Before now we had never heard of this mythical cut of meat called tri-tip. We thought it was some hybrid combination of beef, pork, and chicken all married together in harmonious meat heaven. It hasn’t quite lived up to those expectations but is still delicious in its own right every time. Just to help clear up some confusion for everyone, here is a quick synopsis of tri-tip:
- Tri-tip was introduced for the first time in the 1950s in Oakland, California.
- Tri-tip is also sometimes referenced as the Santa Maria Steak as that is where it became a popular local staple.
- You can grill tri-tip directly, roast whole on a rotisserie, bake in an oven, or braised in a dutch oven after searing the meat, or cook in a sous vide like this recipe.
What is Sous Vide?
We are just full of knowledge bombs today sharing valuable information we wish we knew when we started cooking. Most of the terms we see thrown around online or anywhere in the cooking world seem like a foreign language to us. For example, sous vide. We have learned to speak this language in incomplete sentences so hopefully, one day we will be able to speak it fluently. Until then, we will use our Caveman descriptions to help anyone else in the same boat as us.
Sous vide is just a fancy French way of saying under pressure. Translated to caveman terminology, it means cooking food sealed in air-tight plastic bags in a water bath for long periods of time. Eeek, yes we just said plastic and that has already been addressed. With that drama out of the way, we use sous vide because it is EASY!!!
It makes things like planning big dinner parties, meal planning, or cooking meat perfect, simple everyday tasks. We even use ours to cook perfectly cooked soft, medium or hard-boiled eggs. That makes it worth its weight in gold. Pretty much what we are saying is you should own one (We bought ours and do not get paid for my endorsement, we just LOVE it)
As we continue to experiment, we will continue to post our sous vide recipes and share our journey with this new found cooking adventure. In the meantime, leave us a comment sharing what you will/would make first in your Sous Vide!!!
Sous Vide Tri Tip
Ingredients
- 3-4 pound grass-fed tri tip
- 2 tablespoons yellow mustard
- 1/4 cup of caveman rub
- 2 tablespoons of grass-fed butter unsalted (optional)
- 1 cup of beasty bbq sauce
Instructions
SousVide Supreme
- Preheat your SousVide Supreme water bath to 134 degrees Fahrenheit
- Pat dry your tri-tip and use one tablespoon of mustard on each side of the tri-tip and spread it around to ensure an even coating
- Generously sprinkle your Caveman Rub over your entire tri-tip
- Place your tri-tip in a vacuum seal bag, add your grass-fed butter, then vacuum seal
- Submerge your tri-tip in the water bath for a minimum of two hours but you can leave it up to six with no issues
- Once removed, pat dry your tri-tip and heat a cast iron skillet on your stove top or your grill to high heat (either works, just need high heat for a quick sear)
- Sear each side of your tri-tip for approximately two minutes
- Remove from the pan or the grill and slice against the grain
- Serve with a hefty amount of beasty bbq sauce and enjoy
Grill
- Allow your tri-tip to come to room temperature
- Prepare your grill for indirect heat cooking at 400 degrees Fahrenheit
- Pat dry your tri-tip and use one tablespoon of mustard on each side of the tri-tip and spread it around to ensure an even coating
- Generously sprinkle your Caveman Rub over your entire tri-tip
- Place your tri-tip fat side up over the cooler side of the grill so you can avoid flare-ups when the fat drips
- Grill for 10-15 minutes per side with the lid CLOSED and only flipping ONCE
- We recommend using a meat thermometer here so you can get the perfect temperature
- Pull your meat off when it is about 5 degrees cooler than your desired temperature
- Place it on your cutting board on a plate and tent with aluminum foil for 10 minutes so it will continue to cook and lock in the flavors
- Slice it against the grain and serve with a hefty portion of beasty bbq sauce
Notes
Interested in eating more healthy?
Listen to our friends over at Wellness Force Radio to learn about how to control food cravings with Robb Wolf:
Paleo Indulgences – Raw Macadamia Thumbprint Cookies
Great looking site. Think you did a lot of your very ownyour very own coding
thank you!
I didn’t mean to give a low rating I hit the wrong button. Sorry :(
Oh well, not a biggie
I will be trying this recipe soon. I was wondering though. If I prepared say two at a time could I quick chill these and hold in the refrigerator for a couple of days before bringing to room temperature and reheating on the grill. I would like to be able to feed at least 30 people. Thank you so much for your wisdom and recipes.
