I know what you’re thinking; tri-tip is a tender cut, and this is going to overcook it. But no, this will produce some a nicely tender steak and on most flavorful you’re ever going to taste.
Plus, while this requires a pellet-grill or similar smoker, it’s dead easy; it takes a lot of time sitting on its own, but very little time to cook.
Steps:
- Get a a whole tri-tip (usually about 1.25-1.5 lbs); I get them pre-trimmed from Costco, but if they are not pre-trimmed remove any big pieces of hard fat and any silverskin.
- Pat dry and coat with a liberal layer of garlic and pepper.
Do not salt at this stage. - Vacuum-seal it. You can season these and freeze them; it isn’t great for the texture, but it won’t ruin it.
- [First cook]
When ready, sous vide the heck out of it to tenderize – I do 12 hours if fresh, 12-14 if frozen. It’s hard to overdo this. I usually start it before the kids go to bed the night before.- Use a temperature a step lower than the eventual done-ness you want. I go for an eventual 140f medium (my taste, not necessarily yours) and I use a sous vide at the rare-to-medium-rare borderline of 127-130f.
- When done sous viding, cool it in the sous vide bag in an ice bath for a couple of hours. The cooler you get this without re-freezing it, the longer it will get to pick up smoke flavor during the smoke stage.
- After it’s chilled, and about ~4 hours before you want to eat it (lunchtime the day it’s going to be dinner is perfect), remove it from the ice bath, open the sous vide bag, pat dry and salt to taste.
- I don’t tend to be as liberal with salt as with the pepper and garlic, but it’s by eyeball
- [Second cook]
Smoke at low/smokeboost or 200-225f to an internal temperature a little lower than you’re aiming for. I’ll set the alarm for 135f, but usually pull it a little earlier. How long this takes will depend on a lot of stuff, but figure 90 minutes minimum to maybe 3 hours maximum. - Wrap in foil. It’s OK if this sits a while. If you have a cambro or wamer, you can probably use it. Where I’ve misjudged time, you can also do another sous-vide pass or the warm setting in your toaster oven to bring it back up slowly before searing.
- [Third cook]
When ready to eat, use a direct high heat cook to sear and bring it up to eating temperature; I use my pellet grill for it (which is an uncommon one with a direct high heat setting) but it should be fine on any of charcoal/gas grill or in the broiler. You just want as much heat as fast as you can to get a good crust without cooking into it farther. - Serve immediately.