Look up Santa Maria-style bbq.

My closest friend uses it for a western NY favorite, beef on weck : https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/162533/beef-on-weck/

It's a triangular hunk of beef with nice marbling. Very tasty

The thicker the better. Cook it like a big hunk of steak, seasoned the same way (salt and pepper and I sneak in a little garlic powder or rub). It should be seared on the outside but less than medium on the inside. It's better when cooked over charcoal or wood than using a gas grill. It's hard to get it right on a gas grill unless your gas grill has a high temperature searing area.

Let it rest then slice it thick, against the grain. It tastes like steak, not like roast beef.

It's been popular in my area for ages, it's not new here. Spongy? I've never experienced that.

I guess it may be from the mid-Central Coast area some time ago but I've never understood the "Santa Maria" designation. It's not referred to that way here.

Leftovers (if there are any) make great steak sandwiches.

Ditto the Santa Maria. It's a standard cut in California, and the classic meal called Santa Maria, barbecued over local hardwood, and including pinquito beans, salad and several other sides. A Santa Maria barbecue has aparatus to raise and lower the grate, etc., but any kind can make a good tri-tip. Or just roast it in the oven. Be aware that the point will cook quicker and likely be overdone if you don't account for it.

I've eaten a lot of tritip, especially as a kid, and never heard "spongy". In fact, it should be firm. It's a cut that goes well with good dentistry. And delicious. It doesn't need gussying up. Our cat--a top hunter--never ate table scraps, unless we were eating barbecue outside, when he'd sit and wait, swishing his tail, until Father gave him a piece of the tri-tip. ;) I wonder if spongy is from those dubious things people do to meat like injecting liquid to make it heavier? Just buy good quality, and you should be fine.

We marinate overnight with soy sauce, ginger, garlic, sugar and bourbon. Then grill it. Slice against the grain. Wonderful.

Tri-tip has been a big favorite for years. I remember paying around $1.49/lb. years ago. It’s not the most tender cut but we love the flavor. Ìt comes from the bottom portion of the sirloin in the familiar triangular shape. We’ve always grilled it whether steaks or whole roast, but the oven is fine, too. IMO it’s best when marinated. As mentioned, cut it against the grain for more tenderness. No, definitely not spongy at all. One of my favorites with leftover tri-tip is sliced in a Caesar salad. We just had grilled tri-tip last night.

FWIW, these are two marinades I use often for tri-tip.

#1

1/3 cup soy sauce

2 T. brown sugar

1 T. red wine vinegar

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1 clove garlic, minced

2 T. olive oil

#2

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup olive oil

2 T. sugar

2 T. soy sauce

2 T. McCormick's Montreal Steak Seasoning

1 tsp. seasoning salt (such as Lawry’s)

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1 T. Worcestershire sauce

Thanks you guys. I think my issue is more semantics than any thing else. Roast treatment vs steak treatment. I'm looking forward to a good dinner soon.

I’ve heard family and friends in other parts of the country say they couldn’t find tri-tip. The cut (just bottom tip of sirloin) is likely there, but I think the labeling gets confusing since it can vary depending on location.

I don't know where "here" is for you, Elmer, but I lived in Santa Maria in the 80s and it's called Santa Maria bbq because that cut of beef originated in cattle ranches in that area. It's grilled over oak wood and served with pinquito beans, a green salad, garlic bread and salsa. You'll need to look up a recipe for Santa Maria pinquito beans as they are traditionally cooked in a chili tomato sauce with ground beef.

More info, which is how I remember it.

https://southbaybarbecues.com/pages/the-heritage-of-santa-maria-style-bbq

As far as I can tell, given that cuts of beef are pretty different in Oz compared to the US, tri-tip is similar to what I would call rump roast, which we enjoy.

colleenoz Tri-tip is cut from the bottom sirloin right in front of the rump which would be the bottom round here but is also often called rump roast here. This illustration isn't the best I've seen. Side note: I'm trying to learn more about "cows" since we have some at the ranch I ride at. I may eventually be riding amongst them.

@wildchild2x2, yes, that is the conclusion I came to.

I first had tri-tip about 50 years ago when visiting my husband’s family in Pasa Robles CA where his brother cooked it for us. He always grilled it like a steak and it was delicious. It didn’t make an appearance in the PNW for many years after that, that I ever saw, probably because of all of the Californians moving here and stores like Trader Joes opening.

We enjoy tritip now and then and I second the pinquitos !

Just this weekend we did a brisket, low and slow on the weber 'smoker', it turned out sooo good!

Thanks for that diagram, wildchild - it's hard for me to understand the ins and outs of how to cook the different parts, but sure appreciate the results !

