Every once in a while I have some leftover steak, tri-tip or brisket.  Often times it just gets eaten, sometimes on a sandwich or just eaten as a snack.  This time around I needed something quick for lunch and some Frito Pie came to mind.  Not sure why, but I did.

Frito Pie is a simple dish.  Take a bag of Fritos and top them with chili and some toppings.  A great easy dish for camping or tailgating.  Nothing to wash, just eat and toss the bag in the trash can.  I like to top mine with avocado, sour cream, cheese and a little cilantro.  But the skies the limit for toppings.  Maybe some chopped tomatoes, onions or jalapenos.

Let me know what you top your Frito Pie with.

And let me know why it’s called a “pie” if you know.

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The scientific name of this muscle is tensor fasciae latae, inserted in the fascia lata, the connective tissue covering the quadriceps femoris, also called quadriceps extensor, a group of four muscles which in turn insert in the patella, or knee cap of the animal.-Wikipedia

Last week I published a tri-tip blog post.  I got several emails and social media comments about how others cook this cut of meat.  I got to thinking that it would be a great idea to provide a forum for others to share how they cook a particular piece of meat on the grill or smoker.

Some like to grill, some like to smoke.  Some even combine the two methods.  It doesn’t matter how you cook it, it’s about sharing your skills and talent so others can enjoy some great tasting tri-tip.

Please take a moment and add your tri-tip cooking advice using the comment section below.  I’ll transfer your suggestions and comments to the blog post as they are left.

BBQ Grail reader suggestions and tips for cooking tri-tip:

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Larry Gaian

I love Tri-Tip!

Tri-Tip is second only to Ribeye when it comes to picking my favorite cut of beef.  It’s an incredibly flavorful piece of meat that takes smoking and grilling well.  My preferred method for cooking Tri-Tip is on my Weber kettle using indirect heat until 130 degrees internal and then a quick high heat sear.  After resting you should end up with pretty close to a perfect medium rare hunk of juicy beef goodness.

My “secret” technique is basting the Tri-Tip just before and then during the searing process with a basting mixture heaving on melted butter.  My first Tri-Tip basting mixture was a 50/50 mixture of butter and A1 Bold Steak Sauce.  You get a great caramelized crust on the steak from the sugars in the steak sauce and from the butter.  This time around I decided to try a couple new ingredients I received recently to see if I could come up something a little bolder for my Tri-Tip.

I was in the grocery store the other day and came across a limited edition Heinz Ketchup with Balsamic Vinegar.  My friends at All Spice Cafe also recently sent me some Chipotle Garlic Sauce.   I decided to use these two ingredients to come up with a new basting sauce.  And it worked to perfection.   The taste was great with a nice little heat tingle on the tongue along with the sweetness of the balsamic vinegar.

When I’m not doing Tri-Tip Santa Maria style I like to season the Tri-Tip with just salt and pepper (right).  For me it’s all about the beef flavor and besides I’m getting plenty of additional flavor from the basting sauce.  I cooked the Tri-Tip on my 26″ Weber Kettle at about 450 degrees until the internal temp was 130 degrees (left).  At this point I stoke the coals up as hot as I can get them.  While the coals are getting hotter I baste the meat with the sauce.  Then a quick super hot sear and another coat of sauce.  Turn the meat over and baste again.

Let the meat rest for at least five minutes before slicing.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Larry Gaian

Tri-Tip is one of my favorite cuts of beef to cook outdoors.  There are a variety of different “tri-tip” rubs on the market today.  Some good, some bad.  Most of these tri-tip rubs are a Santa Maria type seasonings of some form or another.  Now there’s nothing wrong with Santa Maria style seasonings but there are only so many things you can do with salt, pepper, parsley and garlic.  It does get a little boring after awhile.

On their website Jake’s calls their rub a “Santa Maria” style rub, but they’ve added a little twist that allows the rub to work on ribs and steak as well.  My preferred method of cooking tri-tip is to sear and smoke the meat.  Normally, I’ll sear the tri-tip and then move the meat to a “low & slow” method with some wood smoke.  The high heat from the sear part of the process sometimes causes a bitter aftertaste.  You don’t get that with Jake’s.

In addition to the normal salt, pepper, garlic and parsley you’ll find in traditional Santa Maria rubs you can see other herbs and spices in Jake’s.  The tarragon and oregano gives the rub a nice additional flavor level.    The rub has an excellent balance between the salt and pepper in the rub.  What’s nice is that you can’t really taste any one flavor.  They blend together into a unique flavor that compliments the “beef” flavor that tri-tip is well known for.

I really loved the color it gave the tri-tip after the sear and a couple hours of 225 degree heat and smoke.  The marbling color and meat color gave the meat a fantastic appearance.

I decided the best way to try out the overall flavor of the meat was a tri-tip sandwich.  I nice heaping pile of thinly sliced meat on top of toasted bun with a large dollop of bbq sauce.  The flavor was fantastic.  Without a doubt Jake’s has a winner here.  Jake’s recommends this rub for just about anything including vegetables.  I for one can’t wait to try it on ribs.

This rub is also gluten and msg free.

You can order Jake’s online directly from Jake’s .  It’s also available at select retail outlets.  You can find a listing on the website also.

I brought along my big 14 inch  dutch oven and had to come up something to fix.  The rest of the family didn’t have any preferences so I took a trip to the local Haggen Market and came away with some double smoked sausage and bacon.  I wanted some tri-tip but the beef at the market didn’t look all that great.  A side trip to Costco took care of the tri-tip.

Heated the dutch oven and started browning the sausage and bacon.

Sliced up a sweet Walla Walla onion along with some red and gree bell peppers.

Toss in the onions and bell peppers

Cut the tri-tip into some large chunks.

Seasoned up the meat with Santa Maria Seasoning, Jalapeno Salt. Added some coca-cola to the whole thing.

Got the whole thing simmering away

Some nice finger potatoes

This was going to be a great meal!

And 45 minutes later it was all done! This was some great stew!

Fortunately, I can say we didn’t have a box of Hamburger Helper lying around, so I made a quick trip to the Super Wally World for some supplies.  Mostly strawberries for desert, but also a box of Hamburger Helper.  Picking our a “flavor” that would work with smoked beef was a little challenging.  I decided on Philly Cheesesteak Hamburger Helper.

As you can tell, this was a really nice piece of smoked, then grilled tri-tip.  I had seasoned this with Todd’s Dirt.

The tri-tip was diced up.

After adding all the Hamburger Helper ingredients and bringing to a boil, per the instructions, I tasted the sauce.  It needed something.   I new immediately that what it needed was bacon, but I didn’t have any so I used the next best thing.  Bacon Salt…

That did the trick.  After cooking, per the instructions, I plated it up with some salad and fresh french bread.  It wasn’t the worse thing I’ve ever eaten, but for a quick meal it was satisfying.  The smoked flavor and bacon salt complimented the “cheese” sauce very nicely.