Easy Labor Day Grilling
Hassle Free Ideas with Big Flavor
Labor Day is coming up soon and that means you, or someone you know, will be grilling out and relaxing with family and friends.
I’m taking a throw back recipe on grilling tri-tip and making it even easier.
Literally just 1) season, 2) cook, 3) enjoy!
No overnight marinades or building complicated rubs. Just honest cooking with flavor hacks to make it effortless.
Perfectly Grilled Tri-Tip
You’ve probably heard about the Tri-Tip if you’re into grilling or BBQ. It has become a very popular cut now, and sometimes is referred to as “Santa Maria Steak” due to its’ popularity in California where it attained cult status being grilled over Red Oak.
The Tri-Tip comes from the Bottom Sirloin of the cow. Meaning great for flavor. There are pitfalls to reaching Meat Nirvana, though. The Tri-Tip contains a few muscles with long grains running in different directions. When not sliced properly you will have chewy meat leather… and the cook temperature shouldn’t go above medium.. Medium-Rare is usually preferred.
You’ll also notice that the roast is uneven in shape, with a tapered edge. Basic physics would then tell us it would be easy to overcook one side of the roast.
So let’s walk through Preparing, Seasoning & Grilling Tri-Tips to Perfection… with no fear.
Will start by saying that I love cooking with fire 🔥 .… so here’s the plan of attack for grilling this Tri-Tip.
Start Charcoal
Season/Trim
Cook over indirect heat
Finish Tri-Tip over the Coals
Rest/Carve/Enjoy!
Prep:
Get your charcoal lit and working to heat up. Plan on approx 30 mins. You want to see some light white ash accumulate on top of the coals. Chimney starters are really helpful and allow you to avoid lighter fluid. Lump charcoal is preferred, but not mandatory. You can see briquettes were used for this cook.
You can see the roast has really nice marbling. This needs only a simple rub. Not a fan of putting brown sugar in the rub, even though this is quite popular. IMO if the roast is cooked and seared correctly to finish, you don’t need the extra “help” from brown sugar.
You’ll notice a top fat-cap. You can leave this on. Pictured below, no trimming etc was necessary. The roast weighed in at 2.3lbs.
RUB SEASONING:
By all means use whatever seasonings you want but for best results use either Craken Steak Seasoning, Craken Carne Seasoning or Craken 2K Seasoning.
The Steak seasoning is for purists who want maximum beefy flavor enhanced with the best quality salt peppercorn and seasonings.
The Carne seasoning is a throwback to the kind of old school flavors grandpa would use when grilling out with a hint of Montreal Steak vibes. 🙌
The 2K seasoning is for those that want a decidedly Asian flavor profile. Packed with miso, sesame, dried kimchi, chili and more; this seasoning makes phenomenal steaks and can be used on pork chops, chicken thighs and even salmon.
*If you’re new here, the Craken line of Spices & Seasonings is my personal line that is blended and shipped to order using the finest quality spices and seasonings. I’m running a Labor Day Special so make sure you check out the details at the end of the recipe!
View the entire collection here
The Cook:
Now time to cook. We are going to keep in mind that the tapered end will cook faster than the thick end of the roast, using indirect heat from the lit charcoal. So place the tapered end furthest away from the heat; using the thick end as a heat deflector.
No oiling necessary if you have a clean grate. Going fat cap down will naturally lubricate the grate.
Place the cover on the grill, and position the vent holes over the roast, so the air current will pull the smoke over the roast as it cooks.
*Note: No temperature measurements necessary. You want a warm fire that isn’t crazy hot. Cook the roast until 120F internal. (A probe thermometer works great to track this while cooking).
Plan on 45 mins or so to reach 120F.
Finishing the Tri-Tip
Once you reach 120F internal temp, shuffle the coals to knock off the ash, and use the heat from the coals to sear the roast (directly over the coals).
Flip often to facilitate even browning and faster cooking. Try and get the entire surface well browned.
The internal temp should be close to 130F now. Remove to a cutting board and rest 10 mins.
Once rested, note the direction of the grain on the roast, and thinly slice against the grain.
Fan out the sliced steak on a platter and serve up to hungry guests.
Depending on your seasoning I’d be serving this with my All-American Potato salad and Marinated Vegetables 🙌 the perfect sides as summer is coming to an end. If you have a lot of zucchini around then consider making Pickled Zucchini spears instead of classic pickled cucumbers.
Feel free to hit the recipe index at the top of my Substack page to get even more ideas. 🤝
Now for the Labor Day Special!
For this week only I’m offering free shipping on orders over $39 so you can sample and try some of these delicious spice blends at home without the burden of shipping.
I usually only have this for order over $100 but it’s Labor Day and wanted to spread some love around and most importantly give you an easy way to see how these spice blends make cooking so much easier.
Just sprinkle and cook
Use code “LABOR” on checkout and all spice orders over $39 will get free shipping!
Thank you as always for your support and I’m looking forward to hearing back from you all, especially the first timers, on the seasoning blends. 🙏
wow - i'll have to check more of you