avatar_PZ

Needed help fixing a deck - son offered to help - made a tritip for lunch

Started by PZ, June 28, 2016, 09:44:11 AM

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PZ

A decade or so ago I replaced my old rotting splintery wood deck surface with hollow core composite. The deck felt really good on the feet, but because of the expansion/shrinkage due to temperature extremes, we felt the need to fix the trip hazards and install new decking.  Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately depending on perspective), we discovered that many of the stringers and some of the posts were rotting, so we decided to tear down and fix properly.

Here's where a family member in the business can help - my youngest builds and repairs docks, so he offered to help fix things.  He's the one that just purchased a GMG Daniel Boone, and wanted to increase his cooking experience, so I offered to cook tritip for lunch.

Here he is busily at w@&k while the Traeger is delivering up delicious aromas.

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This is one of a three-pack of tritip that I purchased about a year ago, rubbed with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, then into plastic wrap for an hour or so. The fat was trimmed before the rub was applied.

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Into the pellet cooker for an hour of smoke, then to 325 degrees until an internal temperature of about 125 degrees

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The roast was pulled off the cooker, into a dish to catch the juices, and tented with foil for about half an hour

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Sliced and ready to eat!  I cut the roast brisket style, and let the kids have at it.

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On an aside, I got the three pack at Cash and Carry last year for $3.29/lb and just yesterday saw slices of tritip at Winco for $8.99/lb!!

Art Blade

he brought quite an arsenal of tools it appears, good for you he's your son and works for a (very nice looking) meal :-D

Good team, the two of you  ^-^
[titlebar]Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.[/titlebar]What doesn't kill us, makes us weirder.

Dweller_Benthos

Year old meat? And what's tritip? I thought that was a typo at first. Looks good though.
"You've read it, you can't un-read it."
D_B

Art Blade

the year-old meat was for his son, didn't know whom else to serve it to as everyone else refused to as much as get within a couple of feet of it.  >:D

"Look, son, had you been here last year doing the deck, the meat would have been fresh as can be."  :-()
[titlebar]Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.[/titlebar]What doesn't kill us, makes us weirder.

PZ

 :laugh:

I always buy when the price is fantastic, then divide portions and vacuum seal the packages.  It came out of the package as red and fresh as the day I put it into the deep freeze.

Tritip is not found everywhere, and is a muscle called tensor fascia lata, which is in the hind quarter near the top end of the hind limb.  Cooked properly, it has the flavor and texture of the best steak.  These days it is becoming as expensive as Porterhouse!

Dweller_Benthos

Interesting. Not being a meat connoisseur I had no idea there was a thing called a tritip on a cow. My experience pretty much begins and ends with burgers and steaks.
"You've read it, you can't un-read it."
D_B

PZ

Funny (interesting) history - the tritip cut was formerly used to grind burger, and a butcher in Santa Monica decades ago had plenty of burger.  He decided to throw the tritip on the grill and it was fantastic.  Naturally the price increased a hundred-fold when it transitioned from ground beef to roast.  Essentially the same story as brisket.

Art Blade

it's always a good idea to see with one's own eyes what is on the table, like grinding your own minced meat for burgers rather than to buy prefab ground garbage made of sinews and scraps, held together by pink slime.
[titlebar]Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.[/titlebar]What doesn't kill us, makes us weirder.

PZ


fragger

I missed this whole topic somehow ????

That was a good deal - a great job in exchange for a great meal :-X

Your son certainly looks capable. What is that he's cutting through? I can't w@&k out if it's some sort of material for a new pier, or new piping.

PZ

It is called a Sonotube, and is a cardboard form for pouring concrete footings.  In addition to re-doing the existing deck, the wife wanted it 4 feet larger so new footings were needed.

He's a good kid - working an existing dock building job, just bought into a concrete curbing business, and still finds time to help out ol' dad.

fragger


Art Blade

[titlebar]Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.[/titlebar]What doesn't kill us, makes us weirder.

PZ

Very kind of you gents to say so  ^-^

I would say that I am just lucky to be the father of the boys - when having children, you never know how they will turn out.

Art Blade

i can tell you that education plays an enormous role in how someone develops. Screw up as parents and you'll understand what I mean. You obviously didn't screw up :-D
[titlebar]Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.[/titlebar]What doesn't kill us, makes us weirder.

fragger

True. There's still a lottery element to it though. I believe that people are born with a certain core personality. Upbringing and education are certainly major factors in how someone develops, but it's not the whole. There are people who have come from the most dysfunctional and abusive households who have managed to rise above it and make something of themselves, and then there are those who have been blessed with loving and supportive parents yet still managed to turn out rotten.

My brother-in-law's kids from his first marriage are a case in point. His first wife sadly passed away from cancer, but not before she produced two sons. One has grown up to be a decent human being who now runs a successful plumbing business and is happily married, the other is a complete boofhead who has bumbled from one failed illegal enterprise to the next all his life. He's currently in the joint - again - for drug-dealing. Last time it was for auto-theft and social security fraud.

The most you can hope for is to give your kids the best upbringing you possibly can and hope it's enough.

I never had kids but I did have a pretty active hand in helping my sister to raise her son when her marriage went bust very soon after her baby was born. My nephew has since grown up to be an excellent human being. He recently told me I've always been like a surrogate Dad to him, which I found quite touching.

PZ

Thanks, AB - the mentorship a parent provides is quite important in steering a child in the right direction, however, fragger brings up what I believe is true.  There are those people that are born with defective "wiring".  For instance, I doubt that Jeffrey Dahmer's parents were cannibals.

Art Blade

you're both right and I know about those other factors. They are the reason why I specifically mentioned that education played a role rather than it being the only factor. However, I still think that is what I wanted to say, PZ simply is a good dad :-D
[titlebar]Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.[/titlebar]What doesn't kill us, makes us weirder.

fragger


PZ


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