Pellet Smoker Cooking: Pre-seasoned Tri Tip and Salad

Jun 27 2013

I am getting an overload of greens on hand so tonight I figured I would do some good steak and have a large romaine salad. I went to Krogers but it was too early and they did not have their select meats out yet. I guess they think no one buys select meats until after 11:00 AM. I like to shop before 10:00 am to avoid the crowds.

Some pre-seasoned tri tip caught my eye so picked out a small one for the wife and I, 1.39 pounds. It was $7.99 a pound but $6.99 with my Krogers card. To me that’s still too expensive; it was not that long ago here in the Midwest butchers were throwing that cut in with the ground beef. The one I bought was seasoned with Santa Maria style seasoning.

I have had good luck with tri tips doing low & slow to an IT of 130 deg. and then doing a sear on my Weber Q100. I got it on at 5:00 and held 260 deg. grill level temp; smoke mode P0 on my Traeger. It took just about an hour to get to temp. I then seared it 2.5 minutes each side.

I had my salad made up, romaine, some leaf lettuce, baby bella mushrooms, slivered onions and some tomato. I made my dressing; a balsamic vinaigrette. Most recipes call for 3 to 1 oil to vinegar ratio. That’s way too much oil for me so I do a 1 to 1. Mine was ¼ cup each of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, 1/8 cup of water, salt, pepper, 1 teaspoon brown sugar, and 1 teaspoon of dried onion flakes all mixed in a pint jar.

While the roast was resting I finished the salad with the dressing and shaved some parmesan on top. I sliced the roast and served it with some gorgonzola butter on top and ciabatta bread with the butter.

The tri tip and salad went well together; meat was very moist and tender.

Tri Tip