It is everywhere here in San Luis Obispo – numerous stands at the weekly Thursday night farmer’s market serve it up grilled in a sandwich, complementary platters of grilled tri tip are served to all season ticket holders at the Cal Poly Football games, and it has a prominent place in the meat department of all the food markets and groceries here. You’ve heard of steak and eggs…in SLO it is not unusual to see tri tip and eggs on the breakfast menus.
I don’t have access to a grill in the apartment so I roasted the tri tip we had for dinner the other evening.
It was super delicious, and I think the key was marinating it overnight and not overcooking it.
Here’s the marinade I used:
For a 2 and ½ to 3 # tri tip mix together:
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
¼ cup fresh lime juice
¼ cup canola oil
2 T sugar
2 T soy sauce
1 T freshly ground black pepper
2 T garlic salt
2T chopped fresh garlic
Place the tri tip in a plastic bag and pour the marinade over.
Place the sealed bag on a large plate and refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight, turning occasionally.
When ready to cook, remove from plastic bag, and wipe off excess marinade and discard the marinade from the bag.
Season with some coarse kosher salt and coarse ground black pepper.
Roast in a preheated 450 degree oven. Turn when brown, and continue roasting until thermometer registers medium rare, anywhere from 25 to 35 minutes depending on the size of your roast.
Allow to sit covered loosely with foil for 10 to15 minutes.
Serve with sautéed mushrooms.
Here are some facts about tri tip…
For years the beef tri-tip found itself being ground into hamburger or cut into cubes and sold as soup meat. The reason for this is that there is only one per side of beef and in the days when butchers carved their own meat it was considered a waste of display space to sell the tri-tip by itself. Now that the carving is done by packers you are much more likely to find the tri-tip at your local butcher. If you don’t see it, ask for it. This often overlooked piece of meat is not only relatively inexpensive, but also very flavorful and has become a favorite amongst those in the know.
The tri-tip roast or steak (also called a triangle roast) is the 1 ½ to 2 ½ pounds of meat that sits at the bottom of the sirloin. Not only does it have a rich flavor, but also tends to be lower in fat than most other cuts. Of course, this means that it can dry out faster, but with a good marinade you really can’t go wrong with this cut. Good seasonings and marinades for tri-tip are those inspired by Southwestern or Asian flavors.
The versatility of tri-tips is another factor that makes them great. Uncut, it’s a fantastic roast that should be grilled indirectly for 30 to 40 minutes. You can also cut the tri-tip into 1-inch steaks, that grill up in about 8 minutes over a low to medium direct heat. As always, let your steak (or roast) sit for 5 to 10 minutes before you carve or serve it. This allows the juices redistribute and evens out the heat.
Because tri-tip is lean, be careful not to over cook it, particularly when preparing the full roast. Medium is as far as you should go with this cut. Use a meat thermometer to make sure you get it right where you want it. If you are used to grilling other cuts, this one can throw some grillers off by appearing underdone when it is ready to serve.