My local Whole Foods store offers sandwich-size precooked (but rare) pieces of tri-tip beef that tend to be a kinda chewy. And I’m not a fan of rare beef – the personal preference thing.

But after 30 minutes (note 1) in my stovetop pressure cooker at 15 PSI it’s fall-apart tender. As tender as pot roast, and the same dark color as pot roast too. The Maillard reaction, I think. Well, I guess it is pot roast:

“Pot roast is an American beef dish made by slow cooking a usually tough cut of beef in moist heat…”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pot_roast

Such a rich savory flavor! A sandwich made from it with Arby’s Horsey Sauce applied is a meal fit for a king. On tap for my lunch today!

note 1 – After 30 minutes I turn the heat off, but leave the pressure cooker on the burner of my ceramic stovetop until the pressure drops to atmospheric. About ten minutes.

Sounds like they're cooking their tri-tip too fast, at too hot of a temperature. It shouldn't be overly chewy.

Tri-tip needs to cooked low and slow. You could do that in a slow cooker like a pot roast (as you discovered), but I prefer to smoke my tri-tip like a brisket.

The benefit over brisket is that it only takes ~2-3 hours to smoke a tri-tip, compared to 10-12+ for a brisket. Basically gets you 90% of the end result of a well-smoked brisket for about 25% of the effort.

It is amazing what time, heat, and pressure can do for an otherwise useless piece of meat. I’ll second the Horsey sauce.
5pm sound about right?

Tri-tip can easily be screwed up if cooked and cut correctly.
Always best to pull the meat out at least an hour to two hours prior to cooking, this helps reduce cook time and prevent it from drying up too fast. Good hot coals are essential, then constant turning every 15-20 minutes to prevent burning. Using a thermometer is always best to monitor the inside temps, just know that the thiner parts of the meat will be well-done, while the thickest parts you will be at rare to med-rare.
Pull meat, LET IT REST for at least 20-30 minutes. Can't emphasize resting more than enough, the longer the meat is allowed to rest, the more the juices will be retained.

Once cooked, tri-tips need to be cut correctly, done wrong and you'll end up chewing much more than you think.

Toppings for tri-tip, at least in California's Santa Maria-country is either a horseradish ranch sauce or, your basic pico de gallo salsa.

^^^^^
I’ll stick with my pressure cooker method. Fast, simple, repeatable, and good.

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
^^^^^
I’ll stick with my pressure cooker method. Fast, simple, repeatable, and good.

It doesn't get a whole lot more simple than a rub and tossing it on the grill for a few hours with a probe in it. It's pretty much set it and forget it, and there's no pots to clean up after.

Pressure cooker for a tri-tip? Get a rope!

Either way, the horsey sauce please. Me hungry!

We have tri tip at least once a month, in fact this evening. I cook it on my Weber Kettle, charcoal. It's a learning curve but never a disappointment.

I guess if your British beef boiler is broken……..

I suspect no matter how cooked the grain direction is worth noting.

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
^^^^^
I’ll stick with my pressure cooker method. Fast, simple, repeatable, and good.

I continue to mismanage my intended procedure and too often fail to produce at least one of this descriptor set.

Although my last brisket project was on the verge of being nearly edible. Now we're too far into late wet fall for much long charcoal sessions.

I eat a lot of Tri-Tip, especially when it goes on sale, which lately hasn’t been the case. I used to cook it indirectly in the Weber. It took about 40 min. Where I live now I can’t have a BBQ, so I started just cooking it in the oven at 350 with a temp probe . I take it out around 125 and let it rest. Very important if you want to retain juices.

Lately, I’ve been using a Ninja grill using medium heat and starting with the fat side down. Flip every 10 min. It’s done in 25 min. or so total (again checking temp and taking it out when it gets to around 130). It gets the grilled flavor. Again let it rest to retain the juices. The video posted above should be followed to a T or you’re going to be chewing more than expected.

I usually make my sandwiches using a toasted french roll, provolone cheese, Ortega chilies and homemade horseradish sauce.

quote:

Originally posted by jer830:
I eat a lot of Tri-Tip, especially when it goes on sale, which lately hasn’t been the case. I used to cook it indirectly in the Weber. It took about 40 min. Where I live now I can’t have a BBQ, so I started just cooking it in the oven at 350 with a temp probe . I take it out around 125 and let it rest. Very important if you want to retain juices.

Lately, I’ve been using a Ninja grill using medium heat and starting with the fat side down. Flip every 10 min. It’s done in 25 min. or so total (again checking temp and taking it out when it gets to around 130). It gets the grilled flavor. Again let it rest to retain the juices. The video posted above should be followed to a T or you’re going to be chewing more than expected.

I usually make my sandwiches using a toasted french roll, provolone cheese, Ortega chilies and homemade horseradish sauce.

I had a few years where living in an apartment complex didn't allow open-flames so, I learned to use the oven.
Since moved and back to the grill, tri-tip salads are very popular in my household.

Never heard of doing tri-tip as a pot roast. I actually never even heard of it before it started getting mentioned on this forum, it's not common around these parts and the only place I can even find it is Wegmans.

I thought you were supposed to do tri-tip pretty hot and fast on a grill and never serve more than medium rare sliced thinly across the grain and yes that grain direction change is a tricky thing.