Santa Maria-Ish Tri Tip with BlackBear Hex Charcoal on the PBC.

[BFlynn]

Doing another tri tip this weekend. Stopped by the fancy grill store (which is evil and will suck you in) to look at their Snake River Farms meats. Ended up getting a couple Akaushi Tri Tips.

I guess (and please correct me if I'm wrong) Akaushi is Texan for "Wagyu that ain't from Japan". Or maybe more fair - the difference between akaushi and wagyu is the difference between sparkling wine and champagne.



Going to go half the time on the marinade since this is a better than the select I did last time and won't need as much help getting tender. Or maybe skip the marinade and dry brine instead.
Will season with carne crosta either way.

Plan to hang the tri tip like normal, then instead of searing on the gasser, take out the coal basket, elevate the basket with a cinder block underneath, lower the grate (I added 2 extra grate levels), and sear close to the charcoal. I've had the grillgrates so long, I don't remember the last time I seared on charcoal. So this should be fun.

I want to try out this blackbear hex charcoal I got. Not really sure how much to use, or how to light. Hopefully @TNBBQPIG can weigh in.
I'm thinking 4-6 logs. All started in the chimney for 10-15 mins, then stacked parallelish- or as close as I can do with a couple rebar-- and add a chunk of hickory.

Will post pics as this develops. As always, thoughts, tips, things I hadn't considered is appreciated.

[CaptainMike]

Following, good luck!!!

[Greygoose]

I like what ur thinkin

[STEbbq]

How did it turn out?

[Santamarina]

As a California native I’ve cooked more than my fair share of tri-tip. Reverse sear over charcoal/wood is absolutely the best way to do tri-tip. You definitely don’t want to overcook it - especially a great quality cut like you have - unless you like chewing shoe leather.

I always leave 15-20°F to sear, so for my target temp of 130°F (medium rare) I pull at 110° then sear over a rip roaring fire.

[jitsntricks]

I do the same thing with a couple minor differences. I don't have a charcoal grill, so I sear on my propane grill but after I get it nice and hot I rub the grate with a halved onion. It's a trick I learned when cooking carne asada but works great on any meat I'm searing.

[Bkhuna]

Aka means red in Japanese. Akaushi is one of the four varieties Japanese Wagyu. All Akaushi is Wagyu. Not all Wagyu is Akaushi however.