How to hold Tri-tip all day without degradation (sous vide?)

Lower the food cost? you're talking about a product that costs $2-3 /lb.

That product is the lowering food cost aspect of it.

That seems like a lot of work to serve tri tip, do you have access to try this method out?

I use tri tip regularly for sands, the trick is to be constantly cooking new, letting it rest then serve.

If I came to Santa Maria for a tri tip sand, I'm expecting something cooked over wood or charcoal, no sous vide.

Squirrel, don't know where your getting tri tip for $2-3 lb, here best I can do is around $5 for choice, peeled.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chefbuba 

 

Squirrel, don't know where your getting tri tip for $2-3 lb, here best I can do is around $5 for choice, peeled.

Just paid $3.28 /lb last week.

That's choice, untrimmed meat.

Having cooked many a Santa Maria Tri-tip for lunch and dinner service, I believe you will be greatly disappointed in the sous vide approach.

If you have a reasonable handle on your target service, it should not be difficult to stage the tri-tips on the grill for sandwich or plate service.

For the way I cook them, it takes 40-45 minutes over an oak bark fire for each tri-tip for medium rare, 10-15 minutes resting. At 2 1/2 lbs. (40 ounces) and a 20% weight & trim loss, that's eight, 4 ounce servings per tri-tip so if you put one on every five minutes, you can serve one serving every 37.5 seconds.

Calculate your servings per five minute interval, divide by 8 (or whatever works for your serving size and raw weight), and that is the number of tri-tips that go on the grill every five minutes, starting 55-60 minutes in advance of service, and ending 45 minutes before the end of service.

As a final thought, Santa Maria and the Central Coast must have certainly changed in the last 5-10 years if there are no restaurants selling good tri-tip, maybe they've all moved to the Central Valley They were a dime a dozen when I lived in the area for over twelve years and visited regularly through the 1990s.
 

It's not sounding like you've cooked many tri-tips pver a live oak fire on a Santa Maria style grill.  If you cook a tri to rare/med-rare in the center, there's almost not medium -- let alone medium well or well. 

The sous vide thing sounds horrible to me, but there's no substitute for experience.  What should we make of the fact that you haven't tried it yet?   Give it a whirl and see what you think yourself.  Even if it's good, how the heck are you going to market it? 

Your analysis of the opportunity is surprising.   

I grew up for a few years in the Santa Ynez and Lompoc Valleys, and sixty years later my wife and I go up into the Central Coastal Valleys area fairly frequently because we like the drive, the wineries, and so on.  The last few times I've been to Santa Maria on a weekend in tourist season there have been plenty of organizational fund raising grills setup all over the place; not to mention a few gas stations with Weber kettles.  Getting a tri sandwich or plate of tri with all the usual stuff like pinquitos, garlic/sour dough rolls and bread with garlic, salsa cruda, etc., wasn't a problem. 

As a tourist, I don't know enough about the local economy to make an educated guess at whether or not you can make a living on the other days; but my uneducated guess is that you can't.

I think the best restaurant in the immediate area for what's come to be known as "Santa Maria Barbeque" (I hate that name) is probably the Hitching Post in Casmalia, about seven or eight miles from Santa Maria; they don't have tri-tip but their top sirloin is the real deal.  The Santa Maria Elks Club Lodge is uber-good beyond outstanding, but that's only twice a month (if I remember right), and special events like the Santa Maria Rodeo.

Good luck,

BDL

Quote:

Originally Posted by boar_d_laze 

It's not sounding like you've cooked many tri-tips pver a live oak fire on a Santa Maria style grill.  If you cook a tri to rare/med-rare in the center, there's almost not medium -- let alone medium well or well. 

 

 

Explain, please...

Tri-tip thickness is relatively consistent.   Only a small part of thinnest tip of the triangle shaped meat, and one thin slice from the opposing leg of the triangle will overcook. The steak is cut relatively thin and against the grain.  That means every slice gets some of the charred edge and top and bottom surfaces, but the rest is "middle" muscle.  There's not much difference between the doneness of the meat a mere 1/2" from the edge than at the very center.

FWIW, I use a "Santa Maria" style, open face grill to cook tri and top sirloin over live flame (fireplace size red oak splits) at a grill surface convection temp of ~350F - 375F, with enough radiant heat to get a good sizzle.  The grill allows very good temp control by raising and lowering the cooking grate, and refreshing the fire as needed.  My cooking times run ~12 minutes per pound to rare/med-rare, as you'd expect. 

I really like tri-tip and use it whenever I see it on sale from a good source.  However, I have an excellent source for Prime "top block" sirloin, and prefer that to just about anything else.  The problem here in LA adjacent Monrovia is finding pinquitos.

Let me apologize if it seemed that I was telling you your idea could not succeed.  I wasn't, just giving a few impressions.

BDL