If you have not tried a tri-tip roast, stop what you are doing and goto the best butcher you have near you and ask them for an un-marinated tri-tip roast.
This is a tender and very lean cut of meat that needs to be cooked to medium-rare. At this point, the meat is tender but still has a great beef texture and a very beefy flavor.
Although you can grill this, the smoking technique allows you to add a nice amount of smoke flavor and slowly bring the roast to medium rare. To help with creating the crust on the outside toward the end of the smoke, we will do a quick reverse sear then put it back in the smoker to finish.
Ingredients:
1 - 2-2.5lb Tri-Tip roast
Salt
Pepper
Directions:
Dry Brine:
Very generously salt the roast including the sides.
Place on a cooling rack and place on top of a cooking sheet.
Place uncovered in the fridge for 24 hours.
Smoking
Remove meat from the fridge 30 min before smoking.
Bring the smoker to 225 degrees.
While the smoker is coming to temp, apply your favorite rub, but just adding pepper is fantastic. Apply the pepper generously including the sides.
Add meat to the smoker and your favorite combo of wood chips. I used cherry with a little hickory.
The meat will take 45-60 minutes to get to 110 degrees.
While the meat is smoking, start a charcoal grill setup for direct high-heat cooking.
When the meat is at 110 degrees, transfer to the grill and grill both sides till a good crust has formed, 4-5 min.
Return to the smoker. Remove when the meat gets to 125 degrees (for perfect medium rare)
Allow to sit for 5 min, then slice and eat.
Notes:
Serving size = 4 people
Good video for the dry salt brine process (0:40-1:30):
Good video for smoking a tri-tip with a reverse sear:
Slicing can be tricky because the grain of meat changes through the cut. Use this picture as a reference: