I'm going to cook a Tri-Tip tonight for dinner on my OTG. We like our meat rare to medium rare. About what temperature should I cook the meat before I move it directly over the coals for searing?

Dave, I generally don't go by temp., I go by feel on my tris. However, if I had to guess I'd sear at 120 for rare to med. rare. Then tent for 10 - 15 min.

Don't know if you've done the reverse sear before or not on the OTG but the one tip (no pun intended) I would offer is to open the bottom vents 100% of the way and take the lid off for a couple minutes prior to your sear. This is if you run your OTG like I do for indirect; I close my bottom vents 50% while bringing the tri up to searing temp.

EDIT: PICTURES Dave, major "duh" moment for me. I forgot the tri I did last weekend I ran temp on due to the fact that I cooked it on a new cooker. If memory serves me correctly (I'd had a bit to drink) I seared this one at 125ish. Hope this helps.

Good luck and be sure to share pics.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: LarryR,

Hi Larry, This is my first try at reverse sear. My plan was to leave all the vents open 100% while cooking the meat indirectly until the internal temperature reached around 115 or so(I still can't get the touch test down yet). Then put it over the coals until 120-125, then it rest while I grill the corn.

Do you think the grill will be too hot with all the vents open?

Can't remember exactly why I started closing my bottom vents down to 50% but I think it was due to checking the temp of my kettle one day and was over 400. I like to cook my tris at around 350. I usually do about 2/3 to a full chimney of lit, dump it in my char baskets, put lid on and close my bottom vents down to 50% for 5 minutes or so to let the temp settle in. Then I throw the grate on and place my tri and cook indirect for about 20 min. per side then sear.

My only concern is taking her up 10 degrees during the sear. I sear two minutes each side but have never checked how much of a temp. increase happens during the sear. My first thought is you'd need a longer sear than 2 min. to raise the temp. 10 degrees. Not sure on this though.

Here's a PICTURE of my first try at the reverse sear on a tri using the above method. Turned out great. Oh I almost forgot, I use a single piece of red oak too.

OK Larry, I'll give it a try, thanks.

i do my tri tip indirect till an int temp of 135 deg. wife likes it a bit more to the med side. then i direct grill over hot coals for about a minute or so on each side. then let it rest for at least 10 minutes. i buy the intrimmed ones and wife trims them down a bit but leaves a fat layer. this really crisps up nicely. remember to cut yer tri tip cross grain to get the real soft chew effect. as i like the taste of the meat i smear it with a coat of french's mustard and then rub in kosher salt and crushed pepper. let marinate for about 4 hours or overnight.

oops, i try to cook indirect around the 275 deg mark. higher is ok but not much lower.

I usually just do the touch-test as well. I'm not a big fan of poking a hole in hot meat. I hate watching all those juices flow out. Having the probe in the meat from the start helps minimize this.

I've found that for reverse sear 275-325°F is a good range. Dave your plan of taking to 115 indirect then searing to 120-125 sounds solid. Old school med rare is ~125°, med at ~135°. Newer USDA guidelines call for higher temps for med rare(135-145° IIRC). This IMO, is waay to high. More like a medium (big pink center) on the way to med-well(very little pink). If by med rare you mean warm, RED center, then you don't want to go past 130. I like my meat rare to med rare, my wife likes it closer to medium. For tris, I grill indirect to about 110, foil as I get the grill really hot, then sear direct about a minute and a half on each side or until it feels med-rare (about 123-128). It will carry another couple of degrees with rest. Majority of it turns out MR, the thickest part is rare-ish, the pointy part is medium (for the wife). Let us know what you decide to do and how it turns out.

JP

The one thing I'm missing in my Tri Tip is that sear on the outside. I smoke it rather quickly, but I'm just too lazy to sear it. I serve it sliced and hope noone notices.

Sorry,I forgot to get back to this thread. Thanks to all your tips the meat came out great. I cooked it indirect to 115, then direct to ~125 and let it rest while I grilled the corn. Came out just how I like it. Thanks again.

quote:

Originally posted by Dave L.:
Sorry,I forgot to get back to this thread. Thanks to all your tips the meat came out great. I cooked it indirect to 115, then direct to ~125 and let it rest while I grilled the corn. Came out just how I like it. Thanks again.

Ok, I took mine to 125, and then went direct, that was a mistake. I didn't get near the char and it was way over cooked. I have another I might try, kinda have cold feet over using the WSM for a tip again...but it's only a hunk of meat I 'spose...(what I told myself on the last one ).

Depending on how thick the steaks are, and how hot the coals are, I pull mine at 95-100F for med rare. My med rare (which may be different) is still red all the way through, no pink, but warm/hot.

Then sear for about two minutes each side, maybe a tiny bit longer.

Joe:

Wow, what do you consider rare?

I'm pretty much medium rare with steaks. I rather fault towards rare than well. To me medium rare is 125 pretty much.

The one I did last week I cooked unitl it read 115, then started the sear. After searing it, it read about 135. Next one I'm going to try to keep to 125 or 130 after the sear. Starting the sear at 110 will allow me to develop the crust that I want. Pretty close though it was definitely great, but 5deg or so less at the finish and it would have been perfect. Especially for the reheat on the leftovers.

quote:

Originally posted by James Davis:
Joe:

Wow, what do you consider rare?

If I go past 125 still on the grill I start getting nervous

Not bloodshot and cold red center, but still red and warm/hot. If I see any pink (in the steak! get your head out of the gutter!) at the center then I've gone too far.