Tri-Tip Sous Vide and Finished On The Egg - FANTASTIC!

Spring Chicken · December 2016

I'm really taking a liking to Tri-Tip's now that I know what the sous vide process does to them.

This one was sous vide for a little over 4 hours @ 130° and seared two minutes a side on the Mini-Max and Grill-Grate.

It was buttery tender, dripping moist, millionaire tasty and I'll be doing it again and again and again because it gives new meaning to the "WOW!" factor.

Here are a few photos.

Trimmed of fat

Tried Montreal Steak Seasoning this time. Nothing else.

Just out of the sous vide

Resting from the Sear

Slice with a dull knife

If you're thinking about a Sous Vide cooker for Christmas, you won't be disappointed. And the price for one has never been lower. Go for it...

Spring "Combining The Science Of Sous Vide Cooking With The Magic Of The Egg" Chicken
Spring Texas USA

EggDan · December 2016

Nice cook! I actually took advantage of the Amazon sales and picked up one.

Question on the total time that it was in the bath. Does it take 4 hours to reach 130, or is there another benefit for holding it at that temperature for a prolonged time period?

Spring Chicken · December 2016

EggDan said:

Question on the total time that it was in the bath. Does it take 4 hours to reach 130, or is there another benefit for holding it at that temperature for a prolonged time period?

Thanks Dan. Before you dive into sous vide cooking, I would strongly suggest you read a lot about it. It's definitely not for everyone. But once you understand the science behind it, you will appreciate it for what it is - just another form of cooking.

That being said, the 130° was a constant for the entire time. The beauty of it is that the meat will never go above 130° as long as it is in the 130° water. However, there are optimum times and temperatures for everything you cook this way. I probably could have had the same results for this cook after only 2 hours.

The thicker and tougher the meat, generally requires longer times or higher temperatures or combinations of both in order to achieve a complete cook through and through. But also long enough to break down the connective tissues, etc in the meat to make it tender.

I never liked Tri-Tips because it's considered a 'chewy' meat. Well, the 'chewy' is no longer a factor using the sous vide method. And the flavor is outstanding.

By the way, I could have finished (just to make the meat pretty) the Tri-Tip in a hot pan, using a torch or grilled. Being an Egghead, I like to Egg sear it. But searing only takes a couple of minutes. After all, the meat is already at the desired serving temperature. In this case, 130°.

You won't regret purchasing a sous vide cooker, but again, I strongly urge you to read up on it first, and maybe watch a few videos on YouTube.

Good luck with your decision.

Spring "If I've Gotta Eat, Eat Well" Chicken

Little Steven · December 2016

EggDan said:

Nice cook! I actually took advantage of the Amazon sales and picked up one.

Question on the total time that it was in the bath. Does it take 4 hours to reach 130, or is there another benefit for holding it at that temperature for a prolonged time period?

No it's not about reaching a temp, it's holding it at a low-ish temp for a long time to tenderize the meat.

Sweet100s · December 2016

Seconded - great pairing of tools.

The step I've added: (Objective - to make it taste more "egg'd" - with more smoke / BBQ flavor)

Sous vide the night before. Put in fridge overnight (or up to 2 days I've done.)

Then, smoke it to 110 and sear it.

I find no need to take it to beyond 110 before searing because it's already been to 133 during Sous Vide, and I definitely don't want to go beyond that temp.

smbishop · December 2016

Love Tri-tip! Can't wait to try it out sous vide! Left over sous vide prime rib sliced and ready for French Dip sandwiches for lunch today.

platypusrex · December 2016

Looks great! Couple of questions:

-Which brand did you get? Some of the reviews of the top selling/#1 rated Anova on Amazon indicate several folks had problems around the 15 month mark. Overall it has great reviews though.

-If I want to set it up to cook during the day so I can sear it when we get home from work, is it safe to put steaks from the fridge into the pot of water before we leave for work, and set it to kick off around noon or whenever? Or best to freeze them, and add an hour or so to the cook time?

Thanks!

Brisket_Fanatic · December 2016

Looks wonderful!

caliking · December 2016

Now that looks good!

