Tri-Tip: How'd you do it in the WFO??

[Dino_Pizza]

Anyone done tri-tips in the wfo? I'm talking about the un-marinated tri-tip from the butcher section. I've got 2 I wanna use for after a pizza-fest.

I've purchased the kind marinating in the package before: they are ALWAYS great (lots of salt and good stuff to tenderize and moisten it). But I bought un-marinated meat.

I like my meats on the rare side, but I'd like to marinate these tri-tips myself which will let me cook them more medium (to others likings) and still keep it moist (to my liking).

Do you dry rub? Do you make a marinate for overnight? I'm going to cook it on the Tuscan Grill over coals.

Thanks, dino

[fxpose]

Re: Tri-Tip: How'd you do it in the WFO??

Hi Dino,

I did a tri-tip last weekend using dry rub. I threw it directly onto the coals like I did the previous weekend with the dirty steak. I seared both sides, then moved it over to one corner of the wfo to reach the right internal temp. This is basically how I've been doing tri-tips or most other steaks on my Weber grill for the matter.
I try to get a tri-tip with a narrow end so that half cooks to almost well as the rest of my family like their meat that way.

George

[terrihoward]

Re: Tri-Tip: How'd you do it in the WFO??

I use granulated garlic, granulated onion, black pepper, sea salt, woreceshire and olive oil. Rub the tri-tip with woreceshire and olive oile then put on the seasonings let sit at room temp for about 1 hour then put on the grill,

[Tscarborough]

Re: Tri-Tip: How'd you do it in the WFO??

What IS a tri-tip?

[BrianShaw]

Re: Tri-Tip: How'd you do it in the WFO??

What IS a tri-tip?

The technical description is: the triangular section of the sirloin primal that comes from the point where the sirloin meets the round and flank primals.

Tri-tip once was "a California thing" found almost exclusively in what is known as Santa Maria style BBQ. They rub with salt, pepper and garlic... and roasted it over oak fire. They tend to cook it well-done because it can be slightly stringy when undercooked. (Of course, it can tend to be slightly tough when cooked to well-done too). It is generally sliced thin, across the grain, and is served with salsa, specifically the fresh type known as salsa crudo, pico de gallo, salsa fresca, and other such names.

It has gained in popularity and the once-cheap cut of meat is now higher priced and being enjoyed by the masses, and is being cooked in many more styles. To be honest, I like the suggestion made earlier to throw it on coals like the cavemen did!

[BrianShaw]

Re: Tri-Tip: How'd you do it in the WFO??

o you dry rub? Do you make a marinate for overnight? I'm going to cook it on the Tuscan Grill over coals.

Hey Dino... I think I could smell your fire and tri-tip roasting the other day all the way over in Winnetka. ha ha!

I cook tri-tip a lot and have marinaded only once -- in wine and rosemary. It really didn't do much to be honest. I much prefer the traditional salt, pepper, and garlic rub. I rub the meat and rest it overnight to let the garlic permeate the meat. I also like a mix of fresh garlic and dried. Seems odd to do both but I find that the fresh adds good flavor INTO the meat but the dried adds best flavor to the crust ON the meat. So I do both!

If the wind is blowing to the Northeast on Saturday eve you might be able to smell my tri-tips roasting. But since it is scorching hot (probably over 100 deg F to those who don't keep up on the weather in our corner of SoCal) I might cheat and cook it on the gas BBQ... and brush it with liquid oak smoke to get some degree of authenticity.

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Tri-Tip: How'd you do it in the WFO??

Brian, thanks for the info. I can see how the dry and fresh garlic can do different things and I'll try it. I've been dry rubbing pork a lot lately too so I'll try it on the tri-tips overnight. If the winds blow your way, you'll know I'm cooking.

Terrihoward: I'll incorporate the oil and Worcestershire too. I'm pretty good at bringing my meets to room temp before cooking. It makes the meat cook up so much better,

thanks, everyone, Dino

[Matt916]

Re: Tri-Tip: How'd you do it in the WFO??

another way you might consider cooking a tri-tip is to think of it like a pork-butt aka pulled pork. since it has enough connective tissue, it would benefit form a slow cooked method so that all that connective tissue will melt and add to the mouth feel, as well as making it more tender. that way you could have something like barbacoa....just my 2 cents.

