A nice Halloween treat.

[gridlore]

Got back in from a reasonably easy day at work to find that we were having one of our periodic Friday buffets. For all that Adam drives us crazy, the man does something with Tri-Tip that makes it heavenly, even cold. The smell alone was making me crazy, so I did what any reasonable man in my position would do. I got a nice big plate of food, took my lower plate out, and ate.

This got a few looks.

It really needed a nice, full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon, but a cold Coke had to do.

Tonight, after Kiri gets home, I'm moving our little bench to block access to our door. We didn't buy candy (mainly because neither of us want or need to deal with the inevitable leftovers) so we're hiding.

Comments

[johno.livejournal.com]

Just why do you remove the lower plate? I thought the point was to have both sets of teeth to /r/i/p/ /r/e/n/d/ /t/e/a/r/ carefully chew your tri-tip?

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

The lower plate is loose. The suction created by chewing pulls it right off.

Because of the way insurance works, I need to wait until January to start the work on getting my reline/rebuild done.

Zinfandel good buddy, Zinfandel.

[redc1c4.livejournal.com]

for $5/bottle, it's hard to beat Old Moon Zin at TJ's.... your's should have it. tell me what else they have and i'll save you the $ in trying them..... Rosenblum is *way* over priced, btw, and "Gold Country", or whatever it's called is crap (ore car on the label)

Tri Tip is a Central coast thing, and the Paso Zins are perfect for it. (duh: they're Central Coast too. %-)

trim excess fat, etc, from roast, then rinse & pat dry, place on plate fat side down, and sprinkle lavishly with lemon juice, and then coat liberally with a equal mix of dehydrated garlic (not salt), fine black pepper, coriander and cumin. let it sit covered for an hour or so to warm up a bit and it will grill better, just cover it to keep the bugs off it.

get coals good & hot (or preheat your gas grill) then place fat side down for ~8-12 mikes, watching for and killing fat flareups.

flip roast to fat side up, pour remaining marinade/spice over roast(add beer as necessary to ensure coverage) and cook for another 8-12 mikes, still watching for fores. remove from fire and seal on platter with foil for 10-15mikes to rest. slice thin on the grain at an angle. IOW, start at the thin point and cut perpendicular to the point all the way down to the base of the triangle.

times are subjective, due to variances in heat source, starting temp of meat, and desired outcome, although you'll hate tri-tip if it's anything more that medium rare....it dries right the fuck out.

that is unless of course, you go to plan B: prep roast as above, and cook as indicated, which gives you lots of good char. then take roast, and place in a big pan with several beers or other liquids, a chopped onion or two, and some equally pulverized green peppers, etc.... cover pan with foil and place over low heat for 3-5 hours.

when done, meat will pull apart in individual muscle bundles, and is tender as hell: even you could eat it. chop everything up and serve in various ways.

personal fav for this format is warm tortillas over the fire, flip and spread queso and some salsa, then drop the shredded meat on the resultant mix and scoop off onto a plate as a taco, then take another sip of beer and repeat until everyone is fed. you may not eat, but you'll be hammered off yer ass and everyone will be raving about your cooking.

my fav vegi side dish for Tip is asparagus: prep stems, then steam lightly until fork just barely goes through. remove, arrange on plate, sprinkle with Parmesan and then cover to retain heat. pour water out of pan, and add butter to melt. then saute garlic to taste and then add lemon juice. once heated to boiling, pour over spears with cheese, and cover with lid... serve directly. liquid volume needs to be QS to cover spears/cheese enough to cause partial melting. adjust mix/amounts to personal preference.

garlic bread and pinquito beans will be covered in the -20 and above classes as will be the better brands of Zinfandel. anyone *not* in violation of AR 600-( will be a no go at this station.

now i'm fucking hungry.

/white smoke