Pellet Fan
Here's How I.... => Cook Beef => Topic started by: pmillen on August 26, 2017, 09:11:27 PM
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Bentley told me that I'm missing a great way to grill a steak by not using the direct zone on my pit. I've been sticking to charcoal. So tonight I put a 1½-inch T-bone on the direct zone. Per his instructions I set the temperature at 350°F and grilled away.
So this really isn't how I cook beef. It's an experiment.
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Eight minutes per side was about right for medium-rare. The cooked steak was beautiful, about like that which charcoal produces. (Sorry, no finished photographs. I forgot.)
It was really good but Marcia and I think charcoal is our favorite. I suppose reverse sear should be the next test.
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Love the Reverse Sear it has become a family favorite.
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I have been experimenting with steaks off the short loin on the PG 500 as well, between direct sear and reverse sear I have come up with a new favorite.
I use one of my bread cooling grates to keep some air space under the bottom of the meat and place it in the warming drawer and smoke those porterhouses for 45 minutes, turn once and go again in the smoke for another 45 minutes and then increase heat to 350* and finish 3 minutes a side on the direct zone gets me right over the 140* mark on the Thermapen where I like to pull them.
The fillet side just melts in the mouth prepared this way, although a zone 4 reverse sear wasn't far behind it I never could have envisioned beef prepared this way before you guys turned me on to that FEG.
I'm gonna need new clothes if this keeps up, "eating well" this summer would be an understatement ;D
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If ya like charcoal better, ya like charcoal better...
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Did you get grill marks at 350%?
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Did you get grill marks at 350%?
Nice ones at that, I have found the 350* range to be about perfect for using the chargrill on the direct side the doors are open enough during the process the temp probe on zone 4 doesn't have time to catch up and shut it down.
It seems to be the perfect setting to just leave it alone and move the steaks over to zone 4 to finish, easier to monitor final pull temp without internal readings moving up to fast.
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Kristin, you have to understand, 350° setting on a PG 500, the temperature at Zone 1 is probably 700°! It is 350° over to the right in Zone 4...
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That pit seems to have a great direct grilling area.
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I have been experimenting with steaks off the short loin on the PG 500 as well, between direct sear and reverse sear I have come up with a new favorite.
Got it. Warm-smoked for an hour and a half and then three minutes per side direct at 350°F.
How thick are those steaks?
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I get them cut @ 1 1/2", we have a local source for whole choice short loins that sells them for $3.99 a pound cut to order. I get a nice mix of T's and Porterhouses out of one.
For me getting a Thermapen MK4 has been the end all for plating steaks done the way I want them, I "winged" it for to many years and never could get them quite right no matter how I was cooking them.
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I set PG at 400 degrees. Once to temp turn the HHT to 150. Lightly oil steak with canola spray. Place on char broiler leaving the door open. Flip the steak every 30 seconds for 9 to 10 minutes. With door open there is little top down heating of the meat. By flipping the steak every 30 seconds the exterior is browned creating Malliard Carmelization, but the heat is not penetrating intensely enough to create that grey overcooked band of meat.
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That small 3rd photo cross section is just about perfection if you are a medium rare steak person!
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Love the Reverse Sear it has become a family favorite.
+1
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At what temp do you set when the steak is in the warming draw?
I have been experimenting with steaks off the short loin on the PG 500 as well, between direct sear and reverse sear I have come up with a new favorite.
I use one of my bread cooling grates to keep some air space under the bottom of the meat and place it in the warming drawer and smoke those porterhouses for 45 minutes, turn once and go again in the smoke for another 45 minutes and then increase heat to 350* and finish 3 minutes a side on the direct zone gets me right over the 140* mark on the Thermapen where I like to pull them.
The fillet side just melts in the mouth prepared this way, although a zone 4 reverse sear wasn't far behind it I never could have envisioned beef prepared this way before you guys turned me on to that FEG.
I'm gonna need new clothes if this keeps up, "eating well" this summer would be an understatement ;D
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170* is where I set the controller when I use the warming drawer for steaks, lots of smoke at that setting.
I want to try the same technique with a tri tip roast smoked in the warmer drawer then moved up to zone 4 at 300* to cook, it doesn't get hot enough down there to really cook much of anything in the span of two hours or so.
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170* is where I set the controller when I use the warming drawer for steaks, lots of smoke at that setting.
I want to try the same technique with a tri tip roast smoked in the warmer drawer then moved up to zone 4 at 300* to cook, it doesn't get hot enough down there to really cook much of anything in the span of two hours or so.
I did 7 Tri tips all on the pg500 for my daughters graduation a few years ago. Staggered the start time of each. First in drawer, then zone 4, then finish over direct. It worked great.
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Tony those look great! :clap:
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Yes, they look great.
I don't use the warming drawer enough. We should start calling it zone 5 as someone suggested a few years ago.
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I have never tried tri tip.
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I have never tried tri tip.
Do you like sirloin steak? If so, you should get a tritip. It's just a really well marbled sirloin that sometimes is a little more tender than a sirloin steak. Some people drive themselves nuts trying to find in their area, and after having many of them I would say generally speaking it's not THAT different than a sirloin steak. If you can easily get ahold of one give it a try, but don't go to great lengths if they are not plentiful in your region.
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I have never tried tri tip.
