Gimmie’s Grilled Tri-tip Roast
Serves 8
Prep time: 10 minutes (marinate overnight)
Cooking time: 1 – 1.5 hours
Ingredients
- 4 lb tri-tip roast, trimmed or untrimmed
see “what is Tri Tip” below if you’re unsure of this cut - 1/2 bottle of Basque marinade (or see substitution recipe below)
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
Directions
- Marinate roast in Basque + seasonings in sealed container, refrigerate overnight
- Prepare outdoor grill and lightly oil grate
- Place the roast, fat side up, on the hot grill (400 degrees) with a pan underneath roast to catch the drippings. Roast for 1 to 1.5 hours, or until medium rare (or however you like). Check for doneness with a meat thermometer = approx. 165 degrees F (78 degrees C).
Basque Marinade substitution recipe
While nothing tastes as good as real Basque marinade, you can use this if you’re not in an area where they sell it.
- 1 cup Red Wine Vinegar
- 1/2 cup burgundy wine, any brand (cheap is fine)
- 1/2 cup Lawry’s Lemon Pepper marinade (or, if you don’t have Lawry’s marinade, you can substitute this:)
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 lemons, juiced
- 1/8 cup dry white wine
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 bay leaf
- white pepper to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon finely ground red pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
What is Tri Tip?
According to Wikipedia, Tri Tip is a cut of beef available in many parts of the country.
The tri-tip is a cut of beef from the bottom sirloin subprimal cut. It is a small triangular muscle, usually 1.5 to 2.5 lbs. (675 to 1,150g) per side of beef.
In the United States, this cut was typically used for ground beef or sliced into steaks until the early 1950s, when Otto Schaefer Sr. first introduced it to market in Oakland, California. It became a local specialty in Santa Maria, California shortly thereafter when Bob Shutz marketed it in the late 1950s, rubbed with salt, pepper, fresh garlic, and other seasonings, grilled directly over red oak wood to medium-rare doneness. Other nontraditional preparations include being roasted whole on a rotisserie, smoked in a pit, baked in an oven, grilled, or braised in a Dutch oven after searing on a grill. After cooking, the meat is normally sliced across the grain before serving.
Often labeled “Santa Maria steak”, the roast is most popular in the Central Coast of California and Central Valley regions of California as well as throughout the entire state, and has begun to enjoy increasing favor elsewhere for its full flavor, lower fat content, and comparatively lower cost. Along with top sirloin, tri-tip is considered central to Santa Maria-style barbecue.
In New York City, the Florence Meat Market has popularized the name “Newport steak” for a steak cut from the tri-tip.
Tri-tip has also become a popular cut of meat for producing chili con carne on the competitive chili cooking circuit, supplanting ground beef because the low fat content produces little grease, for which judges take off points.
Tri-tip is closely related to the culotte steak, which is cut from the top sirloin.
[source Wikipedia]