# Tri-tip/tri-tip leftovers



## K Kruger (Apr 8, 2008)

This past Friday, tri-tip for dinner.

I made a rub blend similar to Susie-Q Santa Maria-style but added granulated onion and replaced the dried parsley (which I strongly dislike) with fresh parsley, making a paste by mashing in a mortar the chopped parsley leaves with the granulated garlic and onion, the black pepper, and just a tiny pinch of salt (to speed the release of water from the parsley leaves). I salted the tri separately, before spreading on the paste. 

The tri, paste quickly applied but not yet spread more evenly:





I also prepped some local sweet white corn for the grill. I've never seen a point in soaking corn, nor for taking the time to remove all the husk and silk. Removing the husk except the last leaves is quick; the silk will easily come off after the corn cooks. The husk will protect the kernels at the beginning then shrink as the corn cooks, allowing for some browning as it finishes.






I marinated trimmed asparagus in piri-piri marinade and partially cooked some small purple-skinned potatoes then skewered them for grilling. I made a simple guacamole and a salsa of diced local tomatoes, white onion, minced pickled jal and lime. I made a mayonnaise with smoked paprika, Aleppo pepper, dried lemon zest powder, a little Worcestershire powder, and a little lime.

I grilled the tri, indirect, in a very hot kettle. Just 1 min per side, direct, to finish.

The vegs when the came off the grill:






Sliced tri-tip with grilled asparagus, grilled potatoes, guacamole, and fresh salsa; grilled corn with spiced mayo:





******

With the leftover tri and salsa--






--I made a light lunch on Saturday of sliced chilled tri-tip with calamondin vinaigrette (from a crabcake cook a while back), grains of paradise, and red sea salt; mullt-grain tortilla chips with the salsa (to which I added some diced ripe avocado and a little evoo):






Breakfast tacos, Sunday: Sliced then diced tri-tip scrambled in eggs on flame-griled corn tortillas, with jalapeno jack and the leftover tomato-avo salsa from the above lunch.





Here is yesterday's breakfast using leftovers, egg-avocado and jalapeno jack enchiladas with chopped tri-tip/chopped chuck sauce. I simmered store bought salsa (Herzez's Salsa Casera) in a saute pan till reduced, flame-cooked the tortillas then softened them in the salsa. I then put them in a 200-degree oven to keep warm. 

Meanwhile, I heated grilled corn (from the tri cook above) that I cut off the cob with the last of the tri, finely chopped, some pulled-then-chopped beef from this cook, and a few splashes of finishing sauce I always keep around for pork. When that reduce to nothing I stuck the pan in the oven to keep the sauce warm. (I swirled a little water into it just before putting on the enchiladas to make it saucy. 

I cooked some scrambled eggs, adding avo chiucks and pieces of cheese when half cooked, rolled this, when cooked, in the tortillas, topped with the beef sauce and a couiple dollops of the reduced salsa casera. Yum.


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## WildFireEric (Apr 9, 2008)

Pictures look mighty tasty. Did you get those Tri Tips already cut up as steaks at the store or did you get a whole roast and slice yourself? In CA we'd get whole roasts and cut em up. Out here, can only get a roast if I get it in a cryovac. Most butchers here either don't know what a tri-tip is or they order them and don't do the hacking themselves. I love them. Wegmans is useless as is Safeway. I like Costco. get them uncut in a cryovac in bulk and freeze what I don't use. Makes me wanna go see what I got in there and copycat you. Keep it up.


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## K Kruger (Apr 9, 2008)

Thanks!

I always buy whole and mostly always cook whole. This one I cooked whole. I got it in Fresno, Calif (I drive for a living) at Trader Joe's.


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## Unity (Apr 9, 2008)

Like WildFireEric, I've had trouble finding them in Northern VA. I did buy one at Trader Joe's, in cryovac and preseasoned. Way seasoned. I'd like to find an unseasoned one sometime to try the Suzie Q rub Helen Paradise sent me as part of my runner-up prize in last year's Labor Day raffle for a (Wolfe Rub BBQ Seasonings LLC) Primo grill.  

