Santa Maria Style Tri-Tip with Q-View!

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meatinc

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Jul 21, 2010
131
12
SoCal
A Southern California company called Rooftop BBQ (also a fellow Competitive BBQ Team) has a fantastic rub that I highly recommend. Check them out when you get a chance. All their products are great!

For this recipe, I used the Rooftop Rub but if you haven't ordered yours yet or it hasn't arrived, you can substitute this for the following (per tri-tip):

Black Pepper - 1 1/2 tblspn
Granulated Garlic - 1 1/2 tblsn
Salt (Sea Salt is best) - 1 1/2 tblspn

and the rest:

Olive Oil - 1/4 cup
Water - 1/4 cup
White Wine Vinegar - 2 tspn

Mix well and place mixture and tri-tip in a zip lock bag for 2 hours. I let mine go for 4 hours.

e3bbc1a8_tri1.jpg


I smoked mine at 225F using mesquite. Beef is one of the only meats, in my opinion, that can handle the heavy flavor imparted by mesquite. The historical choice is oak but this is one cut of meat that has enough flavor all on its' own to hold up to any wood / fuel choice.
 

If you don't have a smoker, you can cook this on a gas grill by turning the burners on low on one side and cooking on the cool side. A oven thermometer placed on the cool side - NEVER place the thermometer in open flame area - and adjust your flame so the grate temp on the cool side is around 225 or as low as you can get it.

4922d74d_tri2.jpg


The key to successfully cooking a great piece of tri-tip is to pull it off the grill at the correct internal temperature.



There are two schools of thought on tri-tip - to sear or not to sear. If you have the capacity to sear, I recommend it. For this method, as soon as the internal temp hits 130, move the tri-tip to a high heat - direct flame area and sear on each side for 3 - 4 minutes. The internal temp should be around 140F at this point.



If you do not have access to a direct flame area, cook the tri-tip until it hits between 137 and 142F.



The final internal temp will be determined by how well done you like your beef. Whatever your preference, I would avoid exceeding 145F internal temp. The meat will continue to cook and the internal temp will continue to rise a few degrees while it rests. If you let the temp climb much past 145, I think the meat starts to get tough.



Once the cooking process is done and the desired internal temp is reached, wrap the tri-tip in foil, then in a beach towel, and place in a clean, dry cooler for at least 30 minutes so the meat can rest.

15852d2e_tri3.jpg


You can see that after this tri-tip has rested for 1 hour, the internal temp has climbed to 150F. Probably a little too hot for me but it came out a solid medium. I like to shoot for a final internal temp of 145 but the kids and boss like it a little more done.

3126abb7_tri4.jpg


Slice the tri-tip across the grain in slices about 1/4" thick. Tri-tip is tricky and the grain of the meat does shift throughout the piece of meat. Just keep watching the grain and adjust your slicing direction as you progress through the meat.

3152d77e_tri5.jpg


Plated up with some smoked chicken breast and some corn on the cob. Thanks for looking!
 
Thats a nice looking meal. I do love me some TriTip
 
Thanks for the post.  I love Tri Tip and usually rub mine with a Montreal Steak type rub.  I'll have to try this on my next one, looks very tasty.  Thank you for sharing,
 
Guys and Gals

This guy has serious chops. Richoso and I recently attended a competition and his food was the only good food at the competition that we got to try.  I will be looking forward to trying more of his q at the upcoming contest in Vista.

Thanks for the great post
 
Thanks for the comments and the drool!  Thanks to Scarbelly for the extra nice comments!  See you at the comp in Vista!  Meat, Inc. will be there!

There was seriously something extra killer about using the olive oil and water to help get that flavor into the meat and then having the dry rub stick to the meat throughout the cook.  I will tell you that Rooftop says 2 hours and I went 4 hours.  I think any longer than 4 hours would have been too long.

Thanks again for looking.
 
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