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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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