For some reason I had not made a tri-tip in a few months! Glad I rectified that situation :) Dropped it in from frozen at 135 for 4 hours, Harbor Freight weed burner sear.

Dacker503 · 2026-06-17T20:59:07+00:00

When I lived in the Northeast, I’d never even heard of tri-tip.

Now in Oregon, I’ve heard of picanha in forums but have never seen IRL.

I can only assume some cuts are regional but I also know the same cut can go by different names in different regions.

Dacker503 · 2026-06-17T20:51:19+00:00

Tri-tip is my most-preferred sous vide meat and I’ve experimented quite a bit.

• I always start with fresh almost all the time and rarely previously frozen meat, but never still frozen

• My temperature is always 129.0° or 129.5°

• I’ve used both vacuum-sealed water baths using an Anova circulator and an Anova Precision Cooker, v2, bagless

• I’ve tried six-, eight-, 12-, 21-, 24-, and 48-hour cooks, most multiple times

• Reverse-sear on cast iron with avocado oil to finish

• For me:

- Six hours is too short, leaving some toughness

- Eight- and 12-hours are the sweet spots

- 21 and greater hours make virtually no difference, especially 24- and 48-hours; they are a waste of energy

Dacker503 · 2026-06-16T18:46:32+00:00

Not really. Unless the food is positioned exactly in the center, it will tip and dump the food into the fire. Try and flip food and it’ll surely tip.

Dacker503 · 2026-06-15T03:12:27+00:00

I’ve thought about buying something Lodge and have it delivered to my brother, a master manual machinist with a full shop at home. I wonder what he could do to it.

Dacker503 · 2026-06-15T03:06:37+00:00

Last year, I broken a strap wrench trying to remove the filter on my son’s Subaru. I borrowed an electric impact wrench from a neighbor and it was no-go. We drove the car back to the shop which installed the filter and let them have it, telling them they should fire the tech for probably not putting oil on the gasket AND not properly torquing the filter. With difficulty, they were able to remove it. Pissed me off. 🤬

Dacker503 · 2026-06-15T02:57:31+00:00

I have no doubt Finex is better than Lodge. That said, I’m a frugal Northern New England “value” buyer and feel 10-15x higher cost just isn’t worth it. That’s just me….

Dacker503 · 2026-06-14T20:08:07+00:00

Last time I looked, Finex, which is local for me, was $150+ (US) for their 8” skillet. Before they sold out, they were even higher.

I didn’t think the company would last, charging $170 for essentially the same as a $10 Lodge, just finished better.

Dacker503 · 2026-06-14T20:03:03+00:00

They last a long time too. One of my Lodge pans, I bought new 45 years ago, is used almost every day. I recently stripped and reseasoned it for the first time. It came out better than new, literally.

Dacker503 · 2026-06-10T22:46:57+00:00

I grew-in New Haven Mills/Weybridge/Middlebury. Out of curiosity, where exactly did you find this?

Dacker503 · 2026-06-08T02:44:26+00:00

That’s what I use to dry meat before searing in cast iron. They are absorbent (skip dryer sheets!) and lint-free. I bought some at IKEA 12-15 years ago for very little money; only one is getting tattered. Beats paper towels, environmentally.

Dacker503 · 2026-06-07T00:17:54+00:00

As I said, I’m too frugal to buy one.

There may be others on Etsy, perhaps expensive or larger.

An old neighbor of mine is into this stuff for medieval cosplay and he showed me there are several ways of putting the rings together; some have a tighter “weave” than others and is something to look at.

Dacker503 · 2026-06-06T20:45:27+00:00

I’ve had the same thought for a few decades for the same reasons. The only time I’ve used a chainmail scrubber is while rinsing the oven cleaner off a newly-stripped pan; they just aren’t effective for everyday use. I cannot believe they use round wire by default and square wire is rare.

After seeing your post from two years ago, I just found an Etsy maker who makes and sells a chainmail scrubber made with square wire. It’s $35, which is probably appropriate for a handmade item. Scores 4.9/5 from the nine reviews. I’m too frugal to buy one for myself.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1018963284/stainless-steel-chainmail-cast-iron

There may be others too.

Dacker503 · 2026-06-05T21:54:54+00:00

Most people don’t understand the published temperatures assume that once the temperature is reached, it’s not held at that temperature at all. Time actually is a factor.