Where did you find tri-tip? Only place I've seen it consistently is at Costco, but am yet to try it.

Judy Mayberry · December 2016

Ashish...try one without hesitation. The chewiness varies from roast to roast, and sous vide makes it into wonderful tender deliciousness. At least it has for Spring Chicken and me.

I always cut the roast in half to cook, and freeze the other half uncooked, so that I don't have leftovers for several days. Just two of us.

Spring Chicken · December 2016

platypusrex said:

Looks great! Couple of questions:

-Which brand did you get? Some of the reviews of the top selling/#1 rated Anova on Amazon indicate several folks had problems around the 15 month mark. Overall it has great reviews though.

-If I want to set it up to cook during the day so I can sear it when we get home from work, is it safe to put steaks from the fridge into the pot of water before we leave for work, and set it to kick off around noon or whenever? Or best to freeze them, and add an hour or so to the cook time?

Thanks!

Thanks.

I bought the Sansonaire a couple of years ago when the retail price was $299. I bought mine through Sur la Table because they were having a sale that took it down to about $260 with free shipping. No problems with it at all and I use it frequently, a few times for 48 and 72 hour cooks.

There are some 'yes' and 'no' answers to your question about cooking while you are at work. For one thing, your commute could be at least an hour each way bringing the minimum time for monitoring your cook to at least 10 hours.

A steak doesn't need 10 hours. In fact, an average size 1" thick steak could be ready to sear after one hour. Two hours would be better. And three hours would be about the max time you would actually want to take it to. Anything over that is basically just keeping it warm, with some slight quality loss (probably not noticeable) after that. Even if you put it in the water frozen, it only takes about 30 minutes to thaw in say a 125° sous vide bath. That's between Rare and Medium Rare.

But there's another issue, pasteurization. The funkies in meat need to be killed off either by heat and time, usually a combination of the two. You can quickly sear the outside of a cut of meat with the center still being uncooked. We see it all the time and all of us are guilty of it. So in order to get that red/pink cooked in the center, you have to apply heat long enough to work its way to the center, but without over-cooking the outside. That's pretty basic.

By placing your steak in room temperature water to come on with a timer later won't work as you described. At room temperature (depending on the room) the steak will, at best, only stay safe for a maximum of about 4 hours. Under your schedule, it would already be spoiled by the time you were eating lunch at work.

I strongly suggest you read everything you can about sous vide cooking before you try cooking on your own schedule. There are many charts out there that show the times necessary to cook something. There's a reason for those charts. I've been cooking sous vide style for over a year and I would never think of cooking something without referring to the charts first.

Just saying.

Spring "Chart A Sous Vide Course" Chicken
Spring Texas USA

Spring Chicken · December 2016

caliking said:

Now that looks good!

Where did you find tri-tip? Only place I've seen it consistently is at Costco, but am yet to try it.

I think the last three I bought were from Kroger. All were good. But my store doesn't always have them, and when they do, there's only one or two in the case. You might ask the butcher at H.E.B. if they have any in the back or can cut you one.

Spring "Its Hard To Find A Tri-Tip In A Store Stack" Chicken

SoCalTim · December 2016

Spring Chicken this post comes at a perfect time for me. I just bought & did my first sous vide tri tip cook today.

I found my results mixed.

Non sous vide cooks are 275 degrees (on the egg) & finish @ 129 degrees, then reverse sear - finish temp is a PERFECT 140, that 140 degrees is my sweet spot.

That being said, I sous vide today's tri tip to 133 (for 2 hrs) then reversed sear the tip on my Grill-grates (I flipped them and used the smooth side).

Visually, the tri tip was magic but, once i cut into it I found excessive pink (not to my liking) so once I finished cutting the tip, I returned the pieces to the GG's for a quick hit.

Question, where did I go wrong? Should I have finished the sous vide @ 140?

Any thoughts? Tim

maso · December 2016

@SoCalTim I don't have a sous vide but here's how my mind works.

Youre cooking at 275 in the egg. This is your intertia for heat transfer. The point you pull the steak it's thermal inertia is going to carry the steak to a higher IT and then a sear to finish it off at 140 which you like.

