Tri-tip? Where to buy it, how to cook it?

I have meat custom cut at Churchill's on Briarfield in Maumee. They bend over backwards to get me exactly what I want. The butchers there seem to actually know the anatomy of a steer or a pig.

3320 Briarfield, Maumee
419-794-4000

I dont advise trying any of the "House of Meats". They seem unwilling or unable to cut anything out of the ordinary. My last conversation was hilarous. They didn't know a shank from a t-bone.

Zavotski cuts their own beef, and they take custom requests.

Contrary to Holland's experience, the Lee Williams House of Meats in Point Place is terrific. They'll gladly provide cuts we request and often have terrific ideas for recipes or other tips about cooking time for the amount of meat we order, etc.

I don't think all 'house of meats' are the same, though, so my recommendation is for the one on 131st St. in Point Place.

+1 for Zavotski Custom Meats!

http://zavotski.com/
419.720.5225

I've always had good experiences with the House of Meats in Rossford.

I don't have my tri-tip recipe in front of me but here goes.

1. Make a mixture of soy sauce, fresh minced ginger, fresh minced garlic (sorry I don't have the proportions).
2. Make another mixture of brown sugar and cracked black pepper.
3. Rub the sugar/pepper all over the tri-tip.
4. Marinate the tri-tip in the liquid for a day before you want to grill it. Depending on the size, I can usually use a gallon zip lock bag. I sometimes have to cut the tri-tip into two pieces and use two bags. I use the tri-tip roast which is usually 4-5 pounds. The tri-tip steaks are much smaller, but can be used too.
5. Before grilling, let the marinated tri-tip sit out so that it warms up a little (maybe and hour). Keep any excess marinade.
6. Get the grill up to high heat and sear both sides for 5 minutes each.
7. Turn down to medium and continue grilling until done. Pour any extra marinade on the meat while it is grilling.
8. I don't guess at done-ness with expensive meat, so I use a meat thermometer once the searing is done. I cook until interior is 135 degrees in the thickest part. Tri-tip is best (to me) at medium-rare or even medium. Any more cooked, and it gets too tough.
9. Remove from grill and cover with foil. Let rest for 20 minutes.
10. Cut in thin slices against the grain of the meat.

This is not a traditional tri-tip recipe, but I like it better. Usually tri-tip is done with a dry rub (google it) and grilled with the presence red wood smoke. Also good!

OhioKimono: I've been doing the "What? No tri-tip?!?!?!" dance for the last 15 years (moved to Toledo in 1996 after being on the Left Central Coast for more than two decades.) Dozens of phone calls and visits to the folks who provide us with meat in Toledo: No tri tip. The cut is simply not available in this part of the country. At least that is my experience. And you KNOW if you are getting true tri-tip. Once you've seen the cut of meat you understand why it is called "Tri-tip." This is far from the same cut that makes beef tips, and many local butchers will try to convince you that you are looking for an end of sirloin. Tri-tip can be made many ways (hadn't heard of the cheapest beer method, but can see how that could be great :) but true tri-tip is unlike any locally available cut of meat. If someone finds REAL tri-tip locally, PLEASE SHARE!

HOM on Starr close to Wheeling has always been awesome for 34 years! I'm close to the one in Andersons at Woodville Mall now, but they can't carry the goods Starr Ave has coz they can't compete with Andersons. Also, try Tanks out in Elmore, they seem to have great people and unusual things but I've only been there once.

COSTCO, I've seen it there but have not purchased any. I seem to always be taking home the ribeyes or the loin.

Tri-tip is now in Toledo at House of Meats (Talmadge Road Anderson's.) Available plain or marinated. The manager said they have carried it for about a week, though sales are not as brisk as hoped. Mine is now marinating (made my own) and will be a yummy meal tomorrow.

Will be eager to hear how it turns out, LetItBe.

I've had the Costco Tri-tip, and it wasn't bad.

