anybody ever age a Tri-Tip?

[Ron Pratt]

As soon as I free up some space in the frig I’m going to age a tri-tip. That cut of meat is rather uncommon as there is only 1 per cow so it’s not a household cut found in grocery stores. It even seems to be more popular on the West coast and other places have never even heard of it. One thing I know is they are very tasty and always nicely marbled…and the nice thing they are inexpensive! I pay $7 a pound and each one normally weighs about 1.75 to 2.5 pounds each. Also because of its varying thickness it’s a great cut for a small family since a normal grilling will result in a range of doneness from rare to well done in the same piece of meat! One last thing…it’s the bottom of the sirloin and it’s name foretells its shape – it’s triangular!

[robert warpala]

Let us know how it works out. Tri-tip and leg of lamb are next on my list. Have had Dry Bag equipment for couple of months but because of refer temp. issues only did my first ribeye today. First practice bag was perfect but when I went after the ribeye it did not go well at all. Couldn’t seem to get a good seal. Finally gave up on sealing the corners of the bag and just sealed it straight across. Seems to be working fine. Did cut the ribeye in half to save my last large bag so now I have dueling ribeyes. One is a Guy Fieri cheesecloth one and the other is a Dry Bag. Don’t know where you are from, but Costsco should have tri-tip for 5.99 a pound and here in the northwest Cash and Carry has large vacuum packages although I don’t remember the price and seems like it is USDA select. Might not make a difference with tri-tip though because of the marbleing. Also, if you do a tri-tip check out Guy’s Santa Maria tri-tip recipe Wish I had discovered tri-tip 40 years ago.

[Ron Pratt]

No COSTCO within 200 miles, but thanks anyway! As for not getting a good seal had you possibly gotten the part to be sealed wet? That is – did you fold the bag back out of the way, insert the meat and then “unroll” the clean bag back up? OTOH you said you got a full and good seal without cross sealing the corners – I’m glad it worked but I can’t understand why it worked! You were using a Sinbo – right?

[robert warpala]

Not using a Sinbo, but probably the same machine in a generic and cheaper version. I did fold back the end of the bags. It seems like the main issue was when I sealed the corners it created an uneven section in the middle that wouldn’t seal properly. Probably operator error. It would seem to me that the only reason to seal the corners first is to minimize the vacuum loss during the time it takes the snorkle to withdraw from the bag. But, so far all is well.

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