I bought a tri-tip at Sam's Club yesterday that comes vac sealed in a peppercorn rub and marinade.  I am thinking of smoking it on lowest setting for about 2 hours, putting in freezer to cool, vac seal, and then into the sous vide at 135 degrees.  How long would you recommend that I sous vide?  When done, I will put in fridge and then slice the next day.  Will probably vac seal into 8oz packages.  It is a 3.85# choice cut.

I am not there yet so I can't help.

pmillen shared this with me and I used it once before the Chefman broke.   Will use it again, as soon as the replacement gets here.  On a hunk of chuck pot roast!

Chef Steps

would you consider tri-tip to be closer to a steak or closer to a roast?

At almost 4lbs, roast for me! 

At almost 4lbs, roast for me!

+1

I’d probably go 4 hours. I would also sv at 131 cause I like tri-tip a bit towards rare, but 135 should be nice.

I do not think that Tri Tip is as naturally tender as say NY or Tenderloin. It's more like flank and must be cut cross grain to achieve some degree of tenderness. Having said that, I'd tend to let it go longer in the SV. For that size roast I'd go at least 8 hours. I agree that 131° would be perfect.

Does the circulator need to be straight up and down or can it angle a little bit?  Not sure if you can tell in the pick that it is at a bit of an angle due to the lip on the container.  I bought a 5 gallon container for a few bucks and a lid with a cut out for the circulator which was more than a few bucks.  Think this may be my setup for the tri-tip cook.

I do not think that a slight angle wound make any difference. However, on both models of the Anova that I have, the direction of the water circulation can be adjusted. If yours is adjustable, I'd have it pointing to either side, not up. I adjust mine so that the stream of water from the circulator is parallel to one of the sides, creating a circular motion in the container.

I guess I should put some water in it and try it out before attempting my tri-tip for the first ever time using sous vide.

I would do at least 4 hours on that amount @ the 135 setting. Remove and check internal temperature with a thermapen or similar. If not at desire temperature place back in water bath for a time you estimate will finish it off. Nice thing about SV is you can't over cook so if it finishes before the 4 hour period, not harm no foul.

Probably going to do this tomorrow afternoon.  Need to get it done, sliced up, and vac sealed before I head out of town Monday.

Tri-Tip went on the Elite about 30 minutes ago.  Going to smoke for 2 hours or so.  Put in fridge overnight.  Vac seal in the morning and then into the sous vide for 4-6 hours.

Smoked for 2 hours at 200° and the IT was 113° when I pulled it off.  It is in the fridge now.  Will vac seal and sous vide in the morning.

You may want to think about throwing it on a hot smoker for a few minutes a side after the souse vide just to dry it up a bit. It will be soggy when you pull it outta the bath.

Looks fantastic so far.