So I had heard through the grapevine that Trader Joe's, which is about 20 minutes away in Delaware, carried tri-tip, which is otherwise hard to find. I had found a roast at a boutique butcher for $10.99/lb, which I did once but that's a bit steep for my pocket. TJ's did, in fact, have tri-tip, at $7.99. It's their own packaged, trimmed product. What was interesting is that while it did indicate that it was inspected by the USDA, there was no grade on it. After what Giant went through recently, I was surprised to see this. And I'm certain that it has crossed state lines - probably from California

I thought perhaps that by "trimmed," they meant that they had turned it into a cylindrical roast. But, luckily, after I opened it up, it was a "normal" shaped, 2.67 lb. tri-tip.

I mixed a tablespoon of kosher salt, with a tablespoon of coarse black pepper and a tablespoon of granulated garlic, and used all of it to rub on the roast (after spraying with EVOO). Sat in the fridge for about 3 hours.

Went on the weber/smokenator with two good size chunks of California Red Oak (gotta be official) at an average of about 250. When it got to 110 in the middle (about 40 minutes), I did some reverse searing, with fairly constant turning, over the smokenator until it hit about 130 - less than 10 minutes later.

Sliced at the center to check color, but then sliced across the grain for eating. It had a great oak wood flavor and was as juicy as could be.

Sorry for the photos - I can't for the life of me figure out why I can't get full-size photos anymore or why each photo I post in a thread gets progressively smaller.
I thought perhaps that by "trimmed," they meant that they had turned it into a cylindrical roast. But, luckily, after I opened it up, it was a "normal" shaped, 2.67 lb. tri-tip.
I mixed a tablespoon of kosher salt, with a tablespoon of coarse black pepper and a tablespoon of granulated garlic, and used all of it to rub on the roast (after spraying with EVOO). Sat in the fridge for about 3 hours.
Went on the weber/smokenator with two good size chunks of California Red Oak (gotta be official) at an average of about 250. When it got to 110 in the middle (about 40 minutes), I did some reverse searing, with fairly constant turning, over the smokenator until it hit about 130 - less than 10 minutes later.
Sliced at the center to check color, but then sliced across the grain for eating. It had a great oak wood flavor and was as juicy as could be.
Sorry for the photos - I can't for the life of me figure out why I can't get full-size photos anymore or why each photo I post in a thread gets progressively smaller.
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