[fabaudio]

what cut is a tri-tip?

http://www.askthemeatman.com/tri-tip.htm

 Do NOT "butcher" a tri-tip with marinades , sauces or other strange seasonings. Use only course salt(sea salt) to bring out the natural flavor of that particular cut of beef. IMO that's the way all barbecues should be done. Why do people go to great lengths to try to mask the flavor of things?

[woodsyi]

Do NOT "butcher" a tri-tip with marinades , sauces or other strange seasonings. Use only course salt(sea salt) to bring out the natural flavor of that particular cut of beef. IMO that's the way all barbecues should be done. Why do people go to great lengths to try to mask the flavor of things?

Because we some times get stuck with cuts that NEED masking!   I am totally with you on using just sea salt and a dash of fresh ground peppers on good cuts.

[mcgsxr]

While as a purist for good beef, I can understand why some folks would recommend just a little coarse salt and some fresh cracked black pepper, there are other sides to the equation too.

I am a sucker for a cajun spiced, blackened (Chicago for all y'all in the know) piece of beef.  I have been known to perform this bastardization to any cut of meat, for my own enjoyment...

Eat what you like, how you like it, and share the idea with others - they will gravitate towards what they want anyway!

[ss397]

i got turned on to a great alternative to grilling a steak from men's journal magazine. you use a cast iron skillet. put the heat on high and get the skillet very hot. preheat oven to bake at 375. allow steak to warm to room temp. and apply a little olive oil to both sides. sear steak for 2 minutes per side on stove burner, then transfer skillet and steak to oven and cook for the remainder of the time which varies depending on the thickness of the steak, usually about 6 minute fo 1.5 steak medium rare. this gives you a finished steak which rivals one from a top steak house. cautions, don't heat skillet too hot, this isn't blackening, you just need to sear both sides to a nice finish. this method will create a lot of smoke, use only with adequate ventilation.

[Dan Driscoll]

Do NOT "butcher" a tri-tip with marinades , sauces or other strange seasonings. Use only course salt(sea salt) to bring out the natural flavor of that particular cut of beef. IMO that's the way all barbecues should be done. Why do people go to great lengths to try to mask the flavor of things?

I like to marinade tri-tip in a combination of worstershire sauce, red wine, red wine vinegar and a little bit of garlic powder. Then I hit the outside with a layer of kosher salt and freshly cracked coarse pepper. It is then slow roasted in the Weber using lump charcoal and some oak wood chips, preferably the ones from Jack Daniels aging barrels. YUM!  

*Edit: The red wine vinegar is only used if it will be marinating for less than 4 hours. It adds a boost to the acidity to speed up the tenderizing process.

[fabaudio]

For those of you who insist on screwing up your tri-tips with marinades use Askthemeatman's #2 marinade which calls for 1 ounce of Jack Daniels, go the whole hog and pour on 18 year old Chivas Regal instead !

[bubba966]

So I'm still curious to hear what complications the bone in a steak adds to cooking it.

I know at least one of you guys is a pro chef...

[Rob Babcock]

Mostly the "complication" is just in eating it.   You have to cut around it, and of course you're paying for bone.

I just got back from the store- I bought a choice striploin for $6/lb.  We'll see if it's any good shortly.

[woodsyi]

While I was in LA, I ATE at this place.

http://www.fogodechao.com/locations/beverlyHillsCA.htm

Right off, I will admit Picahna blows any other cuts of meat to smitherenes.  I go in and take a slice of everything being offered including lamb, chicken and every cut of beef there is.  After an hour of this and well into a second bottle of a fine Mendozan Red,  I found myself becoming selective.  First the chicken, lamb and loin wrapped in bacon were passed.  Then the bottom and top sirloins.  Then Tenderloin.  Over 2 hours of primal meat consumtion!  With just a little room left for one more bite to go with the last of the wine from the third and last (3 adult drinking) bottle, I found myself waiting for the house special  cut -- Picahna smothered in garlic.  I sweet talked the server into letting me have one of the three slabs.  The texture is the same as fillet, but it has so much more flavor.  It is now my cut of choice with a good bottle of red.  I am having friends over for BBQ this weekend.  Care to guess what I will have?

[ctviggen]

One great way to cook tenderloin is the following, from Alton Brown:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_26998,00.html

It's a bit expensive, though.  Easy to do and tasty, on the other hand.

[gonefishin]

To date...the best tenderloin that I've had was at Le Francais in Wheeling, Il.  It was the Tournedos de Boeuf Poêlé, Sauce Périgueux.

     Now the best entree that I had there was the farm raised game assortment (pheasant breast, rabbit and the all so tiny leg of squab).



   When it all comes down to it...I do love beef.  All of it.  My current all time favorite is actually a well marbled bone-in Rib-Roast slow cooked over charcoals.  Luckily I get to make this at work and at home every so often.


   Back on topic though...Between the Porterhouse andr Tenderloin...I would choose whichever looked better.

  Countless times I've gone to select some steaks for a RibEye and come out with the strip...or come out with a porterhouse...or sometimes with a small to medium whole chicken.


   I just wish my back would heal up so I could start cooking again!



   Happy eats all!

    dan

[sts9fan]

Porter house is for the American glutton. tenderloin is for someone who likes good food not just to eat.

I also think porter house is a tease with that part of the tenderloin

[hmen]

I've got to cast a write in vote for rib-eye.

[lonewolfny42]

Porterhouse or Tenderloin?...it came alive again. Well, I like both...but what I'm really thinking about   , is the supper menu here...... And while I'm in Denver at the RMAF, I plan on eating at the Buckhorn to sample rattlesnake, alligator, buffalo, and elk. And they have Porterhouse, Tenderloin, and Strip Steak's as well !!!

[djbnh]

Porter house is for the American glutton. tenderloin is for someone who likes good food not just to eat.

I also think porter house is a tease with that part of the tenderloin

I can understand the above opinion. I also feel there's room for others. For me, tenderloin is one of the blandest flavored meats; give me lots of bearnaise so I can taste something, please. I personally like (no particular order) strip steak, prime rib, delmonico, top round (2", scored 1/2" side, for london broil - one of my favorites; go rub/marinade crazy at least 1-2 days). To cook porterhouse properly, sometimes one can use a bit of double-layered aluminum foil to slow the heat to the almost done tenderloin so the strip can finish, and thick cuts of this steak (2") seem to cook more evenly across the mixed cuts. My only complaint with the bone in the porterhouse is that it adds more flavor to the meat, thus eventually affecting my waistline.

Furthermore, one of the best steaks I've ever had was in a small village outside of Giessen, Germany - a pork steak cooked at the table on a volcanic rock. Absolutely slammin' - I note Germans raise their pork on par with what we do with our best beef - ist sehr gut gesmecht! And don't even get me started on lamb on the grill (yum, homemade tzatziki sauce over home made pita gyros or souvlaki...). Then there's jerk - man, I'm getting hungry.

Truly this thread is a case, as my daughter says, where "IT'S ALL GOOD!"

[bubba966]

Porterhouse or Tenderloin?...it came alive again. Well, I like both