jdbower Posted February 17, 2009 Report Share Posted February 17, 2009 Meat: Morton's of Omaha Tri-Tip from Costco Brine: Pre-marinaded with papaya enzymes among other things Fuel: Cowboy Smoke: None Method: Direct, Lower Grill Rotisserie: No Pit Temp: 450-550 Pull Temp: 135 Time: About 40 minutes Draft Control: Manual I found a pre-marinaded Tri-Tip at Costco so I figured I'd give it a shot. Building a high temp fire at night really shows an impressive glow from underneath the KK: I also experimented with some HDR photography. I used my tripod (a nice Gitzo CF model with a Markins M20 head) and took one picture exposing for the flames which left the meat very dark, then I took another and popped the flash which muted the inferno in the KK but showed the meat nicely. Then I combined them in post: The results were tender and juicy with a strong beefy flavor to it, but next time around I may add a rub to the meat. I ended up measuring the temps at the thin end of the cut which made the part we ate fresh from the grill a perfect temperature but left the rest of the meat slightly underdone so it should be perfect when reheated. All-in-all it's not my favorite cut of meat from a texture standpoint but it was still very good. I also need to bring in my tripod for the finished shots, there's not much in focus handheld at F1.4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conodo12 Posted February 18, 2009 Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 Good lookin' pics Jeff!! I also like the format of the "summary" cook. I'll try to remember to use that going forward... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
primeats Posted February 18, 2009 Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 Great cook! When you say you don't like the texture do you think it has anything do do with the premarinated factor? Sometimes this will give you an almost mealie sort of texture, kinda gummy. This's the enzyme working. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdbower Posted February 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 The marinade may have played a factor. I tend to like my steaks buttery-smooth (fillet mignon, prime rib) or firm and seasoned like a sirloin with a nice rub. The tri-tip was kind of a combination of the two, not quite tender and not quite firm. Rather than being "steaky" with a more uniform consistency it was more clear I was eating a muscle - if that makes any sense. I think it would have been a bit better had I let it cook a little longer and gotten it more on the medium side of medium rare. I'm certainly open to trying another one as a change of pace and next time maybe I'll try to find one that hasn't been marinaded to compare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
primeats Posted February 18, 2009 Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 Hmmm, yeah that cut, unless perfectly medium rare to medium, can have almost a rubbery resistance to the tooth. But your also right that it's perfect when warmed up. All in all it looks great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThreeDJ16 Posted February 18, 2009 Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 The marinade may have played a factor. I tend to like my steaks buttery-smooth (fillet mignon' date=' prime rib) or firm and seasoned like a sirloin with a nice rub. The tri-tip was kind of a combination of the two, not quite tender and not quite firm. Rather than being "steaky" with a more uniform consistency it was more clear I was eating a muscle - if that makes any sense. I think it would have been a bit better had I let it cook a little longer and gotten it more on the medium side of medium rare. I'm certainly open to trying another one as a change of pace and next time maybe I'll try to find one that hasn't been marinaded to compare.[/quote'] Maybe try cutting it London broil style on the bias before serving. I love flat iron steaks, but to me, it tastes totally different if it is not cut on the bias (maybe the same applies to tri-tip). I guess breaking those muscle fibers really changes the texture. BTW, love that flame/steak pic. You got that pic I have wanted for a long time. I am just not camera savvy enough. -=Jasen=- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyboy Posted February 18, 2009 Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 Very cool JD. Great pictures. And I too like the cook format you used. The only thing else I can think of I'd like to see is the meat weight, and possibly thickness if it were a steak. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennisLinkletter Posted February 18, 2009 Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 Re: First Tri-Tip Meat: Morton's of Omaha Tri-Tip from Costco Brine: Pre-marinaded with papaya enzymes among other things Fuel: Cowboy Smoke: None Method: Direct, Lower Grill Rotisserie: No Pit Temp: 450-550 Pull Temp: 135 Time: About 1 hour Draft Control: Manual ) One of my most disappointing cooks was a Market=Marinated Tri Tip. After consistently cooking great Tri Tips, they had become my cut while in CA guaranteed to convert anybody to charcoal cooking. The marinade also gave the meat a slippery feel.. I did not even want to eat it.. I'd like to highlight what DJ said about cutting it across the grain... Your 1 hour, direct, lower grill at 450-550º sounds like a long time that hot so low.. I don't think I've ever cooked anything 1 hour direct on the lower grill. Was it very cold going in? My tri tip was very rare and was great.. Don't give up on this cut.. I think it's still my favorite. Maybe try cutting it London broil style on the bias before serving. I love flat iron steaks, but to me, it tastes totally different if it is not cut on the bias (maybe the same applies to tri-tip). I guess breaking those muscle fibers really changes the texture. -=Jasen=- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdbower Posted February 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 The 1 hour was from memory (a few days after the fact) I took a look at the timestamps of some pictures and it looks like it was 42 minutes from the time I put the steak on the grill to the time it came off, that includes the time it would have taken for the grill to get back up to temp once I closed the lid. Temp going on was slightly above fridge temps, maybe 40-45F or so. I'll try a non-marinaded version next time and I may try slicing it before cooking. Good idea about some size indication on the cut, I'll have to add that next time. For the picture details here's what I did. First set up a tripod or another fixed support, you'll want two or more pictures with exactly the same framing. Take one picture exposing for the flames, most cameras will do this automatically if you disable the flash. Then take one exposing for the meat, again the easiest way may be just to enable the flash. For those of you with cameras that support it you can also look into something called "spot metering" - I may explore that option the next time around but I was getting hungry. You can also just adjust the exposure or use something called "bracketing" which will take a sequence of shots from underexposed through overexposed. I used Photoshop CS3 Extended but I'm sure many other (cheaper!) programs that support layers have similar functions. Load the shot exposed for the flames into the program. Then load the shot exposed for the meat. Use the Lasso tool on the meat shot to select just the meat, get close to the edges of the meat but it's not critical to be 100% exact. Copy the meat and paste it into the shot exposed for the flames. This should appear as another layer and it will have a weird look to it as it'll be a sharp cutoff between the two images. Adjust the layer's opacity until you get the look you want, this will allow the edges to blur together and help the layers to blend properly. In this image I used about 67% opacity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackie from Jersey Posted February 18, 2009 Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdbower Posted February 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2009 Salvaging or Sacrilege? Is the answer to cook it until med-rare to med instead of my normal bloody rare meat? I found the ends of the cut much better than the more rare center of the cut - I would say erring on the side of medium would be a big benefit. I have to confess, my wife wanted chili and the leftover tri-tip was diced, lightly pan fried with garlic and ground beef, and dumped into the chili pot with the rest of the ingredients. It adds a very nice flavor to the chili and being more well done (as well as diced) takes care of my texture issues. So is this an acceptable use for the cut or a sin tantamount to ketchup on a fillet mignon? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
primeats Posted February 21, 2009 Report Share Posted February 21, 2009 It would be a sin to toss it out or feed it to the dog. Chili? Why not! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mguerra Posted March 25, 2009 Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 tri-tip, VWB style The Weber virtual bullet group comes through again: http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/tritip1.html This is an excellent forum to peruse for all kinds of cool info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mguerra Posted March 25, 2009 Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 P.S. Don't neglect to checkout the Susie Q site referenced in the article above: http://www.susieqbrand.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryR Posted March 26, 2009 Report Share Posted March 26, 2009 I can second Susie Q's, if I'm not seasoning my tri's with Pappy's I'm using Susie Q's. Excellent stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
