Just got my first smoker

[jfkbengals]

(01-31-2021, 01:14 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: What's the benefit of smoking a piece of meat like tri tip? It seems like a cut of meat like tri tip would benefit most from a good sear and hot grill. 

I believe the traditional Santa Maria cooking method is a low and slow, which is why I wanted to try it.  I think it was burried in a pit for that method.

I have always grilled it in the past, but not at a high heat as it can get tough that way.  A quick sear on the outside, then low temp for the remainder.  The last few times I cooked it in a sous vide at 120, then through it onto a stupid hot grill to sear the outside with nice results.

(01-31-2021, 04:09 PM)michaelsean Wrote: Is tri tip a fairly new cut of meat like the flat iron steak?  I swear I never heard of it a year ago and now I hear about it all the time.  Seemed to come around about the same time as reverse searing became all the rage

No, it has been around forever.  There are only 2 pieces per cow, and outside of the West Coast, butchers weren't cutting it off of the remainder of the primal cut and selling it.  So for much of the US it would end up going into ground beef.  It used to be cheap on the West Coast, but thanks to it's popularity growing around the remainder of the country, it is getting pricier to meet the demand, despite the increase in supply.