Tri-tip, blood blisters?

[sky monkey]

I've seen one of these on several tri tips in the past. I bought this one, untrimmed and as I was trimming I noticed this one had five of these marks. They're not too deep into the actual meat. Kind of ride in the fat and just a little way into the meat. Can anyone tell me what they are?

 

[TheBBQChef]

Looks like blood clots. This can happen from time to time if a blood clot has formed in a vessel near the area.

 

[Wurstmeister]

I would take that to you local State Ag office or USDA meat inspector and see if they know or have their vets, Food Safety Investigators (FSI) take a look at it.
I'm not a vet or FSI, just an old field medic, but, IMHO it looks like the animal had some sort of infection. Checking on the internet this can be due to an infection in the lymph node connected to the tri-tip. Assuming how credible the net is?! Found this buried in the fat of a tri tip. Looks like blood rich organ meat about the diameter of a nickel. Anyone know what it is? : meat (reddit.com)

 

[sky monkey]

Well it tasted delicious, sans blood clots or whatever they are, lol. Thanks for the responses guys. I see these enough I'm not too worried about it but I've never seen more than 1 on a tri tip so I was just curious. I'll swing by the butcher tomorrow and ask them. I have no idea where the local AG office is. This tri tip came from Winco Foods. Now I know why it was $3.88lb

 

[Fueling Around]

To me it appears a buckshot wound.

 

[forktender]

I've peeled and prepped thousands and thousands of T.T. and Ball Tip roasts, and I've never seen anything even close to that. No way in hell that I would even consider cooking that/they would've gone straight back to the place of purchase for a refund or exchange. That is not a normal blood clot!!!

 

[bill1]

I'm a dumb city boy but I agree with forktender and the others who consider this a potential health hazard.
Shotgun wound might explain the phenomena but that's just not the way beef is slaughtered so that seems HIGHLY unlikely to me.
Yes, take your pic to the actual butcher at Winco. I'd love to hear what he says.

 

[sky monkey]

I'm swinging by a butcher today, not Winco but an actual butcher. It's definitely not a shotgun wound, I see these all the time on tri tip. Probably half the tri tip I eat I see one on these blood clots on it. I cook about 3 tri tip per month and buy them from 4 different sources. I just got curious because I've never seen a cluster like this so now I have to find out what it really is.

 

[civilsmoker]

I have processed many critters in my life and have NEVER seen anything like that........Please share what you findout....

 

[sky monkey]

Talked to the butcher down the street from me. He said he's never seen more than 2 of those in a tri tip but that they are just a gland. If they were a blood clot he said they would be in the muscle. I'm going to continue to ask around and see if I can get a contact at the local meat inspector if we have one around and e-mail the photo to them. I'm not worried about the meat I consumed or getting sick but just intensely curious now that no one else has said they have seen these. It was a big tri tip, 3.89 lbs before I trimmed it. Maybe it just had more "glands" because it was a big cow. The lymph node idea proposed earlier is probably close to the truth.

 

[Smoking Allowed]

In my younger days when I worked in a meat department at a chain grocer, we'd see them quite often and usually in the hard fat like that on top of a loin or round. I'm fairly sure that those are blood clots and are the result of a bad kill and blood draining, at least that's what the head butcher would say. If the cow is stressed, the muscles cramp due to a dump of lactic acid thus it wont drain.

Not very appealing nor appetizing, but won't hurt you. Just trim them out, as you did, and you're good.

Now I'm sure there'll be plenty of folks who don't want anything to do with it and that's certainly their prerogative, but I would not hesitate to do what you did.

 

[noboundaries]

I've been grilling tri tips since the early 80s. They are still ubiquitous here in CA. I haven't seen those "blisters" in a while, but have seen them in past years. First time I saw them I had the same kind of WTH reaction. Trimming away all the fat and silver skin got rid of them.

 

[jmusser]

The uniform spacing, nearly, is bizarre to me. I wouldn't think much of it. First glance did look like buckshot but can't imagine that happens often. I would trim and munch. It is typical and passed through a few hands would make me think it is just fine.