Tips & Techniques: Sous-vide Tri-tip

Name: Tips & Techniques: Sous-vide Tri-tip
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 6 h 10 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 whole tri-tip roast; Cattleman’s Grill Smoky Chipotle Coffee Steak Rub; 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

By Tom Jackson
Aug 14, 2015

Tips & Techniques: Sous-vide Tri-tip Recipe

Recipe Items

Though the sous-vide technique was first developed over 40 years ago, it has only recently made its mainstream debut. Chefs in quality restaurants have long used this technique, and now sous-vide machines are becoming much more available to the general public. The idea is simple, really. Food is vacuum sealed in a bag and submerged in circulating water in which the temperature is precisely controlled.

Tips & Techniques: Sous Vide Tri-tip

Ingredients

1 whole tri-tip roast
Cattleman’s Grill Smoky Chipotle Coffee Steak Rub
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Instructions

Trim your tri-tip roast, as desired. Rub the Worcestershire all over the roast. Season all sides liberally with Cattleman’s Grill Smoky Chipotle Coffee Steak Rub. Place the tri-tip in a VacMaster vacuum pouch. Vacuum seal the pouch.

Preheat your sous vide container, setting it to 132°F (56°C) and the timer to 6 hours. When the water has come to temperature, place the vacuum sealed tri-tip in the water.

As you near the end of the six-hour period, preheat your grill/smoker. You’ll want it very hot. We’ll be using the SIZZLE ZONE side sear burner on the Napoleon Prestige P500 RSIB. If you’re using your Yoder Smoker, preheat your GrillGrates over direct flame at 500°F+.

When the timer indicated that the six-hour period is over remove the bag from the water, and the tri-tip from the bag. The internal temperature should be just about 130°F. Transfer the tri-tip to your grill and sear on both sides, just long enough to achieve nice grill marks.

Rest the meat 10 minutes. Slice thin, against the grain, to serve.

So why sous-vide? There are multiple advantages to sous-vide cooking. First, your food will not be overcooked. We often tell people that if there is one thing that will drastically, and consistently, improve your food it’s cooking your food to the proper doneness, which we monitor by checking its internal temperature. By setting your water temperature near the desired finishing internal temperature you can avoid overcooking your meat. The other big advantage to cooking sous-vide is moisture retention. With most cooking techniques there is a sizable loss in liquid weight. With the meat vacuum sealed in a bag the liquid has nowhere to go. Liquid equals flavor, so retaining that liquid is good!

Why are grilling, smoking and barbecue fans hopping on the sous-vide bandwagon? When combining smoke or high heat searing with the advantages of sous-vide cooking you get the best of both worlds – a perfectly cooked piece of meat with the smoke or char flavors you love. There are variables to play with (time and temperature), but this tri-tip recipe is a great jumping off point. It’s simple, but will allow you to experience what sous-vide is all about.