With sous vide you you have basically no inertia in the cook once it hits the water temp. So as you pull it out it's going to start cooling as opposed to still cooking with the egg. The sear then doesn't add much in either case.

It it sounds like you would want to cook sous vide to a higher IT first.

GATraveller · December 2016

I've enjoyed watching the chef steps videos on YouTube.

I have an immersion circulator on my Christmas list.

caliking · December 2016

Spring Chicken said:

caliking said:

Now that looks good!

Where did you find tri-tip? Only place I've seen it consistently is at Costco, but am yet to try it.

I think the last three I bought were from Kroger. All were good. But my store doesn't always have them, and when they do, there's only one or two in the case. You might ask the butcher at H.E.B. if they have any in the back or can cut you one.

Spring "Its Hard To Find A Tri-Tip In A Store Stack" Chicken

Thanks. I live close to both a Kroger and HEB. I'll keep an eye out for tri-tip next time I'm shopping.

Spring Chicken · December 2016

SoCalTim said:

Spring Chicken this post comes at a perfect time for me. I just bought & did my first sous vide tri tip cook today.

I found my results mixed.

Non sous vide cooks are 275 degrees (on the egg) & finish @ 129 degrees, then reverse sear - finish temp is a PERFECT 140, that 140 degrees is my sweet spot.

That being said, I sous vide today's tri tip to 133 (for 2 hrs) then reversed sear the tip on my Grill-grates (I flipped them and used the smooth side).

Visually, the tri tip was magic but, once i cut into it I found excessive pink (not to my liking) so once I finished cutting the tip, I returned the pieces to the GG's for a quick hit.

Question, where did I go wrong? Should I have finished the sous vide @ 140?

Any thoughts? Tim

If you want to serve it at 140° you should sous vide it at 140°. The brief sear shortly after the sous vide is too fast to impart any further cooking inside the meat. Even if you sous vide 3 hours or 4 hours, this fact does not change. It will still be 140° when it comes out of the sous vide bath.

This is a significant attraction to sous vide cooking. You can cook to serving temperature and not worry too much about the serving time. Just leave the meat in the sous vide. When your guests are ready to eat, remove the meat from the sous vide and sear it. Your guests will be amazed at how quickly you cooked the meat to perfection.

Spring "Hey Kids, What Time Is It? It's Really Goody Searing Time" Chicken
Spring Texas USA

SoCalTim · December 2016

Spring Chicken said:

SoCalTim said:

Spring Chicken this post comes at a perfect time for me. I just bought & did my first sous vide tri tip cook today.

I found my results mixed.

Non sous vide cooks are 275 degrees (on the egg) & finish @ 129 degrees, then reverse sear - finish temp is a PERFECT 140, that 140 degrees is my sweet spot.

That being said, I sous vide today's tri tip to 133 (for 2 hrs) then reversed sear the tip on my Grill-grates (I flipped them and used the smooth side).

Visually, the tri tip was magic but, once i cut into it I found excessive pink (not to my liking) so once I finished cutting the tip, I returned the pieces to the GG's for a quick hit.

Question, where did I go wrong? Should I have finished the sous vide @ 140?

Any thoughts? Tim

If you want to serve it at 140° you should sous vide it at 140°. The brief sear shortly after the sous vide is too fast to impart any further cooking inside the meat. Even if you sous vide 3 hours or 4 hours, this fact does not change. It will still be 140° when it comes out of the sous vide bath.

This is a significant attraction to sous vide cooking. You can cook to serving temperature and not worry too much about the serving time. Just leave the meat in the sous vide. When your guests are ready to eat, remove the meat from the sous vide and sear it. Your guests will be amazed at how quickly you cooked the meat to perfection.

Spring "Hey Kids, What Time Is It? It's Really Goody Searing Time" Chicken
Spring Texas USA

Thank You! I'm gonna file this under "lesson's learned' .. I'll nail the next one!

Photo Egg · December 2016

Spring Chicken said:

SoCalTim said:

Spring Chicken this post comes at a perfect time for me. I just bought & did my first sous vide tri tip cook today.

