Barbecued Tri-Tip Roast, Marinaded of Course

My older sister turned me onto the tri-tip roast.  I visited her in Modesto a number of years ago.  We did the weekly Costco run and she picked up this glorious cut of meat.  When she returned home, she sprinkled on a little Montreal Steak Seasoning, fired up the grill and in less than 30 minutes, we had a slab of wonderful beefy goodness.

We'll cook a few roasts up for a large family get-together.  You can fit 3 large roasts on a grill at a time, so we'll flip them on a regular schedule and feed a mob of twenty in a hurry.

The tri-tip comes from the same area of the cow that the sirloin steaks do.  Which means that the meat is rather tender and there's not much of the evil chewy connective tissue.  This combo makes it perfect for grilling.

The great part of this cut is that if you use the meat thermometer as mentioned below, you'll naturally get a little bit of all the doneness levels.  All the center pieces will be a great medium rare, while the outside tip pieces are a little closer to medium well.  That way, if you have a group who like varied degrees of doneness, you'll have a little bit of each for everyone.

This marinade is best if you let the meat soak overnight.  You want to give it as much time as possible to soak in any extra flavor.  If you want to sprinkle on a little Montreal seasoning just before you slap it on the grill, it'll add even more.  But this is a completely optional step.

Barbecued and Marinaded Tri-Tip Roast

One 2-4 pound tri-tip roast

1/4 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
3 cloves garlic, smashed
2 tablespoons dried onions
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon black pepper
1/2 tablespoon thyme

Combine all of the marinade ingredients into a large ziploc bag.  Seal and either shake or squish to combine.  Gently add the roast to the marinade to avoid any accidental marinade splash-back.  Close the bag and shake or squish again to ensure the roast is covered.  Crack open the seal and press any excess air out of the bag.  Then reseal the bag, place the bag inside another bag or plastic container to prevent unintended leaks and let it chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours, 6-8 hours or even overnight is better.

When ready to grill, clean the grill and lubricate the grates with non-stick spray.  Crank your grill up to high and let it heat up with the lid closed for 10 minutes.  Reduce the heat to medium and place the roast (with a digital thermometer probe in it) on the grill.  Close the lid and allow to cook for 6 minutes.  Flip the meat and cook for another 6 minutes.  Continue to flip it every 3 minutes thereafter until the internal temp reaches 140 degrees.  Remove from the heat and cover with tin foil for 10 minutes.  The carryover heat will take it to 145 degrees and the rest will give the juices time to soak back into the meat.  Slice it to whatever size you wish to serve.

So grill up a tri-tip tonight and feed the whole family fast.  By the way, the leftovers make steak sandwiches.