Tri Tip?

DanMcG · Jul 3, 2009

While chatting one night the question came up, Does a tri tip have different names in other parts of the country?
It seems to be unheard of on the right coast.

rivet · Jul 3, 2009

Good question....I bet POPS would know~ he knows everything about meat. I do know that back in Virginia, I could find tri-tip labeled as such in the grocery store. Maybe it's just something about the NE?

efrain · Jul 3, 2009

Got a friend out in nyc, says they call it a triangle roast.

gnubee · Jul 3, 2009

Even the butcher here ( Western Canada ) gave me a strange look when I asked for one. At least he knew what a brisket was, His wife didn't. She gave me that look that says..... Oh! oh! nutty customer on the loose. When I told her it was part of the cow she went in the back and said to her husband making sure she was loud enough for all of us in the front of the butcher shop to hear. Some old guy wants to know if we have any biskets that came off a cow. He said "oh, he means brisket, no we don't carry them, no money in it." I should have known as they have an extensive frozen meat section. I don't shop there anymore.

billbo · Jul 3, 2009

A local meat market here in upstate NY carries it as Tri-Tip. http://skipsfairport.com/4.html

mikey · Jul 3, 2009

And to think that in some parts of the country, they just grind it up for burger meat. What a waste!

bmudd14474 · Jul 3, 2009

It is not known a lot east of the Rockies because they use it for ground beef. I grew up on the east coast and never knew what it was til I moved out west.

mballi3011 · Jul 3, 2009

Been born and raised in FLa I have never heard of or seen anything called a tri tip. I first saw one when a friend came back from calif. with a handful and gave me one.

murraygw · Jul 3, 2009

I used to manage a Meat Market in the panhandle of Texas and we brought some in and try to sell them and was a big failure. Nobody knew what they were. The best part of it all everyone in the market got a really good price for it.

sumosmoke · Jul 3, 2009

I had thought the tri tip was also known as a sirloin tip roast.

pops6927 · Jul 6, 2009

The tri-tip is seamed out from the sirloin, which is composed of three parts, the tri-tip, the ball tip and flap. The pictures below are from California Beef Council and virtual weber bullet and demonstrates it well. I thought it was the right section of the ball tip, but it's to the left of the ball tip instead. Always learning something new every day!

Tri Tip:

Ball Tip:

Flap:

Hope this helps!

Pops §§

pops6927 · Jul 6, 2009

As is all beef, the secret to tenderness is in the carving of the muscle across the grain. In the tri-tip's case, it's like a boomerang and you carve from the outer point in the center across the grain, at a 45° angle (not straight down) to give the best yield and largest slices with the best cross grain possible, as shown in the picture below:

Don't cook past medium to medium rare as it can toughen quickly.

Pops §§

pineywoods · Jul 6, 2009

Thanks Pops we knew you'd have the answer

DanMcG · Jul 6, 2009

Yeah thanks Pops! But what do they call it in NY? Hamburger?

pops6927 · Jul 6, 2009

Ya leave it all together, cut it 1½" thick and call it sirloin steak and delicious!

Reminds me of a man who used to come into my dad's store, about once a month on a Saturday morning. He was from Texas, an oil man, I think from Houston if I remember correctly. I was in my very early 20's (20-21 or so, just married). His last name was Keene and he owned an island in the 1000 Islands area (a couple 3 million $$ or so! Which was about 30 min. from our store in Alexandria Bay-Clayton area). He'd order a flat bone sirloin that was basically the entire flat bone sirloin section off a loin, over 6" thick. Dad would have a deuce of a time separating the backbone from the flatbone. Then one Saturday Dad was playing in a golf tournament and he came in and I had to cut it for him, thought I'd have to use a dang axe to get that backbone off! This was about a 12 lb. steak! I asked him how the heck he cooked it, he just smiled and said, "All day, son.." I now realize he probably did it on a smoker vs. a grill!

Pops §§

two much smoke · Jul 6, 2009

In Ontario Canada a brisket roast is rarely found in the grocery stores but can usually be special ordered from a butcher. I have one butcher who if I let him know will cut me a roast and save it rather than turning it into hamburger.

If you go to a Jewish butcher a brisket is actually a very expensive cut of beef and is quite common. The price of a brisket bought this way would astound you.

wanbli · Jul 6, 2009

Pops, Thanks for the info. I worked in the grocery business in the past, knew some meat cutters and butchers but had never heard of tri-tip until I became a member of this forum. Until this morning I still didn't know what it was although I have seen a lot of posts about it here. One true fact about this forum is if you don't learn from it , it's because you don't want to learn. Again, thank you for the very informative thread. Peace, Wanbli

sumosmoke · Jul 6, 2009

Great info, Pops. Thanks for sharing that knowledge!!

foxmid · Jul 9, 2009

That's a very informative picture. Thanks for the detailed explanation. I never knew tri-tip and ball-tip were so close together. I love ball-tip much more than tri-tip, personally. Much more tender cut of meat. Tri-tip is very common around here, and the price has actually gotten to be more expensive than ball tip in many cases. That seems wrong, but I'm not complaining!

coachin&smokin · Jul 12, 2009

Kroger (grocery store) has sirloin tip on sale for 1.99 a pound. The picture in the ad looks like the ball and tri-tip together based on the pictures below. Is that what it is? Here is a link to the ad, any help would be appreciated. If so this would be a pretty good deal.

http://louisville.inserts2online.com/customer_Frame.jsp?divID=024&drpStoreID=00718

Thanks

Tri Tip?

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