Tri-Tip to die for..

[DennisLinkletter]

Landed on terra firma friday night, could not wait to get my momma's OTB cooking. Ran around all day and ran out of time.. Went to the market thought I'd do some grillin' as it was already 7pm. Bought a marinated Tri-Tip from a very nice meat counter. He said we could grill it.. Virtual web site called for 4-5 hours.

So I dropped it in with some cherry smoke at 240º for about 20 minutes..

Then cranked open the top to bring it up to 350. Stopped for a glass of wine and saw it shoot by 350 to 450.

Meat temp 148º.

Shut it down and let it dwell and pulled it at 165º.

EDIT** Thermometer was off.. this was really about 130º

Let it rest 20 minutes..

The best meat I've eaten this year.

Tender, VERY tasty, off the charts great..

Why does nobody cook or write about this cut?

[trish]

Dennis,

This is a very common cut in Calif, and commonly featured at large BBQ events. The cut is less common and fairly expensive on the east coast. It used to be a fairly inexpensive cut before it became so popular.

If you have ever heard of Santa Maria BBQ, that is the cut of meat they are referring to.

If you get a chance while you are here try a Saratoga steak and a flat iron steak, both very comparable to filet mingon and usually more affordable.

[cruzmisl]

I cook it all the time. It's a gem of a cut with tons of beefy flavor and good chew. My wife is the tenderloin type, soft without much flavor, so I usually eat it solo.

Nothing like good 'ol American beef eh Dennis?

[rorkin]

Dennis

It's one of those California things.. Never even saw one in Pa or Md

[Sanny]

I have seen them here in NJ...

Haven't cooked one, I don't think.

[paul1927]

Boy That Looks Mouth Watering . . .

I never heard of the cut. I love sirloin, and have gotten very lucky buying the whole Angus sirloin at $2.99 a pound-- I cut it up into steaks and grill at around 600 or better 700 degrees. On sale the sirloin steak is about $5 a pound over here (Miami, Winn Dixie) so I switched to cheaper cuts, but I don't miss the steaks because everything is coming out wonderful. Brownies came out nice and smokey. But, I have made any because I'm gaining too much weight.

I still think the Q is made for Woking--just need the right gimmick. A long handled tool that would make handling a cast iron wok easy. BTW, although it takes more strength than I have woked vegetables are absolutely delicious. And, I'm not usually one for vegetables. Many years ago The Wall Street Journal did a very nice piece on why wok cooking hasn't become a fast food staple. The main problem is the high heat required to effectively cook with the wok makes it difficult and dangerous. I definitely agree on both counts.

The Q has the high heat. It should be a natural.

[Porkchop]

love the tri-tip! when wes came to visit, he brought them along. we did them on the sear grill hot and fast, served medium rare and sliced thin! wonderful cut! tender, yet very "beefy" flavor! if you can find it, try it!

[Chunkylover77]

I love the tri-tip. They sell it at my local Costco for pretty cheap.

[GSWHoops]

Tritip has always been one of my favorites. We used to live near a place that served these really huge tritip sandwiches (me and my buddies ate there while we watched the NCAA tournament right before I had to go get married).

Here's the tritip I did this weekend

http://www.komodokamado.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1606

[leejp]

Been wanting to try this cut for a while...

The butchers here in NY look at me funny when I ask for a Tri-Tip...

[Porkchop]

jack, while it's not the same cut at all, the flavor has that same hearty beefiness of like top round or sirloin. i do london broil fairly often, and the taste is quite similar, but tri tip is MUCH more tender.

[jdbower]

You can also see if they know the terms triangle steak or culotte steak (also replace "steak" with "roast"). I hadn't heard of this cut prior to coming here so maybe it's one of them thar southern words. Maybe Sanny can enlighten us on the greater NJ area city-folk term...

