All hail to the assembled saints of smoke, the wizards of winning, the conquistadors of competitive combustion and comestibles! 🌞
As a BBQ competition neophyte, I would welcome any cooking tips, recipes or secrets you are willing to share - I'm cooking on a standard Weber charcoal grill.
With respect and gratitude for wisdom shared - Jonathan
Tri-tip is nothing more than a large steak. Keep it simple, keep it hot and most of all buy the best piece of meat available to you. Also suggest you use a board sauce to finish, a fresh herby punch that goes so well with this cut. Lots of examples of that here !!! Good luck !!
Board sauce for sure. Something your competitors most likely are unaware of. They will be too busy injecting, marinating, rubbing, mopping, saucing, spritzing, wrapping, laying on butter, brown sugar, molasses, more sauce, glaze etc. anything to make it taste like anything but a Tri Tip! Keep it simple let it taste like beef. You probably won't win because the judges don't know what beef really is supposed to tastes like. But if you want to win put everything and anything on it and in it.
Where is the competition and as Thom asked, who will be the judges? I like the board sauce idea but it will cool the meat down a whole bunch. If the competition is in the City and locals are judging: a smoked trip-tip, sliced thin across the grain with a board sauce or a fusion sauce will go over well. If it is across the bay and locals are judging: a flame cooked tri-tip with strong garlic, salt and pepper flavors, cooked to no more than medium-rare and sliced thick will go over more favorably. In Napa and Sonoma a wine based marinade seems to be the fare. Very minimalist cooking styles with the meat complimenting local produce. The South Bay: things are a toss up. There are new BBQ places popping up some of which are reputed to be "traditional" and others are trying a few new things. Look up the recipe for a "Fred Steak" marinade and if you can replicate it with your own spin and the judges are from the area you will be a winner.
You are going to have fun! You will be going up against some of the winery teams who will have a lot of big BBQ's and gadgets. Don't be intimidated and ask a lot of questions. They are all philanthropic and friendly folks.
Petaluma's got a foodie scene that isn't quite as "elevated" as Napa...I would think the traditional Santa Maria style with a board sauce might put you over the top...
Love Petaluma, my stepmother's family is from Petaluma, dad is retired in Santa Rosa. I think Livermoron is right, a comp in Petaluma is likely to be wowed by traditional Santa Maria style tri-tip
FYI: I just tried out the Fred's Steak recipe noted above [https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbo...Steak_Marinade], which is a solid mimic of the secretive marinated Tri-Tip from Schaub's Market in Palo Alto, CA. It was VERY good - not quite up to the original, but very close.
To get closer, I will try marinating for 4-5 days next time, and maybe double-up on the molasses and Worcestershire sauce, as the flavor wasn't quite as penetrating and fully present up front as it is with the original. I only marinated for two (2) days (time constraints).
For cooking, I used the tried-and-true Reverse Sear Method. I smoked it for ~75 minutes at 225-250 on my pellet grill (Green Mountain Grills' Daniel Boone model) until about 112 degrees interior (measured via Thermapen), then seared it on the propane Weber. I let 'er rest and sliced in half to divide the two overlapping muscles, and then across the grain in thin slices, as directed elsewhere on this site. It was an absolutely perfect rare/medium-rare. I should have taken photos - sorry! (I'm cooking three for a winos dinner party this weekend, so I'll post when available and I'm back on my feet).
By the way, Schaub's ships out vacuum-packed Fred's Steaks all across the U.S. if y'all want to see what the standard is.
Grill/Smoke/Roast = SnS Grills Kettle + SnS Deluxe Insert & Drip n' Griddle
Grill/Smoke/Roast = Hasty-Bake Gourmet Dual Finish with HB rotisserie and Grill Grates
Smoke = Weber Smokey Mountain 22.5"
Pizza = Blackstone Propane Pizza Oven (Stacy's, but she let's me use it sometimes)
Indoor Cooking = LG Studio 30" gas range
Camp Cooking = Coleman 2 burner white gas stove
Thermometer = FireBoard FBX2 with 2 ambient and 6 meat probes
Thermapen Mk IV = Light blue
Thermapen Mk IV = Black
PID Controller = Fireboard Drive + Auber 20 CFM Fan (FB gen 1 fan)
PID Controller = Fireboard Drive + Fireboard 20 CFM Fan (FB gen 2 fan)
Knives
Wusthof Classic Ikon set: 9" carving knive, 2X 8" Chef's Knife, 7" Santoku and three utility knives
Kamikoto Kuro set: 7" Santoku, 6.5" Nakiri, 5" Utility
Amazing Ribs Brazilian Steak knife set
Favorite wine = whatever is currently in the wine rack
Favorite beer = Sam Adams Boston Lager or Shiner Bock
Favorite whisky = Lagavulin Distiller's Edition 16 year old single malt
Best Cookbooks - Meathead's "The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling", Chris Lilly's "Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Book", Aaron Franklin's "Franklin BBQ"
Cookbooks to check out - Raichlen's "Brisket Chronicles" and anything by Adam Perry Lang.
Current fanboy cookbook - "Chasing Smoke: Cooking Over Fire Around the Levant"
I'm originally from central california and tri-tip is one of my go to cooks ..... here's my thoughts on cooking for a competition
1. Make sure you make beans, preferably pinquitos since they are the native Santa Maria bean. Use the Rancho Gordo basic method, but jazz it up a bit with some bacon and diced jalapeno.
2. Make sure you have some good, crusty bread. Beans, bread, and green salad are the staples of Santa Maria BBQ, along with Tri-Tip obviously
3. here's how I cook Tri-Tip
dry brine the roast at least 24 hours ahead .... 1/2 tsp Morton's kosher salt per pound. Spread on both sides of the roast liberally, set on a cookie sheet and keep in the fridge, uncovered, for 24 hours prior to cooking
Set up your kettle for 2 zone cooking (or better yet, use an SnS). Find some red oak, preferably, for smoke. That is the traditional wood for cooking tri-tip. Get a couple good chunks on the coals so you get plenty of smoke and make sure the smoke is running thin and blue.
Just before the meat goes on, wet it lightly with water and then liberally hit it with equal parts granulated garlic and black pepper.
Cook indirect until the internal temp is about 110F and then take it over direct heat and sear, turning several times to get nice grill marks and maillard reaction. About 5 minutes per side, total. THat should take you to an internal temp of 130F.
Take it to your cutting board and do board sauce, if you are doing one. Don't worry about letting it rest. Cut it in half at the corner of the triangle and then slice each side against the grain. This video shows how to do it right.
Serve with beans, green salad, crusty bread.
I never bother with any marinades or any seasoning other than salt, pepper, garlic. Cooked right, this meat doesn't need it. And this is how they do it in Santa Maria :-)
Equipment
Primo Oval xl
Slow n Sear (two)
Drip n Griddle
22" Weber Kettle
26" Weber Kettle one touch
Blackstone 36†Pro Series
Sous vide machine
Kitchen Aid
Meat grinder
sausage stuffer
5 Crock Pots Akootrimonts
Two chimneys (was 3 but rivets finally popped, down to 1)
cast iron pans,
Dutch ovens
Signals 4 probe, thermapens, chef alarms, Dots, thermapop and maverick T-732, RTC-600, pro needle and various pocket instareads. The help and preferences
1 extra fridge and a deep chest freezer in the garage
KBB
FOGO
A 9 year old princess foster child
Patience and old patio furniture
"Baby Girl" The cat
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