Yes you could do that
Can’t wait to make this. Husband and kids gifted me with a sous vide supreme a few months ago, and I’m always on the prowl for new recipes. :-)
Oh you will love this. I love my sous vide
real people are vulnerable… vulnerability is attractive. keep the realness coming – i enjoy your posts, recipes and photography! now, can you gift me a Sous Vide? :)
If I had one to gift I would for sure give it to you, sorry. And I don’t plan on changing, I will keep dumping my head out on the screen :)
George, you are so amazing. The list would be endless from what I have seen. Paying it forward, your great service to our country, your AMAZING recipes, your GREAT photography, your beautiful soul…oh I just don’t have the energy to list all of the wonderful attributes that I know about you from watching your posts over the last year. I hope to someday meet you because I find you inspirational. I do however believe that you have a lot going on. A car accident can lead to health issues to deal with (I did so for over a year after being rear-ended) and with all your wonderful goings on that you need to make sure and take care of yourself. That is the one great thing I have learned, take care of self. It’s also the hardest lesson and the one I am the least capable of doing (I have a lot of issues with it). lol! I know you can though. You have done a great job! Have a great evening George! :-)
George….
Publishing your struggles allows the rest of us to know that you are human. You put your proverbial pants on one leg at a time, just like the rest of us. It’s of comfort to know that life isn’t always rosey and hearing with how you are dealing with the challenges that are presented to you right now with grace and decorum is uplifting to say the least. If you only wrote about how wonderful everything is, how perfect things are, then I personally would have a much harder time following this blog. Perfection is a facade, real life is what happens to all of us… the good, bad and the ugly. Please keep up the good work, but remember to TAKE CARE OF YOU!.
Lesley you are amazing. Thank you for such a supportive and honest comment. You made my Monday :)
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Looks great! If I don’t have a Sous Vide, do you think I could get the same results with a slow cooker? Sous Vides are in short supply on this side of the pacific :)
Oh I don’t know, I have never though of trying a Tri Tip in the slow cooker
George, I only just discovered you through the paleo parents website. I bought your book and I am cooking up a storm ever since. My kids loved the banana cinnamon swirl cake! I took a look at your photography site and I have to say: you are truly one heck of a talented guy.
Thanks for your amazing recipes and I hope things are getting better for you soon…
BTW, I am reading your blog from Germany:)
I am so glad you found my site and that your kids enjoyed some of the recipes. And thank you for the compliment, I try hard. Hope you have an awesome day
I think it’s wonderful that you feel you can vent freely to your readership. Speaking for myself, I feel you’ve shared so much and your little lifesaver recipes have played such a significant role in my graduate school survival that I do feel as if we’ve been speaking this entire time (even if it’s entirely one-sided, and I’m just the weirdo reader on the other side of the computer screen). No one will ever begrudge you a long rant if you’ve had a bad day– or, rather, what it sounds like, a trying couple of weeks. You’ve been a generous, open resource and have more than earned the right to gripe a bit (which you didn’t even do– learn to whine properly, damn it ;) ). Anyway… I do hope things improve for you soon. The recipe looks delicious. You’ve convinced me– someday, I will save up enough to invest in a sous vide. Until then, I’ll placate myself with cooking vicariously through you and Nom Nom ;)
Thank you so much for being so awesome Jo. I will work on my whining because I thought I did a good job
George, you have helped so many of us- I’m sure I can speak for us all by saying that we are sending all of the positive karma possible your way. XOXO from the Paleo community
Thank you so much Angi
George, i’m not new to paleo, but i’m new to your site. IT’S SUPER AMAZING!! You have so much talent and knowledge to share with the world. Life is fraught with set backs, that’s how we learn. Don’t let life get you down right now. You were alive this morning and you have the ability to move and go explore the world. Do just that!! Everything will right itself eventually, that’s how karma works. You have to go through the bad to truly appreciate the good. Meanwhile it’s healthy to vent;) we’re all pulling for you and i think we all can relate with a crappy week<3
the links to how to make your own and the addition two 'here's' don't work!!
Thank you for the kind words, can you try the links again please :)
yes they work perfectly now:) THANKS
Hey George, thanks so much for sharing. You are loved, cared, and appreciated by many. On an off note, none of the links are working now on this page. Not sure if others have had the same problem.
Meaghan, which links are not working, I just tested them all and they worked. Please let me know