Barbecue Addict

The thinner sections of the cut required more trimming than the thicker parts:

I seasoned the meat with Oakridge BBQ’s Santa Maria style rub:

The tri tip was smoked on the BGE using hardwood briquettes and red oak until it hit 115 degrees, and finished off with some direct grilling until it hit 135 degrees:

I cut a few thin slices for a taste:

This stuff was pretty intense. It was very beefy, so much so that it was almost gamey. One might think it was something other than beef. I managed to stop
sampling it long enough to fix a meal. I used a french roll, some havarti cheese, and some beer braised and carmelized sweet onions to fix a nice
sandwich:

The fries were seasoned with truffle salt:

I kept dessert simple using a lemon bar mix, and incorporating smoked ingredients:

I used some juice from some smoked lemons, along with eggs and water to make the lemon filling:

I added smoked butter to the crust mix:

The lemon bars were baked and then coated with powdered sugar:

Desset was served:

Lemon bars are always delicious and these weren’t too shabby. The smoke was obvious in both the crust and filling. Next time I’ll make them from
scratch.

The second tri tip was aged to 40 days:

It required significantly more trimming than the previous tri tip:

I setup the Weber for some indirect grilling, and just as I got it on the grill, the rain turned to hail:

Fresh off the grill:

I made some flour tortillas prior to grilling the meat:

2.5 cups of flour, 1 1/4 tsp of salt, 2.5 tsp of baking powder:

Cut in 1/2 cup of lard or shortening:

Mix in 1 cup of hot water:

Knead the dough for 3-5 minutes, and let rest for 1 hour:

Roll into small balls and let rest for another 30 minutes:

Frying up the tortillas:

Some of the grilled tri tip was diced and quickly sauteed on a blazing hot cast iron skillet to pick up a little more char:

The steak tacos were topped with roma tomatoes, cilantro, sweet onions, hickory smoked monterey jack cheese, and smoked lime sour cream:

This second dry aged tri tip was as intense as the first, just smaller due to the extra trimming required. I think 28 days might be the best dry aging timeframe to use on small cuts like this. I really enjoyed trying this, but I’m hard pressed to say it’s better than fresh tri tip. It’s just very different and definitely a good change of pace.