I found my results mixed.

Non sous vide cooks are 275 degrees (on the egg) & finish @ 129 degrees, then reverse sear - finish temp is a PERFECT 140, that 140 degrees is my sweet spot.

That being said, I sous vide today's tri tip to 133 (for 2 hrs) then reversed sear the tip on my Grill-grates (I flipped them and used the smooth side).

Visually, the tri tip was magic but, once i cut into it I found excessive pink (not to my liking) so once I finished cutting the tip, I returned the pieces to the GG's for a quick hit.

Question, where did I go wrong? Should I have finished the sous vide @ 140?

Any thoughts? Tim

If you want to serve it at 140° you should sous vide it at 140°. The brief sear shortly after the sous vide is too fast to impart any further cooking inside the meat. Even if you sous vide 3 hours or 4 hours, this fact does not change. It will still be 140° when it comes out of the sous vide bath.

This is a significant attraction to sous vide cooking. You can cook to serving temperature and not worry too much about the serving time. Just leave the meat in the sous vide. When your guests are ready to eat, remove the meat from the sous vide and sear it. Your guests will be amazed at how quickly you cooked the meat to perfection.

Spring "Hey Kids, What Time Is It? It's Really Goody Searing Time" Chicken
Spring Texas USA

Tim, not to hijack this, but what was your internal temp after 2 hour in the SV at 133? Just wondering, if by chance, 2 hours was not long enough to get your internal to 133?
I'm with you, I do like my tri-tip to finish closer to 140 as well. To me, the texture is better, not as mushy.
What was your finished temp after the sear?
I have seen some of your past tri-tip cooks and you have some nice sized tips. They might need a little more time in the SV as well as a slightly higher temp as Leroy suggested above.

tikigriller · December 2016

Well I now know not only what is for dinner Wednesday Night, but how I am going to break in the sous Vide cooker now!!

This is either going to be really awesome, or a one and done for me. I won mine, and I am not a big fan of rare meat, which seems is what the Sous Vide specializes in. That may be totally wrong, but It is what my brain is saying anyways.

SoCalTim · December 2016

Photo Egg said:

Spring Chicken said:

SoCalTim said:

Spring Chicken this post comes at a perfect time for me. I just bought & did my first sous vide tri tip cook today.

I found my results mixed.

Non sous vide cooks are 275 degrees (on the egg) & finish @ 129 degrees, then reverse sear - finish temp is a PERFECT 140, that 140 degrees is my sweet spot.

That being said, I sous vide today's tri tip to 133 (for 2 hrs) then reversed sear the tip on my Grill-grates (I flipped them and used the smooth side).

Visually, the tri tip was magic but, once i cut into it I found excessive pink (not to my liking) so once I finished cutting the tip, I returned the pieces to the GG's for a quick hit.

Question, where did I go wrong? Should I have finished the sous vide @ 140?

Any thoughts? Tim

If you want to serve it at 140° you should sous vide it at 140°. The brief sear shortly after the sous vide is too fast to impart any further cooking inside the meat. Even if you sous vide 3 hours or 4 hours, this fact does not change. It will still be 140° when it comes out of the sous vide bath.

This is a significant attraction to sous vide cooking. You can cook to serving temperature and not worry too much about the serving time. Just leave the meat in the sous vide. When your guests are ready to eat, remove the meat from the sous vide and sear it. Your guests will be amazed at how quickly you cooked the meat to perfection.

Spring "Hey Kids, What Time Is It? It's Really Goody Searing Time" Chicken
Spring Texas USA

Tim, not to hijack this, but what was your internal temp after 2 hour in the SV at 133? Just wondering, if by chance, 2 hours was not long enough to get your internal to 133?
I'm with you, I do like my tri-tip to finish closer to 140 as well. To me, the texture is better, not as mushy.
What was your finished temp after the sear?
I have seen some of your past tri-tip cooks and you have some nice sized tips. They might need a little more time in the SV as well as a slightly higher temp as Leroy suggested above.

