Dry aged tri-tip anyone?

[Salmonsmoker]

The local Cash and Carry was running a special on tri-tip @ $2.69/lb, so I just had to stock up. It's untrimmed, but even after trimming the actual cost is still less than $4/lb. There were 5 tips in one pack and 4 in the other. I'd been thinking in the cobweb packed reccesses of my mind, that since the whole rib eye would be done dry aging there'd be room to try some tri-tips.

I decided to use the UMAi brisket bag which is their largest, to get several tri's in one bag. Getting the meat in the bag without "juicing" up the bag entry can be trying, so I came up with this idea of using a pizza peel. It keeps the meat off the bottom of the bag and you hold the top open with your other hand. Once inside the bag hold the meat in place from the outside of the bag and slide the peel out. The peel works here because the bag is big enough. One could have a peel or similar instrument for every size of bag.

The bag is so big I managed to get 4 tri's in it.

Got a good seal on the bag and the new project is in the fridge. 28 days and counting.

 

[muebe]

I will be watching this!

 

[scooter]

They appear to be laying one on another in the bag. Aren't they supposed to not be touching so you get even aeration all around each TT?
I love experiments!

 

[Harvison]

Lots of this seems to be going on. It must be worth the wait.

 

[Salmonsmoker]

They appear to be laying one on another in the bag. Aren't they supposed to not be touching so you get even aeration all around each TT?
I love experiments!

I had them squeezed together while I was getting the bag vacuumed and sealed. After doing that I was able to slide the tri's apart. They're just barely touching now. After some moisture loss and shrinkage they'll be separate.

 

[RickB]

Interesting choice of meat. I would imagine those are going to be a bear to trim. Also, a few articles I read before trying this recommended not to use select grade meat. Let us know how it goes.

 

[Salmonsmoker]

Interesting choice of meat. I would imagine those are going to be a bear to trim. Also, a few articles I read before trying this recommended not to use select grade meat. Let us know how it goes.

Rick,
My thinking is that the dry age process will tenderize the select grade enough to make it "act" like a higher grade of meat. With tri-tip @ $7.00/lb at Costco and this @ $2.69 I thought like Scooter, that it would be worth an experiment. If it doesn't pan out I will grind them up and make some "dry aged" sausage. I'll let you know how the trimming goes.

 

[Kite]

This thread seems to have died wihout a conclusion - SS, how did it turn out? I have been thinking about doing this dry aged thing for some time now, just haven't pulled the trigger. I'll make you a deal - you have my wife and I over for some dry aged beef and I'll bring my keg along. I have a recipe that I have found that I absolutely love (fair warning - it's a dark one)!!! I am on my second batch.. I changed up the yeast on this one and it is even better than the first batch.

 

[TentHunter]

How can you go wrong giving this a try at $2.69 a pound.

I would absolutely LOVE to get my hands on a pack or two of those at that price. Around here Tri-tip, when you can find it, goes for $6.99 - $7.99/lb.

 

[Kite]

Cash and Carry is the little known "Costco" around here. They don't generally have the quality of Costco (as shown by the "Select" grade on Jim's Tritips - I don't think I have ever seen a Prime there, but they usually have Choice and Select to pick from), but you can get some SCREAMIN' deals on bulk stuff. AND they carry Bear Mountain pellets for dirt cheap!

 

[Salmonsmoker]

Thanks for the reminder Kite, I completely forgot I was going to do that. I'll post my observations later today if I can get the time.

 

[scooter]

SS, another question, I made an assumption earlier that the pic you showed below was the "before" pic and that your next move would have been to remove all the air from the bag so that the bag was in contact with the meat everywhere. I've used Drysteak bags and they instruct for the process to work all the air must be removed from the bag so the bag is in contact with the meat.
Only asking because you said with the pic below that you got a good seal but I see lots of air in the bag. Did you remove all that air with the vacuum sealer then seal it? The Drybags only work, according to the people who make them, if there is no air in the bag and all the meat surface is in contact with the drybag.

