Tri-Tip Sous Vide

[T.G]

Mark, I cook tri-tip sous vide for 4.5-6 hours at 131 then sear on my Santa Maria grill over oak for about 3-4 minutes per side for each of the four or five sides (depends how it trims out) and end up at the high end of medium rare, a little juice leakage, but not much. If I had to guess for my arrangement, I'd say shoot for a few degrees under textbook medium temps, so maybe 138.

I also stopped putting salt on the meat when it goes in the bag. I only add salt before the sear. I've never done two bags at the same time, one with and one without, to compare, but what I remember, I think the ones without salt seem to have less juice in the bag when finished. This might play a factor in how much leakage you get when you cut the final product, or it might not.

Maybe the cast iron will be a bit different than the santa maria pit. Not sure, I've never used cast iron on tri tip.

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This cut was just shy of 3 lbs, cooked 5 hrs at 131F, no salt. Then seared on the santa maria pit. What you see on the cutting board is all the juice it gave up. I'd call it the high end of medium rare.



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Hope that helps some.

[CigarNut]

Originally Posted by T.G

Mark, I cook tri-tip sous vide for 4.5-6 hours at 131 then sear on my Santa Maria grill over oak for about 3-4 minutes per side for each of the four or five sides (depends how it trims out) and end up at the high end of medium rare, a little juice leakage, but not much. If I had to guess for my arrangement, I'd say shoot for a few degrees under textbook medium temps, so maybe 138.

I also stopped putting salt on the meat when it goes in the bag. I only add salt before the sear. I've never done two bags at the same time, one with and one without, to compare, but what I remember, I think the ones without salt seem to have less juice in the bag when finished. This might play a factor in how much leakage you get when you cut the final product, or it might not.

Maybe the cast iron will be a bit different than the santa maria pit. Not sure, I've never used cast iron on tri tip.




Hope that helps some.

I have to echo this -- on the three long cooks I have done the two with salt resulted in drier meat.

Like Adam, I only put the salt on before the sear.

For the shorter cooks, like steak, I do use salt -- but less than I would use for the grill - in the bag.