A Santa Maria - Style Tri-Tip is Not Just for Summer Barbecues.

If you've never cooked a tri-tip, you need to read this!

Weekends in the summer around here usually end up with a barbecue at my house or my sister's house, and tri-tip is the go-to protein we like to cook for dinner for the 20 or so family members who show up hungry. Here in California, this triangular cut from right behind the cow's ribs has been around for a while. A few years ago I realized that in many parts of the country this cut isn't available. Maybe thats why so many people live in California; they're here for the tri-tips! Or, maybe it's the weather...

More than 100 years ago, ranchers on the California Coast (Santa Maria is just north of Santa Barbara) would give this cut to the workers to cook for themselves. Apparently the cut was thought to be tasteless and tough, but when properly barbecued it can be every bit as flavorful as cuts from the rib or the loin.

You can cook a tri-tip on a grill or roasted in your oven, the recipe below uses the oven method.

There are a couple of tricks you'll need to know to make sure your tri-tip turns out perfect. First, you need to marinate the meat for 24 hours so the spices can penetrate the meat.

Next, you don't want to over cook the meat! If you've read any other pages in my blog, you probably noticed that I am a strong advocate of using a thermometer in the kitchen. I'm actually a little surprised that there are some many home-cooks that don't use one. There was a sketch on Saturday Night Live a few years back where Leslie Jones was describing her dream date. She said "I want a guy who knows how cook a perfect steak without cutting it open." And then she looked directly into the camera and said "LIKE A LITTLE BITCH". Ok, no one wants to be a little bitch, but I assure you, using a thermometer to check the meat will not make you a little bitch. Only slicing the steak open to check to see if it is cooked correctly will make you a little bitch. Just sayin'.

Finally, you need to make sure you cut the meat against the grain. Preventing your meat from becoming chewy requires spotting the grain; this refers to the direction the sinews lie on your cut of meat. Muscle fibers are, unsurprisingly, tough, as they supported the animal’s movement. Human teeth certainly can break them apart, but doing so leaves you chewing for an unpleasant amount of time. Your knife, on the other hand, can make quick work of that tissue. How? By cutting against, or perpendicular to, the grain.

Now on many cuts of meat, the grain runs in one direction and is easy to see. But the grain on a tri-tip runs in two directions, and it's easier to see the grain on the steak before you cook it. You can see in the image below that 1/2 the steak has fibers running vertically, and the other 1/2 has fibers running horizontally.

Here is the cutting guide for a tri-tip, showing the two different grain patterns.

I prefer untrimmed tri-tips, they have a 1/2" of fat on one side. I feel that while the steak cooks, the fat will baste the meat, and as a plus, I really like chewing on crispy, blackened chunks of beef fat. I know that's not for everyone, but it's crazy delicious. Most supermarkets sell trimmed tip-tip only; if that's all you can find, it will be perfectly fine. And there are numerous ways to season a tri-tip, I regularly use teriyaki sauce.

This is an untrimmed tri-tip I barbecued not too long ago. This one was cooked with teriyaki sauce.

Santa Maria Style Tri-Tip

One 1/2-pound tri-tip roast

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

Kosher salt

Canola Oil

1 tablespoon butter

1 rosemary sprig

1 garlic clove, smashed

5 very thin lemon slices, (preferably Meyer lemon), seeds removed

One day before cooking, combine the black pepper, chili powder and paprika, and rub all over the meat. Wrap the meat tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate.

30 minutes before cooking, preheat your oven to 300°, and set a rack in a roasting pan. Pat the steak dry with paper towels, and sprinkle with salt. Heat the oil in a large frying pan, over medium-high heat until it's almost smoking. Add the meat and sear without moving it for 1-2 minutes to brown the bottom. Turn the meat over, add the butter, garlic, rosemary and lemon slices. and brown the other side for another 2 minutes or so. As it browns, tilt the pan to one side and baste the meat with the butter mixture. Transfer the meat to the roasting rack, fat-side up, and arrange the garlic, rosemary and lemon slices on top.

Put the roasting pan in the oven and roast for 40 - 60 minutes, depending one the thickness of the roast, until the temperature in the center of the meat is 135°. Let the meat rest for 20 minutes for medium-rare, to allow the juices to redistribute.

Cut the roast into thin slices, cutting across the grain as shown above.