Pig in a beef blanket (pics)

[Smoke on Badger Mountain]

Thought I would try a little something different last night. Being a west coaster I love some good tri-tip. Not as mush as I love brisket, but it's up there. But I wanted to mix it up a little bit. I really like to have the smoke flavor in in the meat its self so I don't really like to wrap it with anything. But what isn't made better by bacon? I started with an untrimmed tri-tip, butterflied it, added some homemade bacon, tied it back up and rubbed it with some Montreal. Cooked it indirect on the 22" weber with mesquite lump and a few chunks of hickory for a couple of hours. I was not sure how it was going to come out. But it had the same great hickory flavor as usual with an underlying bacony goodness.

And here is what she looked like.

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Thanks for looking.

[ShadowDriver]

That looks really tasty!

Great job!

[Titch]

Love it, must have tasted nice

[cheez59]

Man that looks good. Yet another of those great looking cuts that are non existent in this part of the country.

[COS]

That looks good. I like tri-tip. I think maybe I should smoke it the whole time instead of finishing of with searing.

[Smoke on Badger Mountain]

Man that looks good. Yet another of those great looking cuts that are non existent in this part of the country.

A buddy of mine moved to Winter Garden Florida a couple of years ago. Being from CA we really missed being able to get some tri-tip. He found a local butcher that said he could do anything. Se he went into the shop and told him what it was (with photos) and for over a year now he has been getting some very nice cuts of tri-tip and making his friends wonder what the heck it is.

I bet you could get a butcher in GA to do the same

[thaifighter06]

What was the thought here? Don't get me wrong, it looks incredible and I will most likely try it very soon. I usually cook tri-tip (as I did yesterday) to medium rarish. This looks more like a brisket. Any more details would be great!

[Smoke on Badger Mountain]

What was the thought here? Don't get me wrong, it looks incredible and I will most likely try it very soon. I usually cook tri-tip (as I did yesterday) to medium rarish. This looks more like a brisket. Any more details would be great!

The thought was just to do something different. No great light bulb moment or anything like that. I had the tri-tip and some small pieces of the bacon that i didn't seal. I have wrapped it in bacon before, but most of the smoke flavor ends up in the bacon and usually the bacon falls off when you cut it or on the plate. And I wanted the smoke in the beef so.... And there you have it. The heat in the kettle was pretty low and I pulled it at 145* IT in the thickest part, let it rest 30min then sliced it. If it were a brisket I would have cooked it much longer and pulled it when probe tender, probably around 200*. The tri-tip still had very much a steak thype texture. Hope that is what you were looking for.

[Shagdog]

So you put raw bacon in the middle and cooked it to 145? I can't imagine that the bacon texture was very good in there? I would think anything that is only going to be cooked to medium rare should only be stuffed with ingredients that benefit from being cooked to a lower temp than the meat around it (or stuffed with precooked ingredients). Maybe try cooked bacon in the middle next time? Or was it cooked before you stuffed it?

[shypes]

Way to go, that looks great!

[Smoke on Badger Mountain]

So you put raw bacon in the middle and cooked it to 145? I can't imagine that the bacon texture was very good in there? I would think anything that is only going to be cooked to medium rare should only be stuffed with ingredients that benefit from being cooked to a lower temp than the meat around it (or stuffed with precooked ingredients). Maybe try cooked bacon in the middle next time? Or was it cooked before you stuffed it?

Heated to near done then placed inside. I know it looks very light in the pics. I know I would probably not like the texture of the bacon in the final product. Just added for the flavor. And this is how it turned out.

[cowgirl]

Looks great Josh! Bet that bacon added a nice flavor. Will give this a try if I can find tri tips here. Sometimes they are in stock and sometimes I have to get the butcher to save them for me.
Thanks for the post!

[jermoQ]

That sounds good!