Local grillin'

So now that I'm out here, a year later, I finally decided to give a whirl to that California barbeque oddity, tri-tip. This is a cut from the bottom sirloin, usually triangular (surprise.) I've tried it in several places around here and each time have found it lacking... but of course, that's with others cooking it up. Since most of the local barbeque contests involve some kind of tri-tip recipe, I thought I'd give it a whirl.

I got a three-pounder from Ribeye's Market in Brentwood. This was kind of a big cut, and as we all know, big cuts sometimes get tough, but Ribeye's tends to have pretty solid stuff so I figured on going for it. We had about 15 people over and I didn't want to run out.

The cut was pretty lean and didn't need any additional trimming. I applied a homemade rub of brown sugar, dried mustard, chipotle powder, dried onions and a few other select choices. After searing over a direct charcoal fire, the tip was moved to indirect heat and allowed to rest.

One weird thing about this cut: when it sears well, it puffs up quite a bit. This is good since it shows all the retained juices!

After a good amount of time on indirect, I basted with some solid barbeque sauce, allowed it to rest on the indirect some more, then seared in the sauce for about 90 seconds per side back on the direct heat.

Then, we took it off the heat and allowed it to rest on the cutting board for ten minutes or so, to soak in all the juice. Sliced thin and served on pitas with extra sauce and a creamy coleslaw -- it was fantastic!

There was a good variety of doneness levels, too -- the outside was fairly well done while the inside was nicely medium-rare.

I have a few ideas for this cut for the next barbeque contest....