Santa maria BBQ tri tip

We are forever in search of cooking the 'perfect meal' using our Big Green Egg grill.  Today I think my husband made - the perfect roast!!  This one steals the award for "Best on Grill."  My butcher recommended the cut of beef to use.  We enlisted the help of our FoodSaver marinating application to enhance the meat and followed through with the 'Santa Maria' dry rub application just before searing the meat.  The results were stupendous!  The meat was moist and tender.  The marinade and rub worked so wonderfully together - we suggest serving this with savory horseradish garlic mashed potatoes and fresh cut green beans or spinach.  This recipe goes into our recipe box filed under "Best on Grill"! 
Enjoy,  Diane  


Santa Maria Tri-Tip (made on the Big Green Egg BBQ Grill) 

Ingredients: 
(2.5 - 3 pound) Tri-Tip roast

Marinade & Basting Sauce: 
Wishbone Italian Dressing (approx 1.5 Cups)

Seasoning Salt Mixture:
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon onion powder
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons granulated garlic
2 teaspoons rosemary
Mix together all ingredients in a small bowl

Directions:
Brush your Tri-Tip roast with the Marinade and let it sit, covered and refrigerated at least 6 hours, overnight is best. (We used the FoodSaver quick marinade bowl, using the marinate feature on our FoodSaver unit and then placed the airtight bowl into fridge for at least 6 hours) 
Once done marinating, take roast out of marinade and blot dry (save marinade for basting) Coat both sides of the Tri-Tip roast with the seasoning salt mixture, rubbing it in as you would a dry rub. Let the seasoned tri-tip rest for at least 30 minutes at room temperature. Sear each side of the tri-tip at 650 degrees for  4 minutes each. Remove seared tri-tip from the BGE, cover it with foil and let it rest while bringing the BGE temperature down to 350 to 400 degrees. (During this cool down period we tossed in a couple of water soaked oak chunks.) Place the tri-tip back in the BGE and cook to an internal temperature of 145 degrees for medium rare, basting with the sauce every 5 to 10 minutes. Remove tri-tip from the BGE, cover it with foil and let it rest 10 minutes. Cut into slices against the grain.

Photos by: Diane Baker for Canning and Cooking at Home 
Recipe by: Michael Baker adapted from Morro Bay Rich
BGE = Big Green Egg 

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