First Reverse Sear Tri Tip

[janetmojo]

Good Morning fellow smokers! I'm still pretty new at this but enjoying every cook! I'm going to do the Meat Church reverse sear tri-tip tomorrow for the 4th and I have the recipe but I'm wondering just of a general loose approximation of timing it takes from putting it on at 225 Super Smoke to it hitting about 115? I'm cooking for company so does this take an hour? Three hours? Obviously I know it differs for everyone but I just need to know kind of general guidelines so we don't end up eating at 9pm??

 

[RayClem]

How big is the tri-tip? That is the major factor.

I have never done a tri-tip, but the cut of meat is not all that critical if you are cooking it like a steak. Tough cuts like chuck roast and eye of round are a different issue entirely.

What is your intended final temperature AFTER reverse searing? Are you shooting for rare, medium rare, medium, etc.? I normally cook my steaks to medium as my wife won't tolerate anything more rare than that, so I typically remove the meat from the Traeger at 225F, allow the meat to cool a little, and then sear to a final internal temp of 140F. If you want to go for rare or medium rare, then removing the beef from the Traeger at 115F is fine.

Start the cook at 225F (actual measured temperature, not the temperature shown on the Traeger controller). Check the internal temp periodically. If it looks like the cook is taking too long, boost the cook temp up by 50F. That will speed up the cooking process. If it seems to be going to quickly, just pull it off when it reaches your target temp, wrap it in foil, and wait until 30 minutes before feast time before searing it. Always allow a few minutes after cooking for the meat to rest before serving.

 

[janetmojo]

Thanks for the tips, it wasn't very big (which I might change if I do one again.) At 225 degrees it hit 115 in about 45 mins, it was so quick I thought it might be wrong so I double temp checked it. It did end up resting a good while before searing since it went so quick. Next time I might get a bigger and slightly better quality of one, the think end had a significant amount of fat in the piece (I had trimmed the outside fat) but maybe they are just like that. I wanted to do something smallish for our small crowd yesterday. All cleaned out and put away until next week's smoke

 

[RayClem]

How did it turn out? On future cooks, try to get photos. We love photos.

 

[DarienJim]

Tritips are an awesome cut to smoke. I always do several at one time as they go fast.

Make sure you carve it properly due to the two different directions of the muscles.

 

[midwest]

When I trim mine I do them similar to a brisket. I take all the fat off the top and on the bottom I leave a fat cap about 1/4 inch. The only place around me to get them is a small local butcher shop and they leave quite a bit of fat on them. I prefer them that way to custom trim. People seem to love the taste from the small fat cap on the bottom.