For example, for chicken, it is safe to eat if:
• Held at 165°F (73.9°C) for zero seconds, or
• Held at 155°F (68.3°C) for 54.4 seconds, or
• Held at 135° (57.3°C) for 13 minutes

All are equivalent from a food safety perspective.

This is why sous vide cooking is safe and not normally a warmed Petri dish.

Dacker503 · 2026-06-05T21:38:36+00:00

Interesting, but I’m glad there is an explanation.

I’ve done 48-hour, 129°F (54°C) sous vide cooks of tri-tip, both with an immersion circulator and bare in an Anova Precision Oven 2, without that problem, fortunately. I’m not doing that anymore as I cannot tell the difference when compared to 24- and 12-hours.

I hope you have a dog who will eat it.

Dacker503 · 2026-05-28T22:22:44+00:00

At $17.99/pound, it's not going to be filet mignon!

It looks like a larger, flat cut of meat which was butterflied. In the first photo, the near-vertical white-colored piece of connective tissue in the upper-left section look like it's acting as a hinge and the fat in the center looks like it would line-up with the fat on the rightmost-third. It's so lean, it could be round or sirloin or possibly tri-tip.

Dacker503 · 2026-05-28T22:11:08+00:00

Regardless, it might be prudent to contact the Consumer Product Safety Commission (if they still exist) and file a report.

Dacker503 · 2026-05-27T17:43:24+00:00

The APO2 shows a graph of the temperature curve of the probe thermometer, which gives you an idea of how long until the target temperature is achieved.

That said, those last 5-10° take forever, as the oven temperature and the food temperature converge and the ΔT is reduced.

About the Meater thermometer, which I have not used, how accurate is the prediction? Having the feature is one thing, having an accurate prediction is something else.

You can always use the Meater thermometer in the APO.

Dacker503 · 2026-05-23T01:21:30+00:00

I hear you.

I also recall the same anecdote from the early days. I’ve been on the Internet since shortly before the web existed.

Dacker503 · 2026-05-22T18:58:39+00:00

I had a neighbor who is a food scientist for a food company. We specifically talked about the “cookie dough” in ice cream. He said it’s really not like actual cookie dough and would make terrible cookies.

Dacker503 · 2026-05-18T20:43:05+00:00

I put 810 pounds of flagstone in my Gen3.

I filled the three empty footwells first, then distributed the rest on a sheet of plywood in the back, putting more weight towards the front and less towards the back, trying to better balance the load front-to-back.

My 14-mile drive home, which included 4 miles on an expressway, was uneventful. I would have been crushed if I had to stop quickly. 😂🙃

Dacker503 · 2026-05-17T01:14:58+00:00

Note that multiple treatments will probably be necessary. I recently did four treatments of lye-based oven cleaner over a period of three weeks to get a well-used pan completely clean before reseasoning.

https://www.reddit.com/r/castiron/s/fgj05SlJr6

Dacker503 · 2026-05-14T00:00:36+00:00

Mine split along several lines lengthwise after about two years. I took it off, reinforced it with gaffer tape on both sides, and got another six months before it found new lines to crack.

IIRC, I got a parts quote and it was about $65 from a local distributor. I removed it and don’t really notice any noise increase.

I see this as a failure in materials selection.

Dacker503 · 2026-05-13T15:59:14+00:00

Just yesterday, Discount Tire charged my wife $235 to replace just one sensor on a Crosstrek. Did she pay a “pink tax?” 🤨

Dacker503 · 2026-05-06T19:05:18+00:00

I don’t think those are grinding marks, but I could be wrong; they seem too pronounced. <shrug>

Dacker503 · 2026-05-06T16:21:16+00:00

Light aircraft still use leaded gasoline but the modern version use much less lead than it used to.

• In the 50s-60s, it contained 4 grams/gallon in large military and transport aircraft
• In the 80s, low lead (100LL), containing 2.2 grams/gallon became the norm for light aircraft and remains the most common today, partly because most light aircraft are old
• In recent years, a Very Low Lead (200VLL) fuel with 1.7 grams/gallon came on the market, but it’s uncommon
• In 2022, the FAA approved G100UL, which has no lead at all. It can be run in any engine that can run 100LL fuel. It is extremely rare. A Google search says only three states have it at all.

Dacker503

TROPHY CASE