Cheap Tri-Tip

Smoke on Badger Mountain

Smoke on Badger Mountain

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So I picked up a cheap tri-tip at winco last week and decided to see if I could up the results from what I would expect from that piece of meat.

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Trimmed it all up

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Put together a little marinade of soy sauce, red pepper flakes, white onion, ginger, fresh garlic, black pepper, a little chili powder and some cumin.

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Beat the heck out of it with the meat tenderizer.

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Put it in the vac canister for 3 days rotating it each day.






Gave it some indirect heat on the kettle with some oak lump and hickory chunks.

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Pulled it with a center of 130 and ends at 142

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Plated up with mashers, broccoli, chips and guac.

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The end result was some fork cut tender beef with outstanding flavor. Sorry for some poor quality images in this post. (kept the case on the phone)

Thanks for looking.
 
I cannot find untrimmed tri-tip anywhere around me. However, the HEBs are selling nicely trimmed select for $3.79/lb ATM. The price is puzzling since the same stores were selling the same cut of beef for $6.39/lb 6 months ago. I'm not complaining, I have a couple of the cheapies in the freezer. I love this cut, but I cringed when I saw your sliced pics. One tiny spot of pink surrounded by a whole lot of brown makes me sad. I'm sure it still tasted great though.
 
El Ropo said:
I cannot find untrimmed tri-tip anywhere around me. However, the HEBs are selling nicely trimmed select for $3.79/lb ATM. The price is puzzling since the same stores were selling the same cut of beef for $6.39/lb 6 months ago. I'm not complaining, I have a couple of the cheapies in the freezer. I love this cut, but I cringed when I saw your sliced pics. One tiny spot of pink surrounded by a whole lot of brown makes me sad. I'm sure it still tasted great though.
Click to expand...

Well the cut you see in the pic is not from the center and if you cook tri-tip you know that it does not cook the same from end to end. And also, my 6 year old will not eat it if there are not some med well portions. But the biggest factor is the marinade. I have made and posted this before and get the same kind of comments. The needled meat with 72hr marinade changes the color of the entire cut. You can cut it open before you even cook it and there is hardly any pink. It tripped me out the first time I made it. I personally like all my beef except burger rare. Try it sometime. I bet you will like it. But don't the the color fool ya when you slice her ;)
 
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Nice looking cook. And, that's a great price.

Don't see tri-tip around here often. If you want it, it's usually $pecial order. Use to know a meat manager at the local Kroger that would set me up at a fair price but he retired a couple years ago.
 
Smoke on Badger Mountain said:
Well the cut you see in the pic is not from the center and if you cook tri-tip you know that it does not cook the same from end to end. And also, my 6 year old will not eat it if there are not some med well portions. But the biggest factor is the marinade. I have made and posted this before and get the same kind of comments. The needled meat with 72hr marinade changes the color of the entire cut. You can cut it open before you even cook it and there is hardly any pink. It tripped me out the first time I made it. I personally like all my beef except burger rare. Try it sometime. I bet you will like it. But don't the the color fool ya when you slice her ;)
Click to expand...

I've reverse seared over 20 tri tips in the last couple years, and can always get a perfect med rare from end to end, edge to edge. It takes a bit of practice to nail it, but it is very possible to do this consistently. The key is a very low cooking temp at first, in the 225F area, then remove from cooker and let the roast rest when it is 10F lower than desired final temp while stoking up your fire for 15 minutes or so. A quick sear till make it rise up another 10F or so, then a nice 15 min rest uncovered or lightly tented in foil. This is a very similar process to doing prime rib roast via reverse sear.

Sometimes a "traditional" way of doing something can be improved. In the case of the tri-tip, and it's traditional cooking method, I believe it isn't the best way to cook this cut. YMMV, cook it the way your like it, but if you haven't actually tried to reverse sear them, I suggest you give it a try, see what you think.

When I first joined this forum, I thought cooking them the traditional way and leaving the fat cap on was the best way. My eyes were opened here, Now I trim all exterior fat and reverse sear. Yummo!
 
How much you really saved begs the question of how much trim you carved off what you paid.
In other words, if you carved off 50%, for example, the price doubled for the meat inside.

But it looks great, and I'm glad you enjoyed it. :thumb:
 
SonnyE said:
How much you really saved begs the question of how much trim you carved off what you paid.
In other words, if you carved off 50%, for example, the price doubled for the meat inside.

But it looks great, and I'm glad you enjoyed it. :thumb:
Click to expand...

Thanks. No where near 50 percent. the ones that I usually buy are $8.00 per pound
 
El Ropo said:
I cannot find untrimmed tri-tip anywhere around me. However, the HEBs are selling nicely trimmed select for $3.79/lb ATM. The price is puzzling since the same stores were selling the same cut of beef for $6.39/lb 6 months ago. I'm not complaining, I have a couple of the cheapies in the freezer. I love this cut, but I cringed when I saw your sliced pics. One tiny spot of pink surrounded by a whole lot of brown makes me sad. I'm sure it still tasted great though.
Click to expand...

There is a glut of select grade tri-tip from the wholesalers right now. Stock up if you can.
 
El Ropo said:
I've reverse seared over 20 tri tips in the last couple years, and can always get a perfect med rare from end to end, edge to edge. It takes a bit of practice to nail it, but it is very possible to do this consistently. The key is a very low cooking temp at first, in the 225F area, then remove from cooker and let the roast rest when it is 10F lower than desired final temp while stoking up your fire for 15 minutes or so. A quick sear till make it rise up another 10F or so, then a nice 15 min rest uncovered or lightly tented in foil. This is a very similar process to doing prime rib roast via reverse sear.

Sometimes a "traditional" way of doing something can be improved. In the case of the tri-tip, and it's traditional cooking method, I believe it isn't the best way to cook this cut. YMMV, cook it the way your like it, but if you haven't actually tried to reverse sear them, I suggest you give it a try, see what you think.

When I first joined this forum, I thought cooking them the traditional way and leaving the fat cap on was the best way. My eyes were opened here, Now I trim all exterior fat and reverse sear. Yummo!
Click to expand...


Very interesting. I might give it a try sometime. But one of the main things I like about this cut is if you cook it in a more traditional way you get the different doneness and that is perfect for most of my cooks. I am never cooking for just myself. The four of us in our family like meat cooked to different temps, and we have guests over a lot. So, with a rare center and med well ends, it makes sure that everyone gets something that they like. And that is what I'm looking for. Not to make others like what I like. I am a firm believer in cooking to you audience. Served tri-tip to over 300 people this year, one complaint. I'll take those numbers any day. One of these days when I feel like messing around with a cook maybe I'll give your way a try. I'm sure it's good.

And by the way the fat cap was removed and it was reverse seared.
 
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