So I understand, tri-tip isn’t a cut of meat available everywhere. Maybe you can ask for it at the meat counter?
What is it, you ask? Tri-tip is a triangular cut of beef cut from the bottom of the sirloin. Which means it’s not super tender to begin with. It’s an odd shape – kinda-sorta triangular in shape, hence the name. The narrower end tends to cook too much (because it’s thinner) so you have to cook the meat for the thicker center portion. Which is what we did here.
This was a big dinner I did a year ago – and totally forgot about it – about posting it. I think it was a celebration of my granddaughter Taylor’s graduation from nursing school and the whole family visited. I served this and some other meat (so people could have a choice). I don’t even remember what else I served! Here in SoCal we can buy already marinated tri-tip, but that’s not what I bought – I wanted the un-marinated one so I could use my own. The recipe I’ve had around for a long time – it came from an old Sunset magazine article. And got rave reviews. And I’d give this good reviews too.
The marinade is very easy – soy sauce (I use the low-sodium type), fresh cilantro, liquid smoke, dried oregano, garlic and pepper. See? Simple. I had to dig deeply into my cabinet to FIND the liquid smoke. Likely I’ve had that little bottle for 15 years! The meat marinates for 24 hours – that will guarantee you’ll get tender meat. The tri-tip does contain a few stripes of gristle, so you need to eat around that, but otherwise the cut of meat is easy to cook and because it’s so nice and tender when it’s done, it’s easy to slice into thin strips. I don’t believe this cut of meat has much fat in it – which is why it’s necessary to marinate it.
The soy marinade flavor doesn’t overpower the meat (there’s only 1/4 cup in the marinade) but the soy sauce is the magic power that tenderizes this meat so well. It’s grilled for about – note ABOUT – 10 minutes per side. I think I assigned the grilling duty to someone else as I was busy in the kitchen doing the last minute salad and veggie prep and plating. I know we ate outside. One interesting technique for this was instructions to make small slits in the meat, both top and bottom – so that marinade will reach deeper into the meat.
That dinner may have been the only time I used my patio last summer as I had such a problem with mosquitoes. Oh my gosh, it was awful. We had the regular sized ones, but we also had the no-see-ums, or ankle-biters, as most people call them. They’ve become a new thing in California, probably because of our changing climate. It was an abundant infestation of them last summer, even though – then – we were in a terrible drought. This year they’re anticipating another bad siege of mosquitoes, so I’ve hired a mosquito service. They come every 3 weeks until early November. So far it’s worked well, although they don’t guarantee it’ll completely remove them, I think they said about 90% improvement. So far, so good.
Back to this tri-tip. Use an instant-read thermometer and remove it when the thickest part reaches 125°F. Then just let it rest 5 minutes, lightly covered with foil (otherwise it’ll get cold quickly). Slice and serve immediately. Slicing tri-tip into thin pieces is important – if you do thicker, it’ll be too chewy.
What’s GOOD: loved the flavor – tri-tip has really good, beefy flavor, and the marinade did it’s job of tenderizing the meat. I think the guests ate it all. It’s easy to slice, easy to grill. Great recipe.
What’s NOT: only that you need to start this 24 hours ahead, turning over the meat every few hours so the marinade reaches every crevice.
printer-friendly PDF and MasterCook file (click link to open recipe)
* Exported from MasterCook *
Grilled Tri-Tip Roast with Cilantro
Recipe By: Tanya Newgent, San Diego, Sunset Magazine
Servings: 8
2 1/2 pounds beef tri-tip roast
1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 teaspoons liquid smoke — optional
2 teaspoons dried oregano
3 cloves garlic — minced
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Cilantro sprigs for garnish
1. Trim and discard excess fat from beef and remove any silverskin. Cut 1-inch-long slits about 1/2 inch deep and about 1 inch apart over top and bottom of roast.
2. Mix soy sauce, chopped cilantro, liquid smoke, oregano, garlic, and pepper in a heavy-duty plastic bag.
3. Add meat and spoon soy mixture into slits. Pour remaining mixture over meat. Refrigerate for 24 hours, turning the roast every 3-4 hours or as often as possible.
4. Preheat grill to medium-high heat (you can hold your hand at grill level only 3 to 4 seconds). Cover gas grill. Cook roast, turning once, until a thermometer inserted in center of thickest part registers 125° for rare, 20 to 25 minutes total (so about 10 minutes per side) for a 1 1/2- to 2-inch-thick piece. Tapered end will cook faster, so try to place it away from heat.
5. Transfer meat to a board, cover loosely with foil, and let rest about 5 minutes. Cut across the grain in very thin slices. Garnish with cilantro sprigs. Serve with a sauce of some kind: try an ancho chili and sour cream mixture.
Per Serving: 241 Calories; 12g Fat (46.8% calories from fat); 30g Protein; 1g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 94mg Cholesterol; 330mg Sodium; trace Total Sugars; 0mcg Vitamin D; 45mg Calcium; 2mg Iron; 487mg Potassium; 282mg Phosphorus.
Leave a Comment!