Hi Darian, I'm new to SV cooking, I literally had no idea what I was doing. The tri tip was in a sealed vacuum bag so I had no way to check IT temp - next time I'll use resealable bag so I can check IT on meat. I also forgot to check final temp after sear - rookie mistake.

Photo Egg · December 2016

SoCalTim said:

Photo Egg said:

Spring Chicken said:

SoCalTim said:

Spring Chicken this post comes at a perfect time for me. I just bought & did my first sous vide tri tip cook today.

I found my results mixed.

Non sous vide cooks are 275 degrees (on the egg) & finish @ 129 degrees, then reverse sear - finish temp is a PERFECT 140, that 140 degrees is my sweet spot.

That being said, I sous vide today's tri tip to 133 (for 2 hrs) then reversed sear the tip on my Grill-grates (I flipped them and used the smooth side).

Visually, the tri tip was magic but, once i cut into it I found excessive pink (not to my liking) so once I finished cutting the tip, I returned the pieces to the GG's for a quick hit.

Question, where did I go wrong? Should I have finished the sous vide @ 140?

Any thoughts? Tim

If you want to serve it at 140° you should sous vide it at 140°. The brief sear shortly after the sous vide is too fast to impart any further cooking inside the meat. Even if you sous vide 3 hours or 4 hours, this fact does not change. It will still be 140° when it comes out of the sous vide bath.

This is a significant attraction to sous vide cooking. You can cook to serving temperature and not worry too much about the serving time. Just leave the meat in the sous vide. When your guests are ready to eat, remove the meat from the sous vide and sear it. Your guests will be amazed at how quickly you cooked the meat to perfection.

Spring "Hey Kids, What Time Is It? It's Really Goody Searing Time" Chicken
Spring Texas USA

Tim, not to hijack this, but what was your internal temp after 2 hour in the SV at 133? Just wondering, if by chance, 2 hours was not long enough to get your internal to 133?
I'm with you, I do like my tri-tip to finish closer to 140 as well. To me, the texture is better, not as mushy.
What was your finished temp after the sear?
I have seen some of your past tri-tip cooks and you have some nice sized tips. They might need a little more time in the SV as well as a slightly higher temp as Leroy suggested above.

Hi Darian, I'm new to SV cooking, I literally had no idea what I was doing. The tri tip was in a sealed vacuum bag so I had no way to check IT temp - next time I'll use resealable bag so I can check IT on meat. I also forgot to check final temp after sear - rookie mistake.

I'm as new to this as you are buddy. I do check my internal when I take it out of the SV. I also SV in foodsaver style bags, like you do. Just thinking that maybe a thicker tri tip, going into the bath cold, mid to low 30's, might not have reached 133 degrees in the SV in 2 hours. Just a thought.
As Leroy posted above, once you get your internal dialed in with SV, followed with a short rest, and a good sear, you will be good to go as your internal will not carry over 140 with a quick sear. I know your Grillgrates are Sear Monsters...lol...perfect for finishing off a SV cook.

Photo Egg · December 2016

caliking said:

Spring Chicken said:

caliking said:

Now that looks good!

Where did you find tri-tip? Only place I've seen it consistently is at Costco, but am yet to try it.

I think the last three I bought were from Kroger. All were good. But my store doesn't always have them, and when they do, there's only one or two in the case. You might ask the butcher at H.E.B. if they have any in the back or can cut you one.

Spring "Its Hard To Find A Tri-Tip In A Store Stack" Chicken

Thanks. I live close to both a Kroger and HEB. I'll keep an eye out for tri-tip next time I'm shopping.

The H.E.B. near 646 normally has tri tip on the shelf, but not many. You have to look close as most of the time they are not shaped like the pretty tri tip you see on this forum. They blend in with the small roast selection. When I see a nice one I grab it, take it home and foodsaver it.
I have also found good ones at times shopping Fiesta Grocery Stores working my way home from Houston.
The best ones I have found in the area are at Costco when they carry them.
The next best is Restaurant Depot. But last time I had to buy a case and they were not trimmed, but they were nice Choice grade and they were cheap.

Tri-Tip Sous Vide and Finished On The Egg - FANTASTIC!

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