Donnie’s Blog

Since I have a special guest coming into town tomorrow, I thought I should pull out all the stops and make some gourmet sandwich fodder, for a picnic on the beach. I settled on tri-tip steak, mainly because I’ve never tried cooking it before, but also because I have some good friends who serve tri-tip at their annual barbecue, and it always comes out good.

Tri-tip steak is just great for making into sandwiches, because the grain goes along the long dimension of the cut, so you can cut it into thin pieces and get a totally tender and awesome piece of meat. The tri-tip is a triangle (surprise; equally surprising is that it’s also called a “triangle steak”) of meat at the base of the bottom sirloin primal, so it’s very flavorful but a little less tender than something higher up the cow. A lot of times it is marinated, then cooked relatively quickly on the grill, either to medium rare or medium. Then, slice it thin and serve it with baked beans, and that is a fantastic meal.

The sandwiches I wanted to create were going to go something like this:

• Ciabatta roll, preferably brushed with olive oil infused with garlic and rosemary then lightly toasted
• A light covering of mayo, perhaps the tiniest amount of mustard, and a good smear of goat cheese
• Some baby greens, probably arugula (a.k.a. “rocket”) for the peppery flavor
• A nice helping of thinly cut tri-tip

Given this was the goal, I decided on this marinade for my tri-tip:

• About a cup of red wine. I chose Caberenet Sauvignon since it’s a little fruitier and more mellow, and I wanted something a little tamer with the goat cheese and the arugula. (For a spicier result, Shiraz is the way to go!)
• About 2 tbsp of olive oil
• 5-6 cloves of garlic, peeled. Smash ‘em first, then chop them up. If you just chop them up, you don’t get as much flavor.
• 1.5 to 2 tsp of coarsely-ground black pepper. (I was more towards the 2tsp end…)
• About 1 tbsp of kosher salt
• The juice of about half a lemon

(Sorry; I usually don’t measure anymore unless I am baking!)

I threw all of this into a nice-sized bowl then whisked it up to combine.

I think a little dijon mustard would be fun to add to the marinade in the future, but I didn’t want to overdo it the first time.

I got out the target tri-tip steak, and using a paring knife, I stabbed the steak about every 2-3 inches, cutting across the grain, all over the roast. I wanted to make sure the marinade would penetrate the meat.

Then I threw the tri-tip into a zip-top bag, dumped in half the marinade on each side, then sealed it up. Then I moved the steak around, flexing it and massaging it a bit, to make sure the marinade would make it into all the holes I stabbed into the steak.

Then it was into the refrigerator overnight! In the morning I massaged the steak a bit more, then flipped it over and let it sit until tonight. 24 hours produced a good flavor, but 36 would probably be even better. Beyond that, I could see the flavor getting a bit overwhelming.

Tonight I built up a good size fire on the grill (I normally use charcoal), and spread it around the edges of the grill so I wouldn’t have the heat too direct. I also put some hickory chips on the fire to add a little smoky flavor to the steak as well. Once the grill was nice and hot (around 425 degrees F, according to my thermometer), I seared each side for about 5-10 minutes, then moved the steak to be in more indirect heat. (The thermometer started around 400 and dropped to about 365 by the end.) Once the internal temperature hit about 130°F (I was aiming for a result that was medium to medium-well, given the preferences of my guest; for medium-rare I would pull at 120), I pulled the tri-tip, covered it in foil, then let it rest for about 20 minutes. The meat coasted to about 145°F at the high point. I didn’t really try cutting into it until it was back down to around 130.

I have to say, the flavor is just unbelievably good. The wine and the garlic jump right out when you try a thin slice of the meat, and the pepper is a great underlying theme without being overwhelming. I find that lemon juice in my marinades “brightens” them up a bit, but you don’t want to actually taste it prominently; that was about where this one was, so I was quite happy.

I can’t wait to eat these sandwiches; they are going to be awesome! Maybe I will even share a bit of one with my guest…

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 12th, 2009 at 9:13 pm and is filed under Food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.