Tri-tip is one of my favorite cuts. It is so easy to cook, and very tasty! It is also incredibly easy to butcher. So let’s get started!
What is a Tri-tip?
Tri-tip comes from the sirloin of the cow. Here is a good explanation of where the sirloin is, and what cuts you can get from a Tri-tip primal. I always leave it as the whole tri-tip roast, and that is what we will be doing today.
Where to find a Tri-tip primal?
I like to get mine from a restaurant supply store, also called a food service warehouse, that’s open to the public. My local one is a Shamrock. You should look in your area to see if you have a restaurant supply available. You can also check your membership warehouses like Sam’s Club or Costco. If you know a butcher, processor, or rancher, ask them if you can have the primal cut.
Supplies
- A Tri-tip primal.
- Cutting board
- Scrap bowl
- Ziploc bags or whatever you are using to store the finished meat and scraps
- Sharp knives. I like to use a carving knife with a long, thin blade. I also like to keep a smaller fillet knife for cleaning up hard to reach bits of silver skin and gristle.
- Paper Toweling
Step-by-Step
Step One
I like to cut the bag open over my sink, so all the collected juices can drain and not make a mess. I also leave the meat and bag in the sink and pull one tri-tip at a time to work on. Once you’ve drained the bag, pull out one tri-tip and head over to the cutting board with it.
Step Two
Grab you paper towels and blot the piece dry on all sides. This will keep the meat from sliding around as you are cutting it.
Step Three
Grab your knife and start trimming the fat and silver skin away. There are a few things to look out for with this cut of meat. There is a vein that is the fat, and sometimes it goes down into the meat. You’ll want to remove it. There can also be a line of gristle along the edges of the tri-tip that you will want to remove as well. I like to save all the scrap pieces and make things like tallow, ground beef, and broth with them.
Step Four
Flip the tri-tip over and clean up the other side. It will not have as much fat as the first side, but there will still be some to trim, and our favorite silver skin.
That is seriously all you need to do to get a nice tri-tip roast, cheaper than it would be at the grocery store. Doing just a little extra work saves you money, and you also get the scraps to turn into more food. Check out my other posts on cutting your own meat, this one is for pork loin, and this one is strip steaks.
How Do You Cook Tri-tip?
There are lots of different ways. It is a versatile piece of meat. You can use it as a roast, as steaks, as BBQ. My favorite method is to use a spice rub, smoke it, and then sear it in a cast iron skillet. Here is a great tutorial.
Simple Spice Rub Recipe
If you’ve been around here for a while, you’ll know that I don’t think everything needs to or should be measured out. Learn your taste buds by experimenting. This is a very simple spice rub mix, it should cover two tri-tip roasts.
- Salt. I like mineral salts like sea salt, Himalayan, or Redmond’s. Don’t use garbage salt. Most of it has sugar added. You’ll need roughly a tablespoon.
- Ground black pepper. I like to use more than the salt, so probably 1 1/2 tablespoons.
- Garlic powder. About 1 1/2 tablespoons.
- Onion Powder. About 1 1/2 tablespoons.
- Paprika. About 1 1/2 tablespoons.
- Cayenne, optional for you spice babies, about 1/2 a tablespoon.
Mix it all together and rub onto all sides of your meat before smoking. You’ll probably have some left-over. You can save it, or use it to flavor your BBQ sauce.
I hope you’ll give cutting your own meat a try. It really isn’t difficult and will save you some money. I’d love to know how it went for you! Leave a comment or questions for me below! If you haven’t, consider subscribing to not only be notified when a new post goes live, but to have access to subscriber only content.