How Long To Cook 3 Lb Tri Tip On Grill

Signs of Tri-tip done right & wrong in restaurants.

I have been calling Central California home all my life ,born & raised and if there's anyth i ng to be proud of living here, it's gotta be the tradition of lighting the grill or smoker up on the weekends to make some damn good tri-tip, a triangular shaped piece of meat that comes from the bottom of the sirloin part of the steer that was for a long time just a little cow town tradition but has been becoming more increasingly popular outside of California in the past decade. Many of us Locals ,pitmasters and chef's take our Tri-tip very serious, there are lots of do's & don'ts , Being an irregular cut of beef, crucial details such as cutting against the grain is essential and many businesses often try to sell Tri-tip on their menu's with little to no experience with the cut and suffer poor end results. I decided to make a list of the common signs & preparations that I seen in my experiences from restaurants , catering companies and other food service establishments that offered tri-tip on their menu's that has always resulted in less then satisfactory to terrible results, You may recognize some these flaws if you had a bad experience yourself when ordering tri-tip , but with that I'm also sharing some positive signs to keep an eye out for that can promise a much better experience when ordering this classic traditional favorite. Most of the images below I sourced on yelp, particularly from the establishments where I endured the following issues however in respect I keep their name's discreet as I believe any business can improve and these opinions are solely based from a personal perspective. Not everyone mind's food drenched in a ton of BBQ sauce of course.

THE SIGNS OF BAD TRI-TIP.
1. You notice grill or sear marks on the meat slices. Chances are the meat was roasted/smoked/grilled ahead of time and they reheat the slices on the grill or on a flat top griddle to order. This method is common at big chain restaurants & steakhouses that put tri-tip on their menus at their California locations understanding it's a regional staple but with these kinds of preparations it just shows that the chain has done very little research & focus on how this cut is traditionally prepared. This method results in overcooked meat & poor texture and the rich flavor that tri-tip is famous for becomes diminished.

Tri-tip slices that were tossed on the grill.

2. Your Tri-tip sandwich is hard to bite into & chewy. Easily it's been either overcooked or most likely not sliced across the grain. Any self respecting chef knows there are cuts of meat that is crucial to carve against the grain for maximum tenderness , non is more critical then Tri-tip because unlike other cuts , it has two grain patterns to follow. If this is not addressed to the person running the station that's carving the meat then the result's will be tough and chewy no matter how thinly it's sliced.

A cutting diagram of a tri-tip roasts grain.

3. Tri-tip is very tender to the point of shredding , dark in color but tastes of harsh smoke and boiled pot roast. The meat has most likely been smoked till tender but too much wood was added to the fire resulting in over smoking or the cooking chamber of the smoker has not been cleaned properly. The pot roast like texture and flavor usually comes from it being wrapped in foil during the cooking the process , a method many use to shorten the cooking time but also to increase tenderness and to keep the meat moist, however if the foil wrap is not tightly sealed , it will cause the meat to steam or perhaps even boil it's own juices resulting into the texture of boiled pot roast.

Blandly seasoned tri-tip & ribs that tasted almost boiled from wrapping in foil midway through cooking.

4. The meat is tender , but tastes like nothing on its own but there are multiple barbecue sauces to choose from on the table. Many folks believe barbecue is about the sauce and put a lot of focus into perfecting their signature sauces rather than the seasonings in their meat so they sell you meat that's seasoned blandly or sometimes not seasoned at all ..and rely on the diner to drench it all in their sauces or worst some places serve it to you already drenched in sauce. Even if sauce play's a crucial role in a dish, it's important every element is in sync with each other and that can be as simple as making sure the meat is well seasoned even it's just salt & pepper.

Tender smoked tri-tip drenched in a cloying overly sweet sauce.

5. Meat is sliced thinly , tender but very wet. The meat was most likely cooked ahead of time , sliced and held in a seasoned broth or Jus for service. There's both an upside and down side to this method , the upside is it's ok to hold tri-tip slices kept warm in it's own juices but only for a short period of time and it must be in a shallow container such as a foil pan which is common in catering where food is served right away to guests. It is not okay however to hold sliced meat for a long period of time in a heated deep container with a broth or au jus. Sliced meat can not only overcook in a heated liquid but it will start to reabsorb that liquid , so what you taste is not the original flavors of the meat but whatever it was actually soaking in and not all restaurants use the original drippings from the meat to make jus but much rather the same stuff you can find in the grocery store in powdered form. Also any seasonings applied before cooking & flavor from a smoker or grill will also becomes lost. This can make a decent roast beef sandwich I guess but passing it on as BBQ is blasphemy.

Smoked tri-tip sandwich. The meat was left in a heated broth with an almost boiled like texture and tasted like the faux au jus it was served with.

6. Tri-tip is served sliced but it's as lifeless as beef jerky. Another common issue at big name Chain restaurants & steakhouses that are serving tri-tip is once again the meat is cooked ahead of time and portions are cut for service and cooked to the customers liking. The cut portion is tossed on the grill like a steak and cooked to the doneness as requested , it is then sliced thinly or sometimes not even sliced at all and served as a whole filet. The results are at times moist but texture is chewier then it should be as Tri-tip is not the best cut of beef to be cutting into steak portions , it's generally best sliced as a roast. Dry slices of tri-tip also doesn't just come from the meat being over cooked but much rather it was likely cut into while it was cooking to check for doneness and this immediately causes moisture to escape. An amateur cook will naturally have this tendency if he or she is unsure how to test for doneness properly and it's a careless thing of the chef or whoever's overlooking things to allow the dish to be sent out, dry looking sliced meat is very easy to spot. If not this then it was definitely left under the heat lamp too long.