 

[Salmonsmoker]

SS, another question, I made an assumption earlier that the pic you showed below was the "before" pic and that your next move would have been to remove all the air from the bag so that the bag was in contact with the meat everywhere. I've used Drysteak bags and they instruct for the process to work all the air must be removed from the bag so the bag is in contact with the meat.
Only asking because you said with the pic below that you got a good seal but I see lots of air in the bag. Did you remove all that air with the vacuum sealer then seal it? The Drybags only work, according to the people who make them, if there is no air in the bag and all the meat surface is in contact with the dry bag.

Roger that scooter, the picture was pre-vacuum with the diagonal corner sealed.

I decided to go 21 days on curing because I didn't want to loose too much to trimming, as tri-tips are kind of thin. I left the fat cap on also. These were select grade, untrimmed(unlike Costco) from Cash and Carry.
Out of the dry bag after 21 days. Has a nice aged fat/beef aroma.

The fat cap gets hard from dry curing and all but peeled of completely, with very little knife action. I did a little trimming on the other three sides- about 1/8". Pretty quick work.

The thinking behind this experiment was that, with the cost of tri's at Costco @ $7/lb, to see if dry aging w/untrimmed select grade tri's at Cash & Carry @ $2.79 or what ever it was, after aging and trimming(weight cost ended up being around $3.68/lb) produced a comparable product at half the cost.
Conclusion: The roast was nice and tender and juicy, but the lack of intramuscular fat of the select grade put the flavor at good, not outstanding.

Since I did this experiment, Costco's cryovac tri-tip packs dropped to near the final cost @ C&C. When I need to buy TT's again, if the price is still down at Costco, I'd give the choice grade a try at dry aging. I won't do the select again.

 

[RickB]

I was afraid of this. I just will not buy select grade meat no matter what the cost. A large grocer in my area named Kroger sells select meat almost exclusively. Unless they have a special with choice I will not buy their meat. Thanks for trying and the feedback.

 

[Pappymn]

Nice report. Wish my Costco carried cryo tri tip.

 

[scooter]

For those that may not know this, if a particular chain only sells "Select" meat, it still pays to regularly cruise through their meat section to check for "Choice" amongst the select. What happens with these chains is they'll put in an order with the meat packer for X amount of pounds of Select. If the meat packer doesn't have enough Select to fill the order, they will fill the remainder of the order with Choice. It just depends on what the meat packer has on hand when filling out the order.
I cruise through my 2 local Smart & Finals checking through the brisket case looking for Choice. Sometimes there's no Choice, sometimes it's all Choice but most often it's some percentage of one or the other. Either way, the Choice will be priced the same as the Select.
It pays to cruise the meat depts of the places that only offer Select. There are gems mixed in amongst the rocks!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk while driving one handed!

 

[Salmonsmoker]

For those that may not know this, if a particular chain only sells "Select" meat, it still pays to regularly cruise through their meat section to check for "Choice" amongst the select. What happens with these chains is they'll put in an order with the meat packer for X amount of pounds of Select. If the meat packer doesn't have enough Select to fill the order, they will fill the remainder of the order with Choice. It just depends on what the meat packer has on hand when filling out the order.
I cruise through my 2 local Smart & Finals checking through the brisket case looking for Choice. Sometimes there's no Choice, sometimes it's all Choice but most often it's some percentage of one or the other. Either way, the Choice will be priced the same as the Select.
It pays to cruise the meat depts of the places that only offer Select. There are gems mixed in amongst the rocks!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk while driving one handed!

For those near a Cash and Carry, they do carry Star Ranch beef also, and that is mostly choice grade. The whole ribeye that I dry cured before doing the tri's was from SR and the steaks are very good.

 

[Kite]

This has been a really great thread - thank you SS and scooter!

 

[TentHunter]

This has been a really great thread - thank you SS and scooter!

Agreed! X2

 

[Salmonsmoker]

Nice report. Wish my Costco carried cryo tri tip.

Pappymn, I just remembered that years ago you could buy meat at Costco by the case and they had the case prices listed on the wall above the meat display coolers. I'm sure they still do that, just don't have the case price on display. I used to buy tri-tip by the case as I've always had a big freezer. I think a case is 50-70 lbs. and have somewhere between 12-15 tri's per case. They're untrimmed, but it's a quick trim. If you've got the freezer space, the case price/lb is a lot lower.