We recently bought 2 full size tritip cuts at the Anderson's and made it up. We can't quiet figure out the mix and rub that was used out west...all the same it was realllllllllly good.

Never been much of a fan of sirloin and sirloin-related steaks (they dry too quickly on the grill and the lower fat content makes them less flavorful), but I will give this a try. Normally when I eat steak I want the better cuts, and I would rather delay gratification for an especially good cut of meat (fliet mignon, tenderloin, strip) rather than settle for a lower-cost sirloin. BUT : I will try this.

Fat is what make a steak tender and flavorful, the leaner the cut the less taste and drier it gets to a point, not the layer of fat around the steak but in between the fibers of the meat. Choice or Select are the grades most common Choice will be the more tender and moist of the 2, Select is a leaner quality of meat.

"... I would rather delay gratification for an especially good cut of meat (fliet mignon, tenderloin, strip) ..."

If you don't mind advice from celebrity chefs, Michael Symon listed in his book Live to Cook five things you should never buy, and number 4. was:

Beef tenderloin/filet mignon. Can we please get over our love affair with the most expensive and least flavorful part of the entire animal? Buy a beautifully marbled rib eye; it'll cost you less and make you happier.

In his recipe about hanger steak, Symon wrote:

This classic French bistro cut, the hanger, is also referred to as onglet or butcher's steak. The reason it is called the butcher's steak is because while everyone else is eating the flavorless tenderloin, the butcher is chowing down on this super-flavorful cut.

I have no experience, however, in any of this, but that's the goal for the summer. I bought Symon's book because of his Cleveland roots, his emphasis for salt, the chapter on pickles, and his opening paragraph in the chapter on meat with my emphasis added:

I am a carnivore for so many reasons. I love meat for its texture. I love ... eating flesh. Fish and vegetables, they don't have that chew. I love cutting into a big rib-eye steak or a grilled port chop. I love a charred outside combined with a beautiful fleshy center. I love fat. With so many other foods, all other foods, fish and vegetables, you have to add fat. Not meat; it's got the fat built into it, it's got the flavor and richness built into it.

That paragraph is pure food porn. Love it!

Personally I prefer a nice NY strip to keep it from drying out put butter on top while cooking, I've even gone so far as to use an injector needle to inject a combination of pepper, salt, butter, A-1 into the very lean cuts of beef. Cant remember what it was called but one of the best steaks I had was a roast of some sort, injected and grilled it was mighty fine tasty.

Costco and just cook low and slow

As long as we're comparing food to porn I second jr's deep appreciation and enjoyment of red meat for its flavor, texture and fat content, and add two other foods that give me great similar satisfaction - sour cream and chocolate. A meal which has those three components in the courses can leave me weak at the knees.

Got to weigh in here-Lived in Central Coast Cal for a while, the home of Tri Tip. It's a bit of a religion out there. First, Tri-tip is super lean (It's the triangle tip of the sirloin primal. In most places it ends up in lean ground beef or stew meat), so low and slow doesn't really gain anything. what makes it so great is the ability to get a lot of flavor onto the crust and actually grill a family size piece of meat in a relatively short amount of time. while it's great for BBQ, being so lean, it doesn't need it, like say ribs or a pork butt. If you are looking for ich flavor, this cut isn't it, but it's a great medium for the rub, which bring up the other important detail- (and maybe more important) the rub. Most use a wet rub technique that is largely lime juice, olive oil, salt, pepper,cumin, chili powder and any number of herbs, especially rosemary and oregano. Lots of onion and garlic powder too. Or fresh garlic, a lot. Let it chill for 3-5 hrs with the rub and then grill away over a pretty hot flame. No more than 7 minutes per side.

Costco stopped carrying it a couple years ago. I had searched and searched for someone to do a custom cut with no real luck (Schorlings charged me like $15/ lb). I used to grill it all the time. I'm mixed about House of Meats because, well, they don't seem to care about quality, only price. And anyone that would put raw bacon in the middle of a raw burger is very questionable. Carrying tri tip would forgive many sins in my world though...