--John


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## K Kruger (Apr 9, 2008)

Most TJ's carry unseasoned tris. I have sometimes found them buried under the seasoned ones. Try that TJs again and see if you can find one (or a few; they freeze well). If not, ask when they get them in. There are other TJs in N. Va--they are all fairly close to each other miles-wise though traffic-wise, well, you know   --one or another should have a few at any given time.


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## Unity (Apr 9, 2008)

Thanks. I go there rarely; I'll give it another try.

--John


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## WildFireEric (Apr 9, 2008)

K Kruger said:
			
		

> Thanks!
> 
> I always buy whole and mostly always cook whole. This one I cooked whole. I got it in Fresno, Calif (I drive for a living) at Trader Joe's.



Here's my shopping list next time you're in CA and you think you'll be near VA soon:

80 chicken soft tacos from Del Taco (WITH WHITE SAUCE!!!)
TRI TIPS  as many as you can get.
REAL CHIMICHANGAS as many as you can get
truckload of avocados (Fresno is da capital for them)
10 cases of Rocky Road candy bars
20 cases of flour tortillas (something about tortillas west of the Mississippi taste different than the ones from here)

hehehehehehehe  I need to fly back there so I can load up on stuff I can't get here.



As for TJ's, I'll look there too since there's one near my house. I never expected to see any there. Otherwise, I'll hit Costco as needed.


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## Rag1 (Apr 9, 2008)

The tri tip I cooked, I used a leftover hunk to plug a hole in my trucks muffler. Six months and it's still holding.


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## john a (Apr 10, 2008)

Very nice K.


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## Green Hornet (Apr 10, 2008)

I have problems with the "Leftover Tri Tip"....never seem to have any!


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## K Kruger (Apr 10, 2008)

Thanks John

Eric, I'll be in Fairfax at the end of the month, _then_ southern Calif.     But perhaps I could swing by and make you some _real_ Mexican food?     One doesn't find chimichangas in Mexico (save for Sonora; they're from Arizona and likely worked their way a bit south--many Sonorans in Ariz), nor even flour tortillas (except for Sonora and Sinaloa in the north, corn tortillas are ubiquitous). 

Americanized Mexican can be okay, Tex-Mex can be quite good (I love good fajitas) but real Mex? Mmmmm!


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## WildFireEric (Apr 10, 2008)

K Kruger said:
			
		

> Thanks John
> 
> Eric, I'll be in Fairfax at the end of the month, _then_ southern Calif.     But perhaps I could swing by and make you some _real_ Mexican food?     One doesn't find chimichangas in Mexico (save for Sonora; they're from Arizona and likely worked their way a bit south--many Sonorans in Ariz), nor even flour tortillas (except for Sonora and Sinaloa in the north, corn tortillas are ubiquitous).
> 
> Americanized Mexican can be okay, Tex-Mex can be quite good (I love good fajitas) but real Mex? Mmmmm!



Kevin,
Just don't tell Amy you'll be here. She just might hijack a ride with you to CA and never see her again. hmmm??? On second thought.... Never had "real Mexican" food. Does it count as Mexican if made here by illegals? Anyways, we have an "Anita's" chain of New Mexican food here, and it doesn't impress me. Tex-Mex is good. I don't know if I'd actually like the real deal because they don't cook the stuff we like, right? I might have to go to Mexico one of these days just to try it out. In the meantime, there's a place in Manassas (and other D.C. locations) called Guapos. http://www.guaposrestaurant.com  They have OK food. Amy thinks its the closest thing to a chimichanga from CA that she's had out here and actually likes it. I like Peruvian chicken too.  Just missing Northern CA variety of tex-mex and other crap-mex food. Now, if they just build a damn Claim Jumpers out here, I'll be set for awhile. Otherwise, trips to Chicago take care of that problem.


FYI, if I see any of y'all in Salisbury or Louisa, I'll deny this post. OK  my machine got hijacked by some idiot at work and it wasn't me.


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## Thom Emery (Apr 13, 2008)

Yea left over Tri tip just dont hapen much


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