Sous Vide Tri-Tip Finished on the Big Green Egg

Spring Chicken · March 2016

I've tried with limited success to cook a tri-tip. Pretty much all of them turned out to be a bit 'chewy.'

But not this time. I sous vide the Tri-Tip first then seared it on the Big Green Egg.

The results were phenomenal. Take a look...

https://youtu.be/3A8GyDmYBjo

Thanks for watching.

Spring "Finally Did It" Chicken
Spring Texas USA

RRP · March 2016

WINNER WINNER WINNER - looks great Leroy. Yet another food for my "gotta try" list. BTW I've already had to de-lime my sous vide equipment so I must be using it! Funny thing is we have soft water, but the coating on the heating element wouldn't just wipe off.

Jeepster47 · March 2016

Stop it ... stop it ... STOP IT! Damn, I couldn't even get my first hard boiled egg to come out of the sous vide cooked correctly.

Pssst ... did you add any fluid to the vacuum bag? Or, was the juice out of the meat? I suspect that there wasn't that much smoke flavoring ... yes/no?

Spring Chicken · March 2016

Jeepster47 said:

Stop it ... stop it ... STOP IT! Damn, I couldn't even get my first hard boiled egg to come out of the sous vide cooked correctly.

Pssst ... did you add any fluid to the vacuum bag? Or, was the juice out of the meat? I suspect that there wasn't that much smoke flavoring ... yes/no?

No added liquid, probably because I trimmed most of the really ugly fat off first. Maybe 1/3 cup of liquid cooked out. I didn't keep it because it looked pretty weak. No smoke but I thought about adding a couple of drops of liquid smoke. After all, it is smoke. But I passed on the idea for now. As for hard boiled eggs using the sous vide method, I've had no luck with eggs either. At first I blamed it on the size of the eggs (I was using Xlg and Jumbo's) so I tried regular size eggs. Better but not by much. I also considered the fact that the eggs were refrigerated, so I tried letting the eggs come to room temperature over a 3-hour period before going into the sous vide bath. Not much change there either. The final attempt will be to have super-fresh, regular-size, room-temperature eggs. If that doesn't work, I'm done with the egg thing.

Spring "Still Working On It" Chicken

Spring Chicken · March 2016

RRP said:

WINNER WINNER WINNER - looks great Leroy. Yet another food for my "gotta try" list. BTW I've already had to de-lime my sous vide equipment so I must be using it! Funny thing is we have soft water, but the coating on the heating element wouldn't just wipe off.

Thanks Ron. That reminds me. I need to check mine. But last time I looked there was no buildup at all.

Spring "de Lime de Lime Everyone To de Dock" Chicken

Mary Queen of Kitchen Gadgets · March 2016

I bought an Anova sous vide a few month ago and use it pretty frequently. I finish meats in cast iron or on the Weber gas grill because it is still officially winter in PA and I haven't started using the egg yet. Do you think searing for 90 seconds per side justifies starting the charcoal and searing on the egg? I'm just wondering if the charcoal flavor comes through.

Spring Chicken · March 2016

Mary Queen of Kitchen Gadgets said:

I bought an Anova sous vide a few month ago and use it pretty frequently. I finish meats in cast iron or on the Weber gas grill because it is still officially winter in PA and I haven't started using the egg yet. Do you think searing for 90 seconds per side justifies starting the charcoal and searing on the egg? I'm just wondering if the charcoal flavor comes through.

No it doesn't. But I enjoy firing up the Egg, even for three minutes. Plus, I need a reason to post sous vide cooking on a Big Green Egg forum LOL. Otherwise, it would fall under the scope of an OT post. I'm expecting to get a carbon steel pan for my birthday. I'll probably do future sears in the pan. I doubt that I will post about them here since a lot of Eggheads are purists when it comes to posting OT items. And rightfully so. After all, this forum really is all about the Egg. The only reason I'm doing it at all is because I know there's a growing number of Eggheads who want to (as I said in my video) combine the science of sous vide cooking with the magic of the Egg.

Spring "But The Magic Comes Through" Chicken

Jeepster47 · March 2016

Spring Chicken said:

Jeepster47 said:

Stop it ... stop it ... STOP IT! Damn, I couldn't even get my first hard boiled egg to come out of the sous vide cooked correctly.

Pssst ... did you add any fluid to the vacuum bag? Or, was the juice out of the meat? I suspect that there wasn't that much smoke flavoring ... yes/no?

