You'll Love Tri Tip Roast from Your Gas Grill!

Our tri tip roast recipe walks you through the steps for your gas barbecue grill to assure your backyard barbecue fame! The "Cookin' Cousins" use the indirect cooking method to attain a remarkable, rub enhanced, smoke flavored, tender roast. We believe that..."Barbecue is the Mystical Communion of Fire, Smoke and Meat"

1. Great Meat
2. Great Spices
3. Great Tools (grill, tongs, thermometers, etc...)
4. Heat Control
5. Timing
6. Smoke

Please visit our "6 Secrets to Smoking Meat" page, for competitor level backyard barbecue tips!

Can't get Tri Tip? Tell the butcher what you want. Look at our "Tri Tip Secrets" page for the information the butcher needs to cut/order your tri tip

Got a charcoal grill? Go to our "Tri Tip Roast on a Charcoal Grill" page, and we'll show you how we barbecue tri tip roast using the world's favorite cooker.

The Cookin' Cousins love Tri Tip Steak! These 1" cuts from the roast, and Bob's proven grilling method, will secure your backyard barbecue fame! Take a look at " Bob's Tri Tip Steak Recipe" to see how a "pro" does it.

Lets start with the stuff you'll need:

Gas Grill To barbecue a tri tip roast on a gas grill, the grill must have at least two burners and be capable of attaining 550-600°F/288-316°C. We've learned to use an oven thermometer to assure an accurate reading, as the temperature gauge included on the grill is often inaccurate.

Be certain you have plenty of gas for the duration!

Meat Tri tip roast usually weighs 1 1/2-3 pounds and is approximately 2" thick. Try to buy the freshest, "choice" grade, for maximum flavor. A tri tip roasts is a lean cut, so do not trim any of the existing fat. This will serve about 4 to 6 hungry folks, and maybe enough leftover for a sandwich the next day!

Spices Our tri tip roast recipe includes a traditional rub still most favored by the California originators, and we love it. It consists of only salt, black pepper, and garlic powder, however...

Try putting together your own by adding one of these basic fresh ingredients:

• Paprika (sweet)
• Cayenne pepper (ground)
• Parsley (dried)
• Thyme (dried leaves, crushed)

Hardwood chunks/chips Use only hardwood for any barbecue. Any good hardwood will work, but for our tri tip roast recipe we prefer the traditional red oak, or white oak, if that is what you have available.

Aluminum pan (disposable) To prevent flare-ups a drip pan is placed under the grate, over a "cold" burner. More on this later.

Smoker box, or pouch Some gas grills come with a smoker box for the wood chips, but if your cooker does not have one, just make an envelope/pouch from heavy-duty aluminum foil, and put a handful of pre-soaked (in hot water for about 1/2 hour) chips on the foil; fold into a flat envelope/pouch shaped, and poke a several slices in the top to release the smoke.

Tongs Always use tongs! A meat fork pokes holes in your roast and lets the juices escape. You need a darn good pair of tongs to handle a tri tip roast. Long and strong is the secret.

Oven/Grill thermometer This tool is the only way you will really know what's going on inside the grill!

Instant-Read probe type thermometer To ensure the meat has reached the ideal temperature.

A great tri tip roast recipe starts with a rub!

The tri tip roast is first "rubbed", with a simple, dry, spice accented rub, and then seared, smoked slow, and cooked with indirect heat. All for that unforgettable tender, perfectly seasoned, eating experience!

Let's start with a classic rub. You can adjust the recipe (as the "pros" do) to make it "yours".

Mix together thoroughly the following:

• 1 tblsp Kosher or coarse Sea Salt
• 1/2 tsp Black Pepper (we love peppercorns fresh ground!)
• 1 tsp granulated Garlic or 1/2 tsp powdered Garlic

Now, let's prepare the meat...

NOTE: Tri tip roast should always be kept in the refrigerator (below 40°F/4.4° C) prior to preparation. We have found that for best cooking results, we remove the roast from the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature for approximately 1 hour.

• Tri tip is a lean cut of meat, so we leave any fat present to ensure a more flavorful, moist roast. If your tri tip has a full fat layer, you may trim it if you wish, but this is not mandatory, and simply adds a little more cooking time.

• Sprinkle the rub liberally on the meat.

Get the Gas Grill Ready

NOTE: Searing is an important step in our tri tip roast recipe. If you are new to cooking, searing is the act of cooking any meat quickly over a dry, very hot heat source. This will brown (caramelize) the meat to produce that incredible flavor we all so enjoy. Searing requires a temperature of 550-600°F/288-316°C that may not be possible with smaller gas grills. If your grill will not reach the desired temperature, you can cook the tri tip using just the indirect cooking method we describe, or sear the meat in an iron pan over the stove.

1. For the gas grill folks, fire-up all burners initially.
   • After about 10-15 minutes, clean the racks thoroughly with your wire brush.

   • Oil the grate with a long handled brush or use your tongs, and olive oil, peanut oil, or lard (other vegetable oils will break down during the searing process) soaked piece of paper towel. Be careful! Oil will ignite if towel is over soaked.

   • Close the lid for a few more minutes to build, and hold, the heat to 550-600°F/288-316°C.

2. Sear the meat. Place it on a platter and quickly go to the next step. For you folks new to searing, cook the meat for about 5 minutes, turning every minute or so, until you get the dark brown (not black!) tell-tale grill marks! If you want your meat cooked "medium well" to "well", searing is not a good idea.

3. Shut off all but one of the burners, and leave the remaining burner on "high". You want to maintain a temperature of 350-375°F/177-191°C.

4. Use your tongs to carefully lift the grate and place the aluminum drip pan opposite the direct heat of the "on" burner. Replace the grate.

5. Place the chips (pre-soaked in hot water for about 1/2 hour) in the smoker-box, or place the prepared smoker pouch directly on the "hot" burner. Close the grill and let the smoke get started.

6. Once you see/smell the smoke start, place your roast(s) over the drip pan (remember to use your tongs).

7. Close the lid and let the meat cook for about 20-30 minutes then...turn it over and continue to cook until you reach the desired meat temperature.
   • If you are a "rare" meat person, look for a temperature of 125-130°F/52-54°C. If you like "medium-rare", pull the meat off of the fire when the temperature reaches 125°F/52°C as the meat will continue cook to about 135°F/57°C during the "rest" period.

   • Because these temperatures will not kill potentially harmful bacteria that may be present, we recommend an internal temperature of 140°F/60°C be reached before removing the meat.

8. Place the meat on your carving surface and quickly cover loosely with foil to let it "rest" for about 10 minutes. Resting is essential as this allows the juices to partially return to the center of the meat. Nobody but the dog likes hot, dried up meat!

Serve it!...

...warm, cut across the grain in thin (1/4") slices. And for the Cookin' Cousins" taste, eat it just as is, but...many folks like a "finishing sauce". This is nothing more than a warm barbecue sauce, of your choice, served as a side dish (or two), for the folks who would like to put something more on their ribs.

Lets eat!

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