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.

If you are not familiar with “Santa Maria” style tri-tips you are missing a treat.  There are variety of excellent histories on the internet.  One of the best can be found at: http://www.lospadrescounty.net/et/smbbq.html

My first impression upon opening the bottle for the first time was that it was loaded with garlic.  Maybe too much.  I love garlic, as much as the next guy, but the garlic smell was a little overpowering.  I ventured forth and seasoned my tri-tip with a good dose of the seasoning.  In the end my fear of  to much garlic was unfounded.  It was perfect

As you can see there are a variety of other seasoning in addition to the garlic, salt and pepper you would normally expect to see.  Once it was on the meat and had sat there for a while it because to take on a nice little “crust” for lack of a better term.

I used by new 26 inch Weber kettle with a full chimney of hot coals on one end to give the tri-tip a good sear. I think the sear is vital to pulling out the full range of flavors from both the meat and the seasoning.  The “Santa Maria Style” seasoning gave the crisp (burnt) edges a wonderful flavor that screamed grilled perfection.

After searing both sides for about four minutes each I shifted the meat to the far end of the grate and added a couple chunks of almond, if  I had oak I would have used it, but I didn’t, where I cooked it indirect until it reach 140 degrees.

I normally like to baste my tri-tips with a little butter during the indrect cooking time so I took a stick of butter and melted it with a heaping tablespoon of the seasoning.  What a wonderful flavor this gave the meat.

Once the meat was to the desired temp I stuck it over the hot coals for a minute or so on each side to “crisp” up the butter and then let it rest for 15 minutes.

This was a wonderful way to cook a tri-tip.  The new seasoning from The Rub Co., is a welcome addition to an already fully stocked seasoning shelf in the pantry.

If you want to really bring out the flavor your beef products and give it the Santa Maria style treatment then give it a try.

You can purchase all their products direct from www.therubco.com

I love Tri-Tip Steaks from Costco. They are one of my favorite cuts of meat. I recently received a bottle of Spicewine Gourmet Blend All Seasoning direct from Jay at Spicewine. I figured there wasn’t a better thing to try it out than the Tri-Tips.

I sprinkled a good helping of the All Seasoning on the Tri-Tips and let them set out for a 10 or 15 minutes. I figured this would help the seasoning adhere to the meat just a little bit better when they hit the grill.

I put them on the trusty Weber Kettle with a medium heat.

After turning them I basted them several times with a mixture of butter and All Seasoning.

And then they were done!

Spicewine’s Gourmet Blend All Seasoning is amazing. It gave the meat a flavor that I hadn’t had before. Most All Seasoning blends have a tendency to be over-salty and will cover up the natural taste of the meat. This product really does enhance the taste of the meat. I also gave my veggies a good shake and they were fantastic too.

The food was fantastic. You could tell the owners actually had a smoker they used when you walked into the place. The J&R “Oyler” pit was right down front. The owner without hesitation let me take a walk around the pit.

I ordered the “Smoked Meat Plate” which came with tri-trip, brisket and pork collar and two sides. The meat was great. The brisket was tender and moist and done to perfection. It almost melted in your mouth. The pork collar (a different cut of meat I need to check out) was sliced and again was just amazing. The tri-tip was, well tri-tip. Nothing great compared to the other two meats.

For the sides I had beans and cole slaw. The beans had a unique flavor profile. They were good, but trying to guess the spices was challenging. The owner would only confirm that cinnamon was in them when I guessed right. The cole slaw again was unique and very tasty. The vinegar based sauce had a good heat kick at the end, but was not overpowering. My wife had the Memphis style pulled pork sandwich and again it was very good. We ended up sharing both plates.

The most amazing thing was that everything from the side salad to the cole slaw and beans were all from scratch. No bagged lettuce, cabbage or canned beans here, all scratch.

There are not many BBQ restaurants I will go back to more than once. But Yunece 61 will be a regular stop on our evenings out. Check out their website, lots of specials. Including “All You Can Eat” nights during the week.