Smoked Tri-Tip Roast

I absolutely love this cut of beef. It comes from the bottom of the sirloin area. It's a small, triangular muscle that weighs in around 2 pounds. It's a very, very lean cut, but it has extraordinary big-beef flavor. I like cooking it as a roast, but in many parts of the country and in Europe, the roast is cut into steaks (again, because of that great, big-beef flavor).

Costco used to carry tri-tip on a regular basis. Then last year it inexplicably vanished from the stores. So lately I make the trip to Byerly's or Cub to pick up a tri-tip. This cut is incredibly easy to grill or roast in the oven. See here: http://terrygruggen.blogspot.com/2011/02/tri-tip-roast.html. In fact, those are the only two ways I have cooked them for years. But yesterday I decided to cook the roast in my Cookshack electric smoker. Look at this lovely photo of smoker perfection:

The oak and hickory smoke-infused meat was absolutely astounding. It took that great beef flavor to the power of 10. I served it up with some charred corn on the cob (http://terrygruggen.blogspot.com/2014/05/charred-corn-with-basil-lime-butter.html). And then we washed it down with a big fruity Zinfandel. What a meal!


Ingredients
One, 2+ pound tri-tip, trimmed (see middle photo above)
Olive oil

Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper

Directions

1. The day before you cook, salt tri-tip generously all over. Put on a wire rack and let it sit in the fridge overnight.
2.  Take roast out of fridge and let it come to room temperature for 2 hours.
3. Preheat your smoker for a low and slow cook at 225º. Wipe the tri-tip dry with paper towels. Rub the olive oil all over, the meat then season entire cut with salt and pepper. Place a meat thermometer into the center of the thickest part of the roast.
4. Place the tri-tip in your smoker and cover. Cook until meat thermometer hits 125ºF (approximately 1 hour). Remove meat from grill, tent with foil and let meat rest for 10-15 minutes (it should rise to about 135ºF). Then slice for serving. The muscles in a tri-tip run 2 directions....so follow this video on how to cut it:

https://youtu.be/kcuIjkohu3c?si=jgDvkM42SqrDwmuC 

Wine pairing: Zinfandel