J – Most tri tip gets way overcooked … unfortunately.
It’s such a tasty cut of meat. Overcooking doesn’t have to be so. I’m not sure what people do to mess it up. Do they just forget about it on the grill? Or, is there some mysterious compulsion to cook the heck out of it.
I don’t know. We want to suggest a different approach.
As with many of the “courser” cuts of meat, like hanger steak and bavette steak, tri tip requires care in grilling. These cuts can be so flavorful when they are cooked rare to medium-rare.
But, cook them to medium and they are tough as shoe leather … marinade notwithstanding.
In this marinade, we decided to blend up the liquid and spices before adding the meat, peppercorns and rosemary. The result was a nice intensity of spice throughout.
If you are using a gas grill, you have a bunch of heat control. With charcoal, you need to be careful to have enough heat to start. Err on the hot side. You can always move the meat.
We served the tri tip with a couple of the other dishes for this week.
| Grill Week: Grilled Tri Tip |
- 2 pound tri tip as a single piece, excess fat trimmed
- ½ cup balsamic vinegar
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup black peppercorn
- ½ cup grapeseed oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ¼ cup onions, chopped
- 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 or 2 large rosemary sprigs, plus 1 long rosemary sprig for basting
- Add everything except the peppercorns and the rosemary sprigs to a blender. Blend well.
- Place into a zip lock bag with the meat, peppercorns and large rosemary sprigs. Reserve the long sprig for basting.
- Shake well. Place in refrigerator overnight.
- Once well marinated, remove tri tip from bag and reserve the marinade for basting.
- Let tri tip come to room temperature for an hour before grilling.
- Heat the grill to medium high heat.
- Place tri tip directly over the heat and cook for 5 to 7 minutes.
- Baste with reserved marinade using the reserved rosemary sprig. Flip meat over. Baste other side..
- Cook for another 5 to 7 minutes. Using an instant read thermometer, check the temperature. 140 degrees at the center will be rare. If there is a thinner side, it will be at about 150 degrees. DO NOT OVERCOOK.
- Remove from grill.
- Let rest for 5 to 10 minutes.
- Slice against the grain.
- Serve.
- Enjoy!
Check out the Grilled Spring Onions with Romesco Sauce tomorrow.
It was delicious. Grill on!