Santa Maria Tri Tip with Salsa

In planning for our Memorial Day BBQ I  wanted a large slab of meat type dish rather than individual portions, somehow I got tri tip into my mind. Tri tip is not a very popular cut in the Northeast and we are missing out.Thankfully I was able to order it from a local meat store. I have only had it a few times and it is consistently amazing. Enter Santa Maria Tri Tip with salsa. I served it with the recommended Santa Maria beans and grilled garlic bread, which was outstanding.

Soak some wood chips the night before, tradition says red oak, good luck finding it around here, I went with apple wood.
You only need to rub the tri tip down a few hours ahead of time and it only needs to grill for 1/2 hour or so. Since it is truly a steak it is best served medium to medium rare rather than something like a brisket that needs to slow cook a long time. I had two smaller tri tips rather than one large one so I doubled the recipe

For the Rub
4 tsp Kosher Salt
4 tsp Black Pepper
4 tsp Garlic Powder
4 tsp Dried Rosemary
2 tsp Dried Oregano

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl then rub into the meat, let the meat set for at least an hour but longer is fine.  The book recommends using a two zone fire for cooking, simply put you have your grill set up to be medium-high in one half and just under medium on the other, so if the outside is getting too done you can flip the meat to the cooler side. For charcoal (which is what I did) you can accomplish the same thing by having a double layer of coals on one side and single on the other.   Add your pre-soaked wood chips right before cooking. Cook for about 15 minutes per side or until the meat reaches an internal temp of about 135-140 then pull it off and let it rest for at least 5 minutes, 10 may be better. Slice it thin and lay it on a platter. Serve with grilled garlic bread.














For the Bread
Two Loaves of crusty Italian Bread
One stick butter
4 cloves garlic, chopped
handful of chopped fresh parsley

Melt the butter over medium heat and add the chopped garlic. You want to heat the butter until it bubbles then lower the temperature and let it cook for 10 minutes or so this will infuse the butter with garlic.
When the garlic butter is ready brush it onto one side of the bread. Lay the bread on the hot grill butter side down, watch it very very carefully as it will go from raw to cinder very quickly if you aren't careful. Flip to the other side for just a moment to toast it up a bit then sprinkle with fresh parsley and serve. On the plate, the bread soaks up the juices form the meat and the salsa, it is fantastic.  I may have just dropped a piece onto the meat platter, accidentally, and allowed it to soak up the juice. Accidentally of course.

For The Salsa
6 Tomatoes
4 Ribs Celery
6 Scallions
2 Jalapenos
1/2 Cup chopped Cilantro
4 Tbsp Lime Juice
2 Tbsp White vinegar
2 tsp Worcestershire
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp hot sauce
garlic
salt
black pepper

I also doubled the salsa recipe as I wanted to have some hot and some mild. So I used 1/2  of a jalapeno in on batch and 1.5 jalapenos in the other.  I mixed up the whole batch, split it in half  then added the remaining jalapeno. The salsa gets served right on the meat if you are so inclined.

Add in the beans and a green salad and you have a complete meal.