I think it was initially a California cut. I used to ask my local chain grocer for it. The meat manager said they have to order a case. They did it twice and had to first mark down the trip-tips and then grind them (I think) because they wouldn't sell. They told me that they would order a complete case for me but I declined.
They may not be available in Saskatchewan. Omaha Costco has them once in a while. I can't decide if it's a thin roast or a steak.
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Grilled tri-tip, run through the slicer for a French Dip, just a great cut I can no longer find...even if I shop outside Mayberry!
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Do you like sirloin steak? If so, you should get a tritip. It's just a really well marbled sirloin that sometimes is a little more tender than a sirloin steak. Some people drive themselves nuts trying to find in their area, and after having many of them I would say generally speaking it's not THAT different than a sirloin steak. If you can easily get ahold of one give it a try, but don't go to great lengths if they are not plentiful in your region.
FMT, it's been about 50 years since I helped my dad cut and wrap beef and we never cut a side of beef in a way that produced a tri-tip, so I may be a bit off base, here, but it appears to me that the trip-tip is significantly different from a sirloin.
If you were sitting toward the rear of a heifer you'd be sitting on the sirloin. Well below that, just to the rear of the flank is where I think the trip-tip originates.
As I often say, "Working from memory here." It may not be difficult to prove me wrong.
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Tri-tip is an excellent cut for quick grilling - most flavorful. We were never formerly able to find it at our local grocery stores, but a Winco came in and they occasionally offer perfect dinner grillin' pieces often for less than the cost of ground beef. If there is a Cash and Carry in your area, they should have three packs of tri-tip.
Not too long ago I purchased tri-tip at $3.78/lb and ground it into burger - my wife liked those burgers even more than ground ribeye burgers.
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I have never tried tri tip.
Do you like sirloin steak? If so, you should get a tritip. It's just a really well marbled sirloin that sometimes is a little more tender than a sirloin steak. Some people drive themselves nuts trying to find in their area, and after having many of them I would say generally speaking it's not THAT different than a sirloin steak. If you can easily get ahold of one give it a try, but don't go to great lengths if they are not plentiful in your region.
I will try to source them, I am assuming that you would not cook this past medium or it might be a little tough
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I have never tried tri tip.
They may not be available in Saskatchewan. Omaha Costco has them once in a while. I can't decide if it's a thin roast or a steak.
I have never seen it here anywhere.I will have to ask my butcher next time I am there
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The only ones that I have ever seen in IL or PA where I have lived were at Sam's Club and they were fresh cryovaced with a peppercorn rub/marinade. I have made about 5-6 of them. The biggest challenge for me is that the grain of the meat runs in two different directions on one cut of meat. You have to be careful slicing so that you don't get a portion of the meat tough because you were not paying attention while slicing.
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I never take it past medium rare...but I know jimsbarbeque and a lot of early PH swore by cooking in like a Brisket, they would take it beyond 190°. Maybe Jim will see this and weigh in!
And I was under the impression that the tri-tip was around the hip...obviously triangle-shaped muscle, located below the sirloin section.
But I have seen one website say bottom of sirloin near hip and another says by tail and below the sirloin...Its Anarchy I tell you!
I will try to source them, I am assuming that you would not cook this past medium or it might be a little tough
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I would like to try it both ways if I can find it.
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Do you like sirloin steak? If so, you should get a tritip. It's just a really well marbled sirloin that sometimes is a little more tender than a sirloin steak. Some people drive themselves nuts trying to find in their area, and after having many of them I would say generally speaking it's not THAT different than a sirloin steak. If you can easily get ahold of one give it a try, but don't go to great lengths if they are not plentiful in your region.
FMT, it's been about 50 years since I helped my dad cut and wrap beef and we never cut a side of beef in a way that produced a tri-tip, so I may be a bit off base, here, but it appears to me that the trip-tip is significantly different from a sirloin.
If you were sitting toward the rear of a heifer you'd be sitting on the sirloin. Well below that, just to the rear of the flank is where I think the trip-tip originates.
As I often say, "Working from memory here." It may not be difficult to prove me wrong.
I am by no means a butcher, and have little experience in breaking down large cuts. All my info comes from reading only, which isn't always the best substitute for the real thing. Most online diagrams I've found list it as part of the sirloin. I've attached a pic that best illustrated what I'm referring to. I always believed it was the triangular shape piece under the term bottom sirloin in the pic beside the flank section. I too could easily be proven wrong. Is there a butcher in the house?
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makes more sense why there are two grains on that cut seeing that picture
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FMT, we're in agreement. I was tripped up by a change in nomenclature.
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The cut labeled Bottom Sirloin wasn't called that when I was cutting beef. We cut it into two parts; a roast and stew meat or sometimes a roast and ground beef.
If you look back at what I wrote, "If you were sitting toward the rear of a heifer you'd be sitting on the sirloin. Well below that, just to the rear of the flank is where I think the trip-tip originates." Just like the diagram you posted.
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Yeah, I thought based on what you said that we were probably talking about the same area.
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If you can't find it as Tri-tip you can look for Bavette (or bib) as it is cut from the same general area (just don't let them sell you thin flank steak as a bavette)
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Tasty!
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That small 3rd photo cross section is just about perfection if you are a medium rare steak person!
Agreed.
Z