Conclusion: 8hr Sous Vide Tri-Tip + Sear in Egg

Sweet100s

=== Conclusions

- Probably the most tender tri-tip I've made out of 6 total.

- Delicious result.  However, I did miss the more pronounced smoke flavor from a longer cook on the egg

- I am convinced my sous vide machine is awesome for making homemade egg salad and chicken salad for the perfect summer sandwiches.   Homemade means no excess mayo or chemicals that buying either from the store gives us and perfectly tender chicken breasts.

- I am not convinced my Big Green egg needs sous vide as a partner for making Tri-Tip.

=== Pics

8 hours at 134




After sous vide, before sear

enjoyed  the Woo2 first use


138 after rest


yum


Balsamic Asparagus is my favorite on the grill

Sweet100s

=== Cook

Salted tritip with 1/2 TEAspoon of Kosher salt per pound (before trimming the fat) 

In fridge 24 hours

Seasoned and re-wrapped, in fridge for another 24 hrs.

Season: paste of olive oil and 

 2 teaspoons garlic powder

 1 1/2 teaspoons paprika

 1 teaspoon onion powder

 1 teaspoon dried rosemary

 1/4 teaspoon chipotle powder

Rubbed it in.  Did not use all of it - eyeball'd what seemed right. Re-wrapped.  Back in fridge for going on 24 hours.

Sous vide at 134 degrees for 8 hours.

Get egg up to 400 - 500 for 20 min.  

Add a chunk of oak.  Grill each side for 3-4 min each.

Target pull temp was 135. Turned out at 138

My previous posts / questions about tri-tips

2 questions about Tri Tip

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1182573/2-questions-about-tri-tip#latest

Tropical Storm Bill vs my Tri-Tip adventure

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1182669/tropical-storm-bill-vs-my-tri-tip-adventure#latest

Lit

I am not a sous vide red meat fan. For tri tip I do the sous vide at 108 for 45 minutes or so to get temp to 90 IT or so then sear and finish indirect to 125 or so. This way there is less cook time so it stays tender but you still get a good seat and smoke time. This reduces egg time to under 20 minutes. Basically you are using the sous vide as a hot tub.

Sweet100s

Cold tri-tip out of the fridge a couple days later.



I then heated it to 110 in the microwave.
(I re-heat meats in the microwave at 20% power, and check with a laser thermometer to no more than 110-115. )

This + olives + a couple slides of mozzarela cheese is a great breakfast / brunch snack.

Only downside about cold tritip:
it's a lot harder to see which direction the grain is going  - so it's not clear how to slice it.

Sweet100s

Lit said:

I am not a sous vide red meat fan. For tri tip I do the sous vide at 108 for 45 minutes or so to get temp to 90 IT or so then sear and finish indirect to 125 or so. This way there is less cook time so it stays tender but you still get a good seat and smoke time. This reduces egg time to under 20 minutes. Basically you are using the sous vide as a hot tub.

Would leaving the tri-tip in sous vide longer at the lower temperature still make it more tender? 

Lit

I don't really do it to make it more tender. Just to reduce the cook time which keeps it more juicy from my experience but you still have time to get the smoky flavor. I shoot for around 90 IT so I guess you could try like 2 hours at 90 and see but you don't really want to run meat in the sous vide more than 2 hours under 130 degrees it can become a food safety issue.