, it's definitely a west coast thing. Back east, if they are not called tri tips, they call them bottom sirloins is my understanding.
 
Thanks, Sonny! My wife is going to take one bite and insist this is how we do tri tip from now on.


Thanks, Adam!

Yep, it's definitely a west coast thing. Back east, if they are not called tri tips, they call them bottom sirloins is my understanding.
Was going thru meats at Sam's the other day and they had pre-rubbed tri-tips first time I have seen them in midwest.Though they were rubbed the spices were recognisable,on my todo list
 
Looks good.
Thanks, FB!

Was going thru meats at Sam's the other day and they had pre-rubbed tri-tips first time I have seen them in midwest.Though they were rubbed the spices were recognisable,on my todo list
I've seen the pre-rubbed TTs, but never tried one on all the TT's I've done. A guy who used to work for me only bought the pre-rubbed. Harris Ranch is a big cattle producer here out west. They have great meat and sell a lot of pre-rubbed TTs.
 
Looks great! Like!
Have heard a lot about tri-tip,
But have only seen once or twice down here.
Guess it is not a southern thing.
Going to try it one day.
Thing it would be a good candidate for Sous Vide.

Weedeater
 
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Man that looks good, so juicy!
Never thought of cooking one that done before, always had them med/rare.
Al
 
Man that looks good, so juicy!
Never thought of cooking one that done before, always had them med/rare.
Al
You and me both, Al. I now realize that Tri Tip is just as versatile a cut of meat as pork butt, and just as forgiving. It can be cooked to rare/medium rare for steak-like consistency; medium to well done (150-160F IT) for a tender mix between steak and brisket, and 190F for a melt in your mouth, juicy, brisket-like taste and texture. I thought I knew tri tip, but I have learned something new I never expected.
 
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