Re my dentistry quip up topic, tri-tip, especially barbecued, isn't inherently tough. It has body and generally requires chewing, whereas there's a current fad for flacid meats that "melt in tour mouth", and it's not really the cut for that. ;)

Along with wildchild’s diagram, this shows how the cut gets the triangular shape. Just about everywhere here tri-tip is sold whole or in steaks/strips.

" I lived in Santa Maria in the 80s and it's called Santa Maria bbq "

I'm sure you've travelled from place to place as most have and in just about every place, there's some food, some preparation, some culinary something that originated there. And most of those somethings are also claimed by a dozen other places.

Pillog's comment above about a " Santa Maria barbecue " sounds like the common mechanism used on large barbeques. If the fire is in a fixed position, the grill needs to go up and down to regulate cooking temperature. Often on a large grill, it's a mechanism with a crank to raise and lower the actual grill. My neighborhood has one at the pool. Caterers who do outdoor cooking often have such grills with wheels that are trailers pulled by a truck or car. And I've seen them elsewhere across the country at barbeque places.

It's most unlikely that such grills originated in Santa Maria.

I don't buy enough meat, I guess. ;) I've never knowingly seen tri-tip sold pre cut. That seems odd to me--maybe it's all this pre-butchery, packaged cuts, where they don't get the whole beast. I generally buy my meat from the actual butcher, though in the market. At the snooty store, there are half a dozen butchers cutting meat, and you can see the quarters of beef hanging, but some of the stores only break down parts that come in pre-cut chunks, and I know some stores have no butchers and get all their meat pre-cut and packaged, and have limited, high demand cuts, only. My opinion is if you want tri-tip get the one that looks like Chloebud's middle picture--the real thing--and roast or barbecue it, to get the best experience, but I may be missing something about the cut up ones.

A Santa Maria is similar to the Argentine. This picture of a Santa Maria is form Mill Scale Metalworks,

Even now, in Santa Maria, many restaurants sell the Santa Maria barbecue dinner Eileen remembers. And many residents make it at home. It's a specific thing which is part of Santa Maria, though it can be found elsewhere in the state.

I don't know about origins, but popularized for sure. That is how they're designated. Argentina may well be the origin, though the Argentine style, full out, has more shelves, hooks, etc., and seems ready to cook all parts of a whole side, plus several brace of birds.

“…get the one that looks like Chloebud's middle picture…”

Right…it can cost a little less and easy to cut yourself if desired.

I was curious about pinquito beans and found this fancy recipe from Food & Wine magazine, along with some info on Santa Maria barbecue and its origins...

https://www.foodandwine.com/santa-maria-style-pinquito-beans-6419451

Last time I visited Sis & BIL in CA, they had these big jars of a Santa Maria seasoning blend they said they used for steaks.

It's not the style of grill that denotes Santa Maria bbq, Elmer. It's the tri-tip, which is cooked over local oak coals, and if you're making it for a crowd, you'd probably have the contraption. That's just a cooking method and not the be-all-and end-all of Santa Maria bbq. In the mid-1800s, when it originated, the meat was cooked on skewers over an open flame. Also, when you say Santa Maria bbq, you mean the whole feast, not just the tri tip. I can make it without the grill and it'd still be Santa Maria bbq. The term is even copyrighted.

https://santamariavalley.com/blog/the-story-of-the-santa-maria-bbq-copyright/

Carol, sub ground beef for the ham and you've got it.

That was me who brought up the actual physical barbecue. It is also called Santa Maria and is the traditional place to cook your Santa Maria tri-tip and pinquito beans, and is known throughout the barbecue world. I have friends in Santa Maria. The Santa Maria barbecue meal is very specific and not meant to be adapted, though the barbecue itself is just a great barbecue.

Yes, if you're cooking large, whole tri-tips for a crowd, such as for a community event, you'd need a way to adjust the heat. I usually see smaller steaks or cubes of tri-tip here and I could make Santa Maria style bbq with them on a Weber grill. I think what's more important is that it's cooked over oak.

For sure, but since the Coast Live Oaks are protected in many places, some use almond or fruit wood, or so I've been told.

I agree with the preceding wood comment. What I've seen used is fruit wood with some hickory thrown in for flavor. Even mesquite. Oak? No.

I understand enough to known that a Santa Maria website will claim whatever there is to claim. Maybe the Martini cocktail, Caesar salad and artichoke dip were developed there too? In the mid-1800s, one tri-tip and a few quarts of beer maybe could've fed the entire community. People are free to believe whatever they want. And do. I don't buy it

Don't buy what? That the Santa Maria bbq originated in Santa Maria? So where do you think it originated?