Tri-tip slow roasted to a whole but cut, grilled & served like a steak to order that was very chewy & difficult to eat.

7. Tri-tip slices are dark brown with smoky blackish grey spots, very fatty with a bacon like taste and aroma. The meat was smoked till tender like a brisket but the excess fat was not trimmed off. The bacon like flavor comes from the slices being caramelized on the grill or flat top griddle thus concentrating the fatty smoke flavor like the same fashion as bacon. Sounds delicious but it's not , this toughens the meat and the excess fat most likely caused flare ups on the grill but not the good kind that adds flavor but the kind that builds creosote on the meat which is a health hazard as consuming it can cause cancer. This is can also be a sign that your being served meat from the night before.

SIGNS OF TRI-TIP DONE RIGHT!

1. Large piles of wood nearby or indoors is certainly a good sign things are cooked with a real fire and if the aroma has your mouth watering , chances are the wood is well seasoned, carefully sourced and the fire is being well maintained as there is such thing as a dirty fire that brings harsh flavors and health hazards to your food.

You can always judge a BBQ place by the size of their wood pile.

2. Smaller & simpler menu's with tri-tip being their primary item can often be a good sign that cost levels & freshness are in focus. Good quality meat for BBQ is not cheap and if the place takes pride in their tri-tip with an upbeat staff selling it to you, then you might find yourself being treated to a gem , something of good reputation and high standards in a small simple location or format. Menu is most likely brief and small because the business maybe investing in good product.

Menu is simple and brief with Tri-tip being the main focus

3. Tri-tip slices are fairly thin ,juicy and pull apart with very little effort. To tell if tri-tip was cooked & sliced right … pick up a slice and with the littlest of effort pull it apart, if there's any resistance it could of either cooked longer or less ..or it was not sliced across the grain , in that case it would be tough and the muscle fibers would look kind of stringy when taken a bite. The best tri-tip experiences I had can be eaten with a plastic fork on a Styrofoam platter and each slice melts in your mouth.

4. Sauces & condiments are served on the side. Establishment's that serve their BBQ alone and not hiding it under a ton of sauce generally means they aren't shy with their meat allowing you to try it before adding anything else. Sometimes places will glaze the meat lightly with sauce generally mixed in with the juices from the meat and that's not bad at all , even a drizzle or sauce spooned under is acceptable as this can be "complimenting the meat" and it doesn't over power.

Tri-tip sandwich being carefully sauced.

5. You see a person carving the meat in the back or directly on to your plate. Carved to order is the ultimate success & secret to serving fresh Tri-tip & other meats to guests, whether it's hand carved or on meat a slicer ..seeing this is a sign fresh quality is taken into consideration as this generally means they want customers to have the freshest product possible. Pay attention how it's being carved , generally you will see the person adjust the meat at awkward angles at times , this means he or she's locating the grain and by now you should know it's critical to do. Some of the best catering experiences are cooked on site and have an assembly line with a meat carving station at the end where the meat is sliced directly on to your plate , this also allows brief interactions with the staff & their guests , which can easily enhance the dining experience.

Me carving a tri-tip just before serving

6. Tri-tip has a smoky savory sweet spice encrusted exterior with a faint red smoke ring surrounding the rim on each slice with a very faint to almost invisible pink interior is a sign of perfectly smoked Tri-tip. Tri-tip is commonly done Santa Maria style where it is slow cooked over a wood fire on adjustable grates raised to a certain distance from the heat source but it's also very commonly slow smoked in a smoker till tender. Smoked tri-tip is perfectly done at what I consider "a fine medium" which is about an internal temperature of 149 to 150. To achieve this doneness you must smoke the tri-tip until it reaches 140 to 145 degrees and then pull it off the heat and hold in either butcher paper or in a commercial cambrio aka the hot box where food is kept warm for a certain amount of time until ready to serve , generally within just 10 minutes of resting. California BBQ purist swear by cooking tri-tip to medium rare but this isn't always allowed in food service unless the establishment offers the customers to order their meat cooked to their liking or it's addressed on the menu or by staff that the meat is cooked to a rare or medium doneness. It's not easy to hold up to that kind of standard , its' best to appease every guest so businesses would find ways to mask a pink interior without overcooking the meat by holding the meat in a cambrio hot box at a very specific temperature for a brief amount of time for service. Holding and resting allows the tri-tip to even become more tender and juicy which makes perfectly smoked tri-tip the best for sandwiches !.

7.You see Santa Maria grills on site. Tri-tip's roots come from Santa Maria California and many California barbecue restaurants & catering companies prepare their Tri-tip in this classic fashion in which the meat is cooked on ranch style grills with a wheel crank that allows the cooking grates to be raised or lowered towards the fire. It's a tradition taken very seriously in which the fire must be done with native coastal red oak wood which gives the meat a unique flavor that plays a significant part in the regional flavors but other regions in California use what's available nearby to them such as Almond wood , fruitwood , mesquite or even wood from wine barrels & grapevines. Seasonings are traditionally salt , garlic & pepper and occasionally herbs like parsley but modern variations would often have other spices such as chiles and even lemon pepper. Traditional accompaniments is salsa and purists swear by it and strongly discourage the addition of any barbecue sauce but many businesses outside Santa Maria and nearby serve some kind of BBQ sauce. Garlic bread is also a traditional staple along with charros style beans made with a species of bean that's natïve to the Santa Maria area but outside the area it's made with pinto or sometimes they serve chili beans. Classic Santa Maria style Barbecue is considered one of the best in the country ..and many regions from afar & across the country have taken a strong influence by it with its' growing popularity and any establishment faithful to it's ways is most certainly worth a try.