Tri-tip French dip's off the new offset

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

kevin james

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
Jul 30, 2012
484
384
Sacramento, CA
I did some experimenting with tri-tip today on the new offset. I like to smoke and then reverse sear my tri-tip, but the problem I've had with both my WSM and my pellet pooper is that tri-tip cooks so fast that I never really get enough smoke flavor for my taste. So today, I played around with it on the new offset. The goal was to keep the pit temp as low as possible while maintaining a clean fire.

So I started with 1 chimney full of lump charcoal and dumped it on top of an unlit pile of lump in the fire box. I added one of the thinnest splits I could find in my wood pile (white oak) and let the split catch completely before closing the firebox door, then I let the smoke roll. The pit temp got up to about 205 and held steady for about 40 minutes and then I added a second split, this time a little thicker. The temp kept pretty steady but peaked at about 220 for about 15 minutes before settling down. After about another 40 minutes the IT of the tri-tips were at about 120 so instead of adding more wood I just let it ride for a while. Without adding any more wood, the IT didn't creep up much higher, even though the pit temp was still just under 200.

I fired up another chimney of lump and got my 22 inch kettle ready, put my grillgrate's on, and once the IT of the tri-tips came up to 125 I pulled them off the pit and put them on the kettle to reverse sear for about 3-4 minutes per side.

They came out pretty darn good! Even though the IT temp was a little higher than I usually prefer at 140ish, the one I cut into was still a perfect medium rare. The second one is for another experiment. I got a new Vacmasater 360 vac sealer this week (my first ever), and I plan to seal and freeze the second tri-tip, and some time next week I plan to see if I can reheat in a water bath and bring it back to life without taking it past medium rare. I have friends that are bugging me for BBQ and I'm working on an idea to smoke it, vac it, and give to them with reheat instructions. Tri-tip is a favorite so this is the first test.

And finally, here are the pics from tonight's cook!


1.jpg
12.jpg
10.jpg
3.jpg
 
Gotta love playing with a new toy! Add producing a killer meal and life doesn't get much better...JJ
 
Perfect doneness!!!
I used to cook T.T. on Santa Maria type grills for our towns yearly cattle round up. It was a big deal around here the first two nights were basically for all the hand's/ mainly men and a few women that were as tough as any man I ever know'd. Then the third night was a big shindig for all the hand's friends and family. On that third night we cooked 300-500 T.T. over full splits of Mesquite and Oak wood hot and fast flipping the meat every 3 to 5 minutes with meat hooks over a super hot wood fire. I can't imagine ever needing more smoke on a chunk of meat. The seasoning was a basic SPOG heavy on the S&P it was amazing stuff your picture of the doneness reminded me of the old roundup's we used to have. The main reason I like T.T. cooked over really hot wood coals is the dark salty crust you get from cooking hot and fast over scream'in hot coals it's to die for.

A must have when you're eating T.T. is fresh horseradish grated into a tub of sour cream about a 40/60 mix with full bulb of smashed garlic and a big handful of finely sliced scallions or chives.
(A tub equals about 6 cups of sour cream, 4 cups freshly grated horseradish)
Damn, that's some good stuff on the meat and even better on sourdough hard rolls dipped into the T.T. drippings the next day when you're having T.T. sandwiches with the left overs.

Sorry about the hijack your pictures gave me the meat sweats and flashbacks of how much we used to eat and drink while cooking for everyone.
Damn, I love a good T.T.:emoji_joy: :emoji_thumbsup:
 
  • Like
Reactions: kevin james
Perfect doneness!!!
I used to cook T.T. on Santa Maria type grills for our towns yearly cattle round up. It was a big deal around here the first two nights were basically for all the hand's/ mainly men and a few women that were as tough as any man I ever know'd. Then the third night was a big shindig for all the hand's friends and family. On that third night we cooked 300-500 T.T. over full splits of Mesquite and Oak wood hot and fast flipping the meat every 3 to 5 minutes with meat hooks over a super hot wood fire. I can't imagine ever needing more smoke on a chunk of meat. The seasoning was a basic SPOG heavy on the S&P it was amazing stuff your picture of the doneness reminded me of the old roundup's we used to have. The main reason I like T.T. cooked over really hot wood coals is the dark salty crust you get from cooking hot and fast over scream'in hot coals it's to die for.

A must have when you're eating T.T. is fresh horseradish grated into a tub of sour cream about a 40/60 mix with full bulb of smashed garlic and a big handful of finely sliced scallions or chives.
(A tub equals about 6 cups of sour cream, 4 cups freshly grated horseradish)
Damn, that's some good stuff on the meat and even better on sourdough hard rolls dipped into the T.T. drippings the next day when you're having T.T. sandwiches with the left overs.

Sorry about the hijack your pictures gave me the meat sweats and flashbacks of how much we used to eat and drink while cooking for everyone.
Damn, I love a good T.T.:emoji_joy: :emoji_thumbsup:

Thanks, forktender. It sounds like your cattle roundups were awesome! Yeah man, the Santa Maria style grill is really the traditional way of cooking tri-tip, and a Santa Maria grill attachment is on my want list for the Weber kettle just for tri-tip. I love slow smoking and reverse searing it too though.... plus I think I've blown my "toy money" for a while after buying the custom built offset and related goodies and the new Vacmaster and all :emoji_laughing:

Oh and forgot to mention, the rub was SPG, mainly course ground salt and pepper with just a little garlic, so pretty similar to what you used to use. Good tri-tip doesn't need much else!
 
  • Love
Reactions: forktender
It looks great! Fine looking meal too...love French dips. I think your vac packing with sous vide reheat will work well for you.

Ryan
 
Sounds like you found a perfect way to cook a TT for you & your family!
And as JJ said it is fun to play with a new toy!
The TT looks perfect ( although I like mine a bit more rare ), I’d sure sit down at your table & devour that bad boy!
Al
 
It looks great! Fine looking meal too...love French dips. I think your vac packing with sous vide reheat will work well for you.

Ryan

I'm hoping, but I've never done it before so like with anything else, there will be some trial and error with time and temp to dial it in. I don't actually have a sous vide cooker (although that's another toy on the wish list), so I'll be doing it in the oven. For this, I'll stick the vac sealed whole tri-tip in a large foil pan and put it in the oven at 175 (the lowest setting) for 45 minutes or so and try to gauge from there if it needs more time. Wish me luck!
 
Sounds like you found a perfect way to cook a TT for you & your family!
And as JJ said it is fun to play with a new toy!
The TT looks perfect ( although I like mine a bit more rare ), I’d sure sit down at your table & devour that bad boy!
Al
I agree completely, Al. I like mine just a little more rare as well. I was shooting for 130-135 but it went over and hit 140 on the kettle. No worries... they seemed to go up about 15 degrees on the grill grates (which are also brand new) so next time I'll pull them of the pit at 115 and I should get closer to 130ish or so.
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Hot Threads

Clicky