[Matt916]

Re: Tri-Tip: How'd you do it in the WFO??

by the way, a wood fired oven seems like the perfect cooking enviornment for REAL BBQ. we already have the insulative powres of earth without having to dig a hole like they do in Hawaii. There is a guy here in Sacramento who takes his portable wood fired oven to the farmers market downtown a couple times a week and sells really fabulous pizza to the farmers market customers. As it turns out, he actually got his oven from forno bravo.

Any way, he was telling me that every evening when he goes to put his oven away, he puts in a couple pork shoulders in there door on, and forgts about it for the rest of the night. when he wakes up, he has 2 perfect sholders of pulled pork...which he puts on some of the piza he sells. This seems like a really great way of cooking whether you want to do tri tip, pork, lamb, or anything else that could use a good slow cooking method...just felt like sharing this...

[fxpose]

Re: Tri-Tip: How'd you do it in the WFO??

Matt....that's a great idea going low and slow on the tri-tip. I rarely get them to finish very tender using the conventional method.
I'm doing racks of both baby backs and beef back ribs this weekend in the wfo so I'll do a tri-tip along with them. Besides, tri-tips are on sale for 2.77/lb this week.

George

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Tri-Tip: How'd you do it in the WFO??

Man, I'm really conflicted now. Kidding, kinda of. I'm doing the 3 tri-tips this afternoon for my big pool party. I used Brian shows dry-rub mix but added some red or pepper notes/dry spice into it. I'm going to use my meat thermometer to pull out the center med-rare. I'm hoping the dry-rub for 36 hours in the fridge will somehow tenderize it too.

Matt: so much has come out lately about slow/low temps breaking down connective tissue in pork, lamb etc...it does seem like tri-tip would be a no-brainer too.

Gonna try to take good pics my tri-tips in the wofo today to post.

Good by on the tri-tips George! Let us know how the slower cook method works.

thanks, Dino

[BrianShaw]

Re: Tri-Tip: How'd you do it in the WFO??

Dino... good addition. I've done the same using Chimayo pepper (even though it's not "authentic") but my kids sometimes balk if they can detect the heat. I like it that way. I don't know if the long marinade time will tenderize or not. Best way to tender tri-tip, which I'll bet you know already, is thin slicing (1/16 inch, or about 2mm for anyone else) with an uber-sharp knife.

I understand the theory of low-and-slow for a tougher meat but have never tried taking tri-tip to shredding temps. That would be 190 or so... which works for pork when doing moisture re-plenishment via sauce but I don't serve sauce with tri-tip. I guess it wouldn't be a crime to do so, though.

BTW, here's a trick for heat/flavor that is my "personal secret": that Korean red soy/miso/chile paste. I've rubbed that on tri-tip and pork prior to roasting on the grill. It's a secret -- for just you and me to know.

Have a great time; can't wait to see the pictures!

[fxpose]

Re: Tri-Tip: How'd you do it in the WFO??

I understand the theory of low-and-slow for a tougher meat but have never tried taking tri-tip to shredding temps. That would be 190 or so... which works for pork when doing moisture re-plenishment via sauce but I don't serve sauce with tri-tip. I guess it wouldn't be a crime to do so, though.

I still intend to pull the tri-tip out at 135. I realize it's technically not low and slow but will be thrown in the oven under smoking temps along with the ribs.
I don't want to fire up my grill today so this tri-tip will be mostly an experiment for me.

George

[fxpose]

Tri-tip FAIL, awesome ribs!

Tri-tip fail....well, not quite. Due to the low oven temp resulting in no crust I ended up having to reverse pan sear it but bringing it up to temp at the lower smoking temp produced one of the tenderest tri-tips I've done so far. This was mostly an experiment so the only prep I did were to poke it all over and marinate it in whatever I had on hand at the time which was some old teriyaki mainade.

The ribs, on the other hand were the bomb! The chicken wings were decent, done under smoking temps, but they took a bit too long.

Wife said I did good.

George

[Matt916]

Re: Tri-Tip: How'd you do it in the WFO??

George: I think it might work better to sear it first if you want the crust (and i definitely dont blame you if you do). Unfortunately, i dont have a door yet so this isall just cooking theory, but once i do, i wont rest until i perfect this tri-tip method.