[Porkchop]

also, if you have a sams, the sirloin tip roast they sell does have a tri-tip IN it, but you have to know how to trim it out. that roast has like, 3 different muscles in it. the center one (i think) should be the tri-tip.

edit: a link http://www.hormel.com/templates/knowledge/knowledge.asp?catitemid=19&id=103 scroll down

to summarize: "The tri-tip is a triangular shaped cut at the tip of the sirloin and is surrounded by the remainder of the sirloin, and the round and flank primals. It can be used as a roast or it can be cut into steaks. The tri-tip roast is also known as the triangle roast. The tri-tip steak is also known by the following names: Triangle Steak or Culotte"

now, lay that on the neighborhood meatcutter! you'll still get blank stares from some, i'll bet...

another edit, a better link: http://www.calbeef.org/consumers/pdf/Cutting%20Instructions.pdf

[primeats]

TRI_TIP

The tri-tip has been a favorite cut on the west coast for some time, it has been making a splash in the North suburbs of Chicago for the past five to six years( I have been using this cut for everything from stewing beef to stroganoff, to kabob meat.) I featured one on NBC on Memorial day with a dry rub you can probably find at your grocer in the States called CHAR-CRUST.

The tri-tip or triangle is properly called the" bottom butt sirloin" and actually is a part of the sirloin steak or sirloin butt. If you can imagine the top sirloin steak as an oblong almost oval shape with one flat side . This is called the top butt, at one end of the oval is the triangle or bottom butt. The sirloin tip is really a part of the round steak,or the knuckle, just above the knee joint on the hind leg of the cattle, pretty lean, makes a decent roast if cooked to a medium to medium rare doneness.

This is probably more than you wanted to know about this subject, but being in the business I thought I would chime in. Regards, Dave Zier

[primeats]

Link to California Beef Council

Pork Chop: interesting link to the tri-tip. But what a horrible photo. This in no way resermbles what a tri-tip is called around here!That picture looks like the beef knuckle,which,when peeled as we say, does indeed consist of three seperate muscles.I will try to find a link or at least snap some photos and post them here. Dave

[primeats]

Different cuts of beef

Dennis, If you liked the tri-tip, ask for a flat iron steak! This comes from the shoulder,but it isn't tough as you would expect from the chuck! As the name says it is a flat cut similar in size and shape to a flank steak,maybe a little smaller,but tender!!!! According to the Beef Council it ios the second most tender cut of meat next to the tenderloin. I was very skeptical at first until I grilled one(and this was under steel so imagine how scrumptious this would be on a hot sear in the KK!) Man oh man not only could you cut it with a plastic fork, but you probably don't even need teeth!(ok that may be a teensie bit of a stretch but you get the idea!)And unlike the hanging tender, it does not have that strong flavor that you can get with a piece of chuck. Just a little salt and pepper and garlic and you are off to the races. One other note, this is a thin cut, however as it cooks it tends to "pull together" and thickens a bit so the grilling time may be a bit longer than you would think.

[trish]

I certainly concur on the flat iron steak. My first was about 3 years ago in a local restaurant served with black truffle risotto. One of my all time favorite restaurant meals. The steak was grilled to perfection and served thinly sliced in a pinwheel pattern around the risotto.

What can you tell me about a saratoga steak? I have purchased from a local butcher shop and they are featured alongside the filet at about half the price. Visually they look slightly larger on average, but I cannot differentiate other differences. They grill up exceptionally well also.

[primeats]

saratoga steak

In the midwest, as with every other area, there are names for cuts that are recognizable only in that area. It seems to me that a saratoga steak may be the same as a delmonico, or ribeye steak. I could be wrong. The same issue would be with a new york strip steak, in new york they call it a shell steak, in kansas it is a kansas city steak, in iowa, where i was raised a rib steak with the bone was called a club steak , now we call it a cowboy cut( 1 1/2 inches thick and the bone frenched)Good grilling!

[trish]

the saratoga did not look anything like a ribeye, it looked like a tenderloin or filet mignon, just slightly larger in circumference. Taste, texture, shape, marbling seemed pretty comparable to tenderloin also.

I have never seen a delmonico.

[Firemonkey]

Delmonico=Rib Eye

There really should be a standards body to manage all of these different cuts