No added liquid, probably because I trimmed most of the really ugly fat off first. Maybe 1/3 cup of liquid cooked out. I didn't keep it because it looked pretty weak. No smoke but I thought about adding a couple of drops of liquid smoke. After all, it is smoke. But I passed on the idea for now. As for hard boiled eggs using the sous vide method, I've had no luck with eggs either. At first I blamed it on the size of the eggs (I was using Xlg and Jumbo's) so I tried regular size eggs. Better but not by much. I also considered the fact that the eggs were refrigerated, so I tried letting the eggs come to room temperature over a 3-hour period before going into the sous vide bath. Not much change there either. The final attempt will be to have super-fresh, regular-size, room-temperature eggs. If that doesn't work, I'm done with the egg thing.

Spring "Still Working On It" Chicken

Thanks for the feedback. Your cook looks great. I'll have to go in search of a tri-tip when we return to home base.

As to hard boiled eggs ... think I'll stick to steaming them ... daughter-in-law put us on to this approach:

http://www.fresheggsdaily.com/2012/01/hard-steamed-eggs.html

The instructions say to steam for 20 minutes, but a half dozen eggs for 12~13.5 minutes comes out perfect for us. Something in the steaming helps set up the eggs for easy peeling.

RRP · March 2016

Jeepster47 said:

I'll have to go in search of a tri-tip when we return to home base.

Tom, They are hard to find for us. I used to be able to buy them at Echo Valley Meats in Bartonville, but call first as they butchers normally keep them for themselves rather than put in the meat case. I haven't tried Alwan's in years after they tried to tell me a beef roast saying it was the same thing!

Jeepster47 · March 2016

@saluki2007 ... do they have any in the Morton area?

What makes me feel like an idiot is that Lindy's had some last spring, but I wasn't ready for them ... then I found out it was a special order not to be repeated ... geez.

saluki2007 · March 2016

@Jeepster47They do not have any in Morton. I think a buddy did find one last fall. It was either Costco or Pottstown. I'll ask him where he got it.

saluki2007 · March 2016

@Jeepster47 he actually got it from Aldis in EP. SAID Costco is suppose to start carrying them though.

Theophan · March 2016

Spring Chicken said:

Mary Queen of Kitchen Gadgets said:

... I'm just wondering if the charcoal flavor comes through.

No it doesn't. But I enjoy firing up the Egg, even for three minutes...

I'm still a holdout on sous vide, just not sure cooking a nice piece of meat in a plastic bag is really what I want. I love cooking over fire, and the idea of a low-and-slow cook over charcoal plus a sear over charcoal just seems like it would be more satisfying to me personally than cooking it in a plastic bag in water. And now here you are saying your Tri-tip didn't taste like it was cooked over charcoal. But I've been reading these sous vide posts and am at least warming up to the idea a little.

So after watching your video, I really want to ask you a couple of things: Part of what I love about the flavor of a good steak (or tri-tip) is the "charcoal-grilled" flavor, which I grudgingly admit probably is mostly just the sear, whether seared in a pan or over charcoal. I was surprised, watching your video, that a super hot (650°) sear for 90 seconds didn't really cause much of a sear. There was a modest amount of gray meat around the outside, so you probably wouldn't have wanted to sear it longer or that would have increased and you'd lose the benefit of the sous vide. So, the two questions for you and/or others with experience with sous vide:

Don't you miss that dark, crusty, seared, grilled flavor when it's cooked that way?
Is there a way to get a darker sear with sous vide? Maybe dry it more aggressively somehow before searing? You said by the end of the sous vide it had been sitting in liquid in the bag, so that was one wet piece of meat. Is it hard to get it dry enough to really sear well?

Thanks!

Jeepster47 · March 2016

saluki2007 said:

@Jeepster47 he actually got it from Aldis in EP. SAID Costco is suppose to start carrying them though.

@saluki2007 ... thank you my friend ... in my notes now!

Spring Chicken · March 2016

Theophan said:

Spring Chicken said:

Mary Queen of Kitchen Gadgets said:

... I'm just wondering if the charcoal flavor comes through.

No it doesn't. But I enjoy firing up the Egg, even for three minutes...

I'm still a holdout on sous vide, just not sure cooking a nice piece of meat in a plastic bag is really what I want. I love cooking over fire, and the idea of a low-and-slow cook over charcoal plus a sear over charcoal just seems like it would be more satisfying to me personally than cooking it in a plastic bag in water. And now here you are saying your Tri-tip didn't taste like it was cooked over charcoal. But I've been reading these sous vide posts and am at least warming up to the idea a little.

