Tri-Tip

[The Burn]

Did my first tri-tip today, although it didn't look like a tri-tip. I'm blaming this on the boutique-ish Meat House that I got it from & the fact that most people around here don't even know what one is. If I decide it's worth the price again I may go in and ask them for the full roast.

This "dry aged" for a few days, i.e., I didn't get around to dealing with it. Did a 6-hour dry brine, then oiled and followed MH's "recipe" of pepper, garlic powder & paprika (I used Spanish).



Went on the Weber with the Smokenator with charcoal and 2 chunks of Red Oak (which is what they cook on in Santa Maria). Kept it between 230°-250° and it hit 110° in 35 minutes. Moved it over the Smokenator to do reverse sears on both sides for not quite 5 minutes and took it to 130°



And followed MH's instructions for slicing - cut it in half and thin sliced across the grain






I think that next time, I will dry brine it longer and with the Doc Blonder amount of salt instead of "no more than you would if you were served the cooked meat" and I will season it stronger. This was quite good, but didn't remind me of the Santa Maria BBQ I would get at the various fairs and farmers' markets when I lived in L.A. Or I may need to seek out a commercial rub from Santa Maria and then reverse engineer.

Either way, I'm still amazed at how good my food is turning out based almost entirely on the knowledge I've gained on this site.

[jholmgren]

That looks fantastic. I have GOT to get me one of those tri tips.

[cdd315]

Wow, that looks amazing Burn!! I'm with you how much my cooking has improved from reading this site. I try to tell everyone I know to come here and try it out

[fzxdoc]

Yum.

Kathryn

[Huskee]

Looks very good Burn. Beats the eye of round roasts tha I do in that same recipe, adn they even turn our very good. From what I understand tri tips are very tender? I can't wait to tri one. <------ (See what I did there?)

[Huskee]

Apparently I cannot spell in the early mornings. I'll leave it though, as an exercise in your comprehension skills.

[David Parrish]

Burn that looks awesome. For your next cook take the IT up to 115F during the low and slow, then while searing flip every minute. You'll get less brown meat around the edges that way. Overall nice work!

[The Burn]

Thanks all.I'm really loving my kettle and wonder whether I'll ever use my GOSM again.

Huskee - sliced right and thin, it was pretty tender.

PB - truth be told, I think some of that brown edging was due to the "dry aging." I considered trimming first, but then decided it would be just as easy to do it after the cook.

[Huskee]

I regularly dry brine with the 'if you were to serve it' amount, but that varies from person to person. On thick hunks I put it to it, which is what you need to do on thick pieces. I've never measured. Put a tad more than you'd think on the thicker roasts/briskets.

[Livermoron]

If you have a weber kettle, get the rotisserie ring! It's been our tri tip "secret weapon" for years. We use Meathead's Big Bad Beef rub and put it on the rotisserie over a drip pan with the coals banked to the sides. Add a some oak chips for smoke and let it go for about 30 minutes. Then we sear it on each side before letting it rest. We have a meat slicer and I regularly make tri tip sliders for our parties and for my co workers.

[The Burn]

I do think the the rotisserie is in my future, although I'm not sure why. :-) It's too cheap to buy good rotisserie chicken from Costco and tri-tip is expensive & hard to find. I just don't understand why the rotisserie costs as much as the OTG.

[Rick13175]

We used to do Tri-tip feeds at Ellsworth AFB, SD back in the 80's. Our commander, Colonel Ed Payne, was stationed at Vandenberg AFB, CA which is about 10 miles from Santa Maria. He brought back the Tri-tip craze here to SD. You couldn't buy tri-tip anywhere but at the base commissary (which he convinced them to carry). In those days, tri-tip was extremely cheap, not much more than $1 per pound. We didn't brine them. We only seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic powder. We'd put equal amounts of the three ingredients in a pan and roll the meat in them getting them well-coated. We then slow-cooked them in a, get this, manure spreader that had been converted into a huge open grill. We used oak and mesquite burnt down to a nice set of coals and turned the meat very often to get the great "bark" and a nice rare to medium-rare center. It was then sliced just before serving and the California way was to top with salsa. President Ford came to town (He was an ex-President by then) and we were "commissioned" to cook tri-tip for him. What a memorable event that was!

[Huskee]

We used to do Tri-tip feeds at Ellsworth AFB, SD back in the 80's. Our commander, Colonel Ed Payne, was stationed at Vandenberg AFB, CA which is about 10 miles from Santa Maria. He brought back the Tri-tip craze here to SD. You couldn't buy tri-tip anywhere but at the base commissary (which he convinced them to carry). In those days, tri-tip was extremely cheap, not much more than $1 per pound. We didn't brine them. We only seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic powder. We'd put equal amounts of the three ingredients in a pan and roll the meat in them getting them well-coated. We then slow-cooked them in a, get this, manure spreader that had been converted into a huge open grill. We used oak and mesquite burnt down to a nice set of coals and turned the meat very often to get the great "bark" and a nice rare to medium-rare center. It was then sliced just before serving and the California way was to top with salsa. President Ford came to town (He was an ex-President by then) and we were "commissioned" to cook tri-tip for him. What a memorable event that was!

Awesome story Rick! I bet those are some cherished memories. The tri-tip just sounds delicious from how you're describing it, oak & mesquite coals....mmmm. I just picked up a fresh (tiny) load of red oak. I hope to buy a trip tip online since no one carries it here in MI or even knows what it is sadly. I can't wait to do one.

[Rick13175]

Thanks for the comments! Those of us missile guys that are still in contact with each other still talk about our tri-tip feeds. If you have a butcher in the area, try asking for bottom sirloin. I'm pretty sure that's what tri-tip is. From time to time, our safeway store actually puts it out on the shelf.

[FLBuckeye]

Going to wow the adult leaders at my next camp out in a few weeks with a tri tip. None of those guys have even heard of a tri tip. Did two butts last weekend and chowed down hard. Had breakfast burritos the next morning with left over pork. That tri looks AWESOME

[Rick13175]

You are definitely going to be a hit with the tri-tip. I've never met any meat lover who doesn't like it. My two sons only request for a meal when they come back for a visit is tri-tip, mashed potatoes and homemade gravy.