Mr. JOC doesn’t usually cook in the kitchen, but he loves grilling and takes over my cooking duty in the summer time when the weather is perfect for grilling. This Santa Maria Tri-Tip is one of our favorite steaks to grill, and we can’t wait to share this recipe so you can try it out this summer.
What is Santa Maria Tri-Tip?
Santa Maria is a name of a town in Central California. It’s famous for their BBQ beef tri-tip, seasoned with black pepper, salt, and garlic salt. It’s usually charcoal-grilled over native coastal live oak and red oak wood. We were introduced to this delicious steak by our friend Brian, who grew up in, you’ve guessed it – Santa Maria. The first time I tried this steak it took me by surprise because tri-tips are usually not very flavorful unless you pour sauce all over it. With this recipe, the steak absorbs all the seasoning while being marinated, and the simple mixture of garlic, parsley, salt, and black pepper brings out the natural flavor of the meat. The traditional accompaniments for Santa Maria Tri-Tip are pinquito beans, fresh salsa, tossed green salad, and grilled French bread dipped in sweet melted butter.
What is the cut “Tri-Tip”?
If you don’t live in the US, you might have not have heard of “tri-tip”. It is a cut of beef from the bottom sirloin, since it’s triangle-shaped hence the name “tri-tip”. Until I started blogging, I didn’t know that tri-tip was hard to find outside of California as we could buy it in almost all supermarkets’ meat department (even Costco). If you can’t find it where you live, you can replace it with 2 inch (5 cm) sirloin steak instead. The tri-tip cut is not as refined as most filet or other steak cuts; therefore there is less marbling and meat tends to be tougher. I recommend slicing thinly to enjoy.
Santa Maria Tri-Tip Rub
A basic Santa Maria Tri-Tip Rub has salt, black pepper, and either garlic salt or garlic powder. We used Lawry’s garlic salt per Brian’s recommendation which already includes dried parsley. If your garlic salt does not include dried parsley, add 2 tsp. dried parsley. If you use garlic powder, add salt. To make the recipe easily, we used only 2 ingredients: Lawry’s garlic salt with parsley and black pepper. You can make your own rub by adding cayenne pepper for spicy kick and other kinds of herbs based on your preference.
Grilling vs. Sous Vide
We made this recipe many times on the grill. As the steak requires 20-35 min of grilling time depending on the thickness, do not cook over direct heat. The outside will burn while the inside is still completely raw. Make sure to use the indirect grilling method after searing the sides. As we have been enjoying sous vide steak different ways, this uneven cut of steak was the perfect for testing in our sous vide. Like I said before (many times), you won’t over/undercook the meat if you use sous vide cooking. The result was simply amazing! The steak was juicy, the seasoning was completely soaked up by the steak during the water bath process, and we all enjoyed it so much! The liquid smoke gave it a bit of charcoal flavor and finishing it on the grill gave it a nice char mark. If you don’t own a sous vide machine, don’t worry. I’ve shared Brian’s original recipe for grilling method below. I hope you will enjoy making this Santa Maria Tri-Tip recipe as well! If you try it, don’t forget to share your picture on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter with #JustOneCookbook. Thank you so much for reading, and till next time!
Similar Recipes:
Smoked Tri-Tip with Stovetop SmokerSous Vide Steak – Japanese Style (Wafu)
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