Tuesday - May 08, 2012
Beef - It’s Why We Win
I’m sure that my West Coast readers will be shocked to learn that the wonderful slab of beef known as a Tri Tip is generally unknown and unavailable here on the East Coast. I’d come across it online while looking up some recipes for hanger steaks, so I asked my butcher to try and get some. I had to explain what I was talking about. He had never heard of them. We wound up bringing in the head butcher, and I had to point out what part of the cow the meat was from on that big Cuts of Beef diagram that all supermarkets have. “Ah, Ok, lower sirloin. Triangle flank steak. Yeah, I think I can get them, but not until Monday.” I was a little shocked, but hey. Groin of Cow, call it what you want. And on Sunday they had some, so I snapped one up. There were half a dozen of them for sale, all in the 2 - 3 pound range. This cut of meat is complete by itself; you get two of them per cow, one per leg, and they aren’t then sliced down into anything smaller.
I came home with a 2 3/4 pound slab of meat about 11 inches long, 6 inches wide, and nearly 3 inches thick. It’s shaped like a double triangle with a dogleg bend in the middle. The grain turns more than 45 degrees; it’s easy to see that one end is attached to the underside of the cow and the other end runs down the front of the back leg.
This was not inexpensive meat, $8/lb for “certified Angus”, but it was our anniversary, so why not? There was a thin layer of fat on one side, and a small amount of visible marbling in the roast itself. Angus are generally low fat cattle; I’d love to see one of these cuts from a regular non-anorexic cow.
Bring it home, rinse it off, pat dry, give it a moderate amount of dry rub that has just a little bit of salt, wrap it up in plastic wrap and let it sit overnight in the fridge. Bring it out last night, let it warm up for about 2 hours, then quickly sear the outside in a big skillet with some olive oil. Open the interesting and really inexpensive Chilean carmenere and set it aside to breath. Sear the meat for 2 or 3 minutes per side, then into a 425-440 oven on the roasting rack for 25 minutes. Hey, I live in a condo, so we don’t have a grill. I was a little hesitant, because the cooking instructions on the package said to roast it at 425 for an hour. Lie! Lie!! LIE!!! That would have killed it dead and dry and created a $20 chunk of shoe leather.
At 25 minutes it was 131 degrees in the middle of the thickest part, so out it came. Cover it with tinfoil and let it rest 10 minutes on the carving board while I heated some rolls, put a simple salad together, and cleaned up from our sushi appetizer. Anniversary dinner, so I was pulling out all the stops. Pour the wine, which was great and only $12! Cut the slab of meat in two at the bend in the grain, then thinly slice it on the bias across the grain. And it was perfectly done, medium rare and tender and aromatic and simply flowing with juices. I didn’t check the internal temperature after the roast rested, but the heat in the meat usually works its way inward during the resting phase, so it was likely 140°F by that point. Whatever.
And the taste? Superb. Beefy but not overpowering. Tender but not mushy. The essence of the rub came through but didn’t take command. This is right up there with prime rib and hanger steak. Better than sirloin or flank steak. Outstanding. We ate our fill and then some, and we’ve got enough left over for at least two more dinners plus sandwiches. I think we could have fed 6 or 8 folks from this one steak/roast/slab. And I’m beginning to think of steak in Texas terms; that no half inch thick slice of meat is worth it. You need a piece of beef at least an inch and a quarter thick to get the proper steak experience.
I can’t afford to eat one of these tri tips all the time or even very often, and it really is far more meat than two people can eat at one go, but if I’m having company over I’ll be serving tri tip from now on. Wow.
West Coasties, your secret is out. And I can see how it can be made even better on the grill with about an hour of smoking followed by an hour of roasting. After 48 hours of wet marinade. Which would be some kind of beef heaven, with extra juice. But it isn’t necessary. The meat doesn’t need any of that fancy stuff to be tender and tasty. Black pepper and a little salt, a gentle browning, and a quick trip through the heat. Done. Awesome.
The Food Police will probably insist that 130°F is dangerously raw and that you must cook it to 145°F at least! Phooey. Mine was done just right, and you can’t uncook meat.
I looked tri tip up on Wiki, and it tells me that the Germans call this cut of meat Tafelspitz, and that they cook it by boiling it to death in vegetable broth and serving it with horseradish. OMFG, that’s a sin of the worst order. No wonder they can only beat the French.
Posted by Drew458
on 05/08/2012 at 08:09 AM
Filed Under: • Fine-Dining •
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