Tri-Tip with Ancho & Coffee

- October 13, 2014

If you like beef you will love my take on Tri-Tip!!

Although I have a love for beef (normally made from Top Round) I find the amount of fat in the cut deficient. The best of the both worlds in my opinion is the mighty Tri-Tip which has a little more fat than the Top Round Roast Beef. The Tri-Tip has more intra-muscular fat and if you want flavor you need fat. If you are unfamiliar with the Tri-Tip it's a small triangular muscle cut from the bottom sirloin sub-primal section. What makes this Tri-Tip a little different is the rub I use and how thinly I sliced it. Of course I will be cooking this hunk of meat using my Sous-Vide and finishing it off on the Weber Genesis Grill at an extreme temp.

First things first where do you buy a Tri-Tip? I have never seen it at QFC or Safeway but it's always available at Costco.

Why is it called a Tri-Tip? I am not sure either. I have searched the net and really could not find a great answer. I can only speculate that it has something to do with the way it is shaped and how the fibers run. If you were to slice this by hand it could be a little tricky. You can tell by the picture the meat fibers run in different directions. The picture I provided shows you where the fibers are and of course you want to cut across the grain. After you cook a Tri-Tip the fibers are not as noticeable so it might make cutting a little tricky. I am using a pro-Slicing machine so there is no issue for me.

This recipe is a snap. These are the ratios I used but it's just a personal thing. Montreal steak seasoning (4), Cinnamon (1), Ancho-Powder (4), favorite coarsely ground coffee (3) and Brown sugar (5). I purchased my steak seasoning from Costco but you can make your own. Mix it all up and apply liberally to your meat. Note: adding Coffee to the rub adds complexity and bitterness that is just wonderful.

So when I say apply liberally I mean cake it on!! You want to impart a lot of flavor into the meat.

Vacuumed sealed!! The meat will sit for 24-48 hours in the refrigerator that way all the flavors will marry and hopefully penetrate the meat (I prefer 48 hours). This is basically a dry rub marinade. Afterwards I will Sous-Vide the Tri-Tip at 132 degrees for 6 hours. For details about Sous-Vide Tri-Tip Click-HERE.

After the Sous-Vide bath I cooled the meat off in a Ice bath then refrigerated the meat over-night. The next day I fired up my Weber Genesis to about 725 degrees to brown the outside of the meat. Prior to putting the meat on the grill I dried the meat off with paper towels to remove excess moisture to facilitate browning. The meat will not brown very well if moisture is excessive. I also applied little bit canola oil spray to the meat because oil acts as a conduit for heat distribution and helps with the browning.

After I browned up the meat I cooled it once again in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. Now all you gotta do is slice away and enjoy.

I would also suggest reserving some of the rub and processing it through a spice mill into a fine powder to sprinkle on the meat after it's sliced up. Now go make a great big sandwich!!!

Update- 3/27/2015
133 at 8-12 hours produced awesome results. This time I used Certified Angus Beef. Not sure if this made a difference but it was awesome.