Coffee Rub Sous Vide Tri-Tip Roast

I’m a bit of a food equipment geek, I buy just about anything that I think would make my cooking life easier. I also buy anything I can find that will make my cooking better. I coveted a sous vide machine from the first time I saw one being used on a cooking show many years ago but back then, they were large units priced at a bit daunting almost $4000. A couple years ago I bought mine (An Anova* unit) for $120 and this year I saw the same model for as low as $80 at the holidays.

For those of you not familiar, sous vide is a simple term which translated to English means “under vacuum”. It is a method of cooking in a sealed plastic pouch in a circulating water bath kept at a constant low temperature to perfectly cook your food. The air in the bag can be displaced either with a vacuum sealer or by closing a resealable plastic bag nearly all the way and slowly lowering it into the water bath slowly pushing out all the air before sealing. I use my sous vide mostly for beef and pork where the perfect temperature really makes a big difference. I allows me to cook meat for hours, tenderizing the entire time, to just under the temperature I like and then sear on my grill or in cast iron to get the good seared crust surface while keeping the meat the perfect temperature from edge to edge with a minimal gray ring like you get when grilling from a raw state.

One of the most successful dishes I’ve cooked sous vide has been tri-tip roast. I like my beef rare to medium rare depending on the leanness of the cut. Tri-Tip is fairly lean so I cook these sous vide at the minimum safe temperature of 126F (rare) for 12 hours then sear on a very hot grill surface for a few minutes per side to get a lovely crust. This makes for a great entree as is or is perfect for sandwiches topped with sauteed peppers and onions. Here’s the recipe I use.

*This is not sponsored by Anova, it’s simply the unit I own