Safeway had tri-tip on sale for $2.99/lb last week so I decided to experiment and try a "Trisket" in my MAK 1. If you're not familiar with the term "Trisket" as I was just until a week ago, a "Trisket" is not a smoked tri-tip that is smoked to med rare and then revere seared. A "Trisket" is cooked low and slow till probe tender, which is around 190-200 degrees - like a brisket.
I got 2 pieces. Each was a little more than 3lbs, the one on the left was a little larger than the one on the right. The one on the right has a thicker fat cap.
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I rubbed with 50/50 kosher salt and coarse pepper. I also used my favorite Obie Cue Smooth Move.
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Into the MAK 1 at 225 degrees.
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The plan was to foil at 150 degrees, but the larger brisket kept reading 10-15 degrees lower than the slightly smaller one. I foiled the smaller one and then 15 minutes later foiled the larger one. I added a little beef broth with the foiling. This was about 3 hours into the cook.
After foiling, I started getting a 15-20 degree variance between the 2 pieces so I switched the probes to see if it was a probe issue. After switching the probes with each other, the variance was only 5 degrees. Not sure why.
After total cooking time of 5 hours, the smaller one was probe tender at 190 degrees. The slightly larger one was still not probe tender enough. 15 minutes later, I pulled the larger one at 195 degrees and it felt probe tender, but still not quite like the smaller one. I put both pieces in separate coolers to keep warm and I gave the larger one to my cousin for his family dinner, while I kept the smaller one. I don't have pics of the one I gave to my cousin.
Here's the one I kept.
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Mine turned out great! It was very moist, tender with good smoke flavor. It tasted very much like brisket. However, my cousin's piece didn't turn out as well. He reported that while it was tender, it was just good, not great. He said his reminded him of corned beef and kinda like pastrami. The next day, I went over there and tried a piece and sure enough, it was visually different as it looked a lot leaner and tasted different. To me, there was little to no smoke flavor, a little salty and it tasted like roast beef lunch meat. It was still good, just nothing like the similarity to brisket that mine had.
The slightly larger piece had a thinner fat cap and turned out to probably have much less marbling internally than the smaller piece. The meat was purchased at Safeway, and I know it wasn't "Prime" grade. It was either "Choice" or "Select", but the package was not marked as such so who knows. I think the smaller piece likely had much more marbling than the larger piece and I think this was the difference. As we all know, each piece of meat is different.
I think the "Trisket" was still a success and look forward to doing one again. But, in the future, I will try to get one graded as "Prime", or at the very least try to get a piece that appears to have a lot of marbling and a good fat cap.
I got 2 pieces. Each was a little more than 3lbs, the one on the left was a little larger than the one on the right. The one on the right has a thicker fat cap.
[URL=http://s911.photobucket.com/user/RemoGaggi2976/media/IMG_20170326_103056.jpg.html]
[/URL]I rubbed with 50/50 kosher salt and coarse pepper. I also used my favorite Obie Cue Smooth Move.
[URL=http://s911.photobucket.com/user/RemoGaggi2976/media/IMG_20170326_104337.jpg.html]
[/URL]Into the MAK 1 at 225 degrees.
[URL=http://s911.photobucket.com/user/RemoGaggi2976/media/IMG_20170326_110545.jpg.html]
[/URL]The plan was to foil at 150 degrees, but the larger brisket kept reading 10-15 degrees lower than the slightly smaller one. I foiled the smaller one and then 15 minutes later foiled the larger one. I added a little beef broth with the foiling. This was about 3 hours into the cook.
After foiling, I started getting a 15-20 degree variance between the 2 pieces so I switched the probes to see if it was a probe issue. After switching the probes with each other, the variance was only 5 degrees. Not sure why.
After total cooking time of 5 hours, the smaller one was probe tender at 190 degrees. The slightly larger one was still not probe tender enough. 15 minutes later, I pulled the larger one at 195 degrees and it felt probe tender, but still not quite like the smaller one. I put both pieces in separate coolers to keep warm and I gave the larger one to my cousin for his family dinner, while I kept the smaller one. I don't have pics of the one I gave to my cousin.
Here's the one I kept.
[URL=http://s911.photobucket.com/user/RemoGaggi2976/media/IMG_20170326_165152.jpg.html]
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[/URL][URL=http://s911.photobucket.com/user/RemoGaggi2976/media/IMG_20170326_165730.jpg.html]
[/URL]Mine turned out great! It was very moist, tender with good smoke flavor. It tasted very much like brisket. However, my cousin's piece didn't turn out as well. He reported that while it was tender, it was just good, not great. He said his reminded him of corned beef and kinda like pastrami. The next day, I went over there and tried a piece and sure enough, it was visually different as it looked a lot leaner and tasted different. To me, there was little to no smoke flavor, a little salty and it tasted like roast beef lunch meat. It was still good, just nothing like the similarity to brisket that mine had.
The slightly larger piece had a thinner fat cap and turned out to probably have much less marbling internally than the smaller piece. The meat was purchased at Safeway, and I know it wasn't "Prime" grade. It was either "Choice" or "Select", but the package was not marked as such so who knows. I think the smaller piece likely had much more marbling than the larger piece and I think this was the difference. As we all know, each piece of meat is different.
I think the "Trisket" was still a success and look forward to doing one again. But, in the future, I will try to get one graded as "Prime", or at the very least try to get a piece that appears to have a lot of marbling and a good fat cap.
