Grilling with friends and family can be so much fun, and the tri-tip is a fantastic cut of meat to serve a large group of people. Grilling a tri-tip is cheaper than grilling individual steaks. A good-sized tri-tip can serve between five and six people.
If you live on the East Coast you may not be familiar with tri-tip. The tri-tip is a cut of meat from the bottom sirloin. Many times it is considered a roast, but it's real texture when grilled is much more like steak. And that is why on the West Coast you'll find it being served at many a BBQ.
Steak Recipe
There are many different ways to prepare a tri-tip for grilling. Consider marinating your tri-tip overnight to seal in its delicious flavor. You might also want to consider using a dry rub on your tri-tip just before you put it on the grill. One of the things I like to do when I BBQ a tri-tip is to start with a dry rub, and baste it with a delicious BBQ sauce about 10 minutes before pulling it off the grill. Grilling it like this will give the roast a nice crust while still maintaining that fantastic center flavor.
The best way to cook the tri-tip is to grill it over indirect heat at 325°. This style of cooking is called slow cooking. The time to cook it can vary from 60 to 90 minutes depending on the size of the tip. A good rule of thumb is to grill the tri-tip around 30 minutes for every pound.
The right way a tri-tip should be cooked is medium rare to medium. Pull the tri-tip off the grill when the center of it reaches 140°. Do not cover the tri-tip with aluminum foil as this'll turn the tri-tip gray, and you won't get that nice seared crust that a tri-tip should have.
The Best Tri Tip Barbeque Recipe - Grill it Right!
For the absolute best resource on BBQing Tri-Tip check out The BBQ Secrets Guide!