Tritip

[Johnny Guitar]

Hi All,

  I'm doing a Tri Tip.  Does anyone have an oppinion  ;D on how long a 2.5 lbs piece will take in the smoker?

[Gizmo]

I have not done a tri tip in the bradley smoker.  Have only done them on a charcoal grill indirect heat, hot zones on each side, cold zone in the middle.

Is the Tri Tip trimmed or does it have a small layer of fat on top?  Usually you'll find them trimed (over trimmed in my opinion).  Tri Tip is a naturally tender piece of meat so does not follow the low and slow.  It does not have a fat cap or large quantities of fat within the meat so it will not benefit from rendering.  I would either cold smoke and then cook at high temperature to an Internal Temp of 130 deg give or take 5 depending on your desire of doneness, or you could hot smoke from the git go depending on the amount of smoke you want.  Remeber you will have +5 deg of carry over cooking.  I would max out the temp on the bradley when cooking to reduce the time it sits in the heat.  The reduced cooking time is why you might want to cold smoke first.

There may be others here with actual bradely experience on a tri-tip so hopefully they will give some real world experience.

[SKSmoker]

Ditto x2 on what Giz said. Any meat that is very lean, like the tri-tip works best with high heat. Like a steak. Go ahead and cold smoke it, but it needs higher indirect heat from a gasser in order to turn out best.

Good luck! Remember to take pictures too :)

[Johnny Guitar]

OK So, I smoked a Tritip from Cosco, it had their standard marinade.

All i did was pat the meat dry.  Then smoked 3 hours with Cherry with Oven Temp 220 to a temp of 160.  FTC for 2 hours.

It was very tender and flavorful.

[Gizmo]

Do you think that only going to an IT around 140 would have been O.K?

[iceman]

Do you think that only going to an IT around 140 would have been O.K?

I like my beef rare. I pull most of my roasts and such around the 140 and it's great. I usually toss Anns on the grill for a minute to get it more medium for her.

[Gizmo]

I like my beef rare. I pull most of my roasts and such around the 140 and it's great. I usually toss Anns on the grill for a minute to get it more medium for her.

You could also try the hot au jus dip.  A few seconds in some hot au jus will take some of the "rareness" out without adding any toughness.

[chevyman]

Im with Gizmo.......pull at 140, let rest and slice for French dips with a sourdough roll, lots of mayo, pepper jack or swiss cheese, sauted sweet onions and mabea little horseradish. Dip that bad boy in some Au Jus........... Boy im hungury!!!!

[La Quinta]

I can't cook a tritip to save my life on the grill (comes out like the bottom of my leather sandals!!! ummmm...EVERY TIME)...gonna try it in the smoker. I know about cutting across the grain and all that..but...ok...tritip scares me!!! :) I NEED A SHRINK!!

[Gizmo]

Heat will make the tritip shrink.  Don't need a MD. for that.

[Gizmo]

Finally did a Tri-Tip in the smoker today.  At this point, I am thinking this is the best tasting smoke I have done for the simple reason that the smoke flavor in the meat was perfect (distinct and flavorfull).  The seasonings were not overdone which allowed the wonderful smoke flavor to be noticed.

The setup was:
Seasoned the tri-tip with a light coating of cajun spice rub from Tarantino's Marinades book modified with some additional celeray salt and worcestershire powder.  Vacuum packed and placed into the fridge over night.   Today, took the tri-tip out of the fridge while I preheated the dbs to 260 deg plus (set point at 320 deg).  Loaded the dbs with the tri-tip and 3 hours 20 minutes of hickory, dropped the set point to 280 degrees and waited for the Maverick oven probe to read 220 deg before dropping the set point down.  As the box temp crept up, I would lower the set point by 10 degrees maintaining the 220 deg until the set point was also at 220.  With this small 4-5 pound piece of meat, it did not take long to level out (un-like the big loads of brisket, ribs or pork butt I usually have in there).  Just after the 3 hour mark, the meat IT was at 138 so I dropped the set point down to 210 so the last 20 minutes of smoke could finish without rasing the IT above 140 deg (my target temp).  Hit 140 right around the smoke from the last puck finished.  Pulled the tri-tip, drizzled a little apple juice over the top and let it rest on the cutting board with a foil tent over the top.

Sliced it up and this was the result.  Juicy, tender, smokey, and the edges have a bit of a spice kick to it.




3 people damage.



Will get a couple Charger Game sandwiches out of this tomorrow.  My biggest dilema now is to decide whether I want to slather the Ice sauce on the sammys or ...... Hey, problem solve, half and half.   :D

[West Coast Kansan]

Have done several tritips and even with an IT of 150 to 155 (pink just barely gone in middle) they have always been moist.  Mrs. wont go with anything pink. Moist and good flavor always, just a slightly stiffer texture is the only difference I notice beside the color.  Tritip is also a piece that will show the difference in wood flavors as well.  Oak is a real solid and basic smoke that is good to use when you slice the roast and experiment with bbq sauces.

[Gizmo]

Oak will make a showing for sure on one of these.  I think I am out of that flavor right now so didn't have to make a decision on which to go with, oak or hickory. 

[La Quinta]

OK...OK...I'll try it again. Looks fabulous Giz! :)

[West Coast Kansan]

Great stuff even at our over the top temperatures.


The slices that still look like roast beef are mine.  Same cook time and temp...just a higher rack.