Recipe: Santa Maria Tri-Tip

This Father’s Day, lots of people choose to honor their dad with a backyard barbecue. Here in California, consider grilling in the Santa Maria-style. That means slow cooking over an oak fire using a

grill with an adjustable grate. Frank Ostini of

The Hitching Post II in Buellton (remember

Sideways?) cooks in the Santa Maria-style. Hear him tomorrow Good Food as he explains to Evan the best way to build an oak fire for your BBQ.

A typical Santa Maria BBQ menu includes:

Tri-Tip served with salsa, Grilled Garlic Bread, Beans and a Green Salad.

A recipe for tri-tip follows…

5 lbs Tri-Tip with fat cap on

Season the meat with garlic salt, salt and pepper. Don not trim off the fat before putting the meat on the grill. By placing the fat side over the fire first, the juice will come up through the meat and make it tender.

Sear the lean part of the meat over the fire for 5 to 10 minutes to seal in the juices, then flip over to the fat side for 30-45 minutes. Flip the meat again on the other side and start chicking on the desied temperature.

Once cooked, let the meat rest for about 15 minutes, trim the fat off and slice against the grain the long way, not across the triangle.

(From Alisal’s BBQ Bootcamp)