So after watching your video, I really want to ask you a couple of things: Part of what I love about the flavor of a good steak (or tri-tip) is the "charcoal-grilled" flavor, which I grudgingly admit probably is mostly just the sear, whether seared in a pan or over charcoal. I was surprised, watching your video, that a super hot (650°) sear for 90 seconds didn't really cause much of a sear. There was a modest amount of gray meat around the outside, so you probably wouldn't have wanted to sear it longer or that would have increased and you'd lose the benefit of the sous vide. So, the two questions for you and/or others with experience with sous vide:
Don't you miss that dark, crusty, seared, grilled flavor when it's cooked that way?
Is there a way to get a darker sear with sous vide? Maybe dry it more aggressively somehow before searing? You said by the end of the sous vide it had been sitting in liquid in the bag, so that was one wet piece of meat. Is it hard to get it dry enough to really sear well?
Thanks!

If you like a heavy crust on the meat, simply make the fire hotter, or with flames touching the meat. Or do as many chefs do - torch it. Yes, if you watch some YouTube videos about sous vide cooking, you will see that many, if not most, cooks don't sear on a grill, but use a pan or griddle, or a propane torch. I used a torch once on a piece of meat and it works fine. No negative effects at all. If anything, the torch allow me to sear evenly, including down into low spots and sides. Keep in mind, most sous vide cooks don't have ceramic grills (yet), so they use what is available to them. Chefs like torches because it is a very controlled sear allowing for a perfect appearance. And as we all know, appearance is a major factor in flavor. A perfectly cooked steak can get your palate working overtime before the first bite. I've never thought grill marks were all that important, other than for appearance sake. I'm more interested in the flavor and texture, with less emphasis on grill marks. The food is already cooked, so the searing step is more of an after-thought. Does that mean I'm going to eat something right out of the bag? No... I too want it to 'look' cooked. As for the moisture in the bag, bear in mind that it is the moisture from the meat, not added moisture. Thusly, it not only contains the essence of the meat, but also all the flavors you added to the bag. And, by way of the liquid, all of those flavors will find their way deep into the meat. There's much to read about sous vide cooking. If you are even slightly interested in it, I would strongly suggest you read as much as you can about it. Oh, and I'm still not totally convinced that it is a better method than the Egg for cooking everything, but it definitely makes some things better... And to me, it's just another tool to help me cook something, and hopefully make it turn out better.

Jeepster47 · March 2016

Spring Chicken said:

... There's much to read about sous vide cooking. If you are even slightly interested in it, I would strongly suggest you read as much as you can about it. ...

Do you have a favorite book/web page/forum that you'd recommend?

DMW · March 2016

Jeepster47 said:

Spring Chicken said:

... There's much to read about sous vide cooking. If you are even slightly interested in it, I would strongly suggest you read as much as you can about it. ...

Do you have a favorite book/web page/forum that you'd recommend?

http://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html#Top

Theophan · March 2016

Spring Chicken said:
If you like a heavy crust on the meat, simply make the fire hotter, or with flames touching the meat... I've never thought grill marks were all that important, other than for appearance sake. I'm more interested in the flavor and texture, with less emphasis on grill marks. The food is already cooked, so the searing step is more of an after-thought. Does that mean I'm going to eat something right out of the bag? No... I too want it to 'look' cooked.

I'm with you on grill marks -- don't see the point. But the "maillard reaction" brown stuff, and even a bit of char, don't just change how it looks, but how it tastes! It's a little bit like when you brown a bunch of meat in a skillet and "deglaze" the pan: the whole point is getting all of that rich, dark flavor in the browned stuff on the bottom of the pan into the sauce. To me, a steak is a combination of the luscious sort of mineral-ey flavor of the medium-rare to rare beef on the inside PLUS the dark, crusty, texture and flavor of the crust on the outside. If either of them's missing, it just isn't what I want.

I have to admit I'm getting more interested in sous vide than I ever thought I'd be. I might try it one day. I have to say that I love the idea of cooking over fire so much that I'm resisting trying sous vide. I read Seven Fires, I think it was, by Francis Mallman, and the pictures of that guy just building wood fires outdoors in these gorgeous unspoiled places and cooking in very ancient ways by the fire have an immense appeal to me. I know that cooking over charcoal in a Big Green Egg is really, really different than that, but still, I just love the idea of cooking over fire, whereas cooking in a plastic bag in water just doesn't have the same appeal to me.

I know, I know, I'm a Luddite. I'll probably "take the plunge" (sorry

) one of these days. Thanks for answering my questions!

Mary Queen of Kitchen Gadgets · March 2016

Spring chicken....I'm thinking about doing the sous vide portion of the cooking to a lower temperature (maybe 120 for several hours) and then it can finish on the egg for longer than just a quick sear without getting overdone. I love the charcoal flavor but I also love the texture and consistency of sous vide beef. Do you think there is any merit in this idea?

Theophan, another good source for sous vide info ishttp://www.seriouseats.com/tags/sous vide

Spring Chicken · March 2016

Mary Queen of Kitchen Gadgets said:

Spring chicken....I'm thinking about doing the sous vide portion of the cooking to a lower temperature (maybe 120 for several hours) and then it can finish on the egg for longer than just a quick sear without getting overdone. I love the charcoal flavor but I also love the texture and consistency of sous vide beef. Do you think there is any merit in this idea?
Theophan, another good source for sous vide info ishttp://www.seriouseats.com/tags/sous vide

Before there was sous vide for us Eggheads, there was 'Hot Tubing.' The idea behind Hot Tubing was simple: toss your bag protected steak, frozen or unfrozen, into your near 100° hot-tub and let it float around in the warm water while you got your Egg up to temperature. By then, the internal temperature of the meat would already be 100°, so all you needed to do was bring it up a few degrees to your desired temperature of doneness (somewhere between 127° and 138° or thereabouts). With a little practice you could achieve the perfect sear about the same time the internal temperature reached that temperature. it actually works quite well.

In sous vide cooking, you do not want to cook meat @ below 130° for over four hours due to bacterial issues. Preferably, cook it at above 130° or reduce the sous vide bath time to achieve your doneness level. That's why you should follow recipes closely from reliable sources when cooking anything sous vide.

Actually, following a proven recipe gives you a greater degree of success, the thickness and quality of the meat being the only critical variables.

I like to merge the sous vide cooking with the Egg. In fact, my first cook was a very nice Prime ribeye steak which I seared first on the Egg and then followed with cooking in a sous vide bath. Yes, the complete reverse of pretty much all the Expert's advice. Looking back, it would have turned out much better had I had more experience cooking sous vide. Even so, it turned out quite well. Here's the video: S ous Vide Steak

My suggestion would be to follow some sous vide recipes for a while, then begin your 'tweaking' of the recipe to finish it off on the Egg using your newly acquired sous vide skills with your EGGsperience with the Egg.

Spring "EGGsperience Is A Good Thing - Use It" Chicken
Spring Texas USA

Mary Queen of Kitchen Gadgets · March 2016

Thanks for the great information and advice, Spring chicken. BTW... That Douglas Baldwin link posted above is an excellent resource. http://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html#Top

Theophan · March 2016

Mary Queen of Kitchen Gadgets said:

Spring chicken....I'm thinking about doing the sous vide portion of the cooking to a lower temperature (maybe 120 for several hours) and then it can finish on the egg for longer than just a quick sear without getting overdone....

Mary Queen of Kitchen Gadgets said:

... BTW... That Douglas Baldwin link posted above is an excellent resource. http://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html#Top

About your idea of cooking at 120°, that same link you mentioned says,

... Most food pathogens stop growing by 122°F (50°C), but the common food pathogen Clostridium perfringens can grow at up to 126.1°F (52.3°C). So in sous vide cooking, you usually cook at 130°F (54.4°C) or higher. (You could cook your food at slightly lower temperatures, but it would take you a lot longer to kill the food pathogens.)

In other words, if you cook at 120° sous vide, a dangerous food pathogen can just keep on multiplying and multiplying exponentially the whole time it's in the bath, AND generating a toxin that can poison you even if you later heat the meat hotter than 120!!!

I have to admit, this is one of the things that makes me nervous about sous vide: normal, sensible people can make decisions that seem perfectly reasonable, but they can wind up putting themselves and anyone they serve their food to at risk for dangerous illness. I feel like to do sous vide safely, I'd have to study up on it and really be sure I know what I'm doing. Food poisoning isn't all that common, and you can do everything wrong and be OK a lot of the time. But then one time you're not ok, and maybe your friends and family aren't OK either... I've known some people who had food poisoning and said if they'd had a gun, they would have put themselves out of their misery. <shudder>

HondaHawk · March 2016

I did the same cook last Sunday. Did SV for 12hrs at 131° and seared two minutes each side. Still thinking about it.

Sous Vide Tri-Tip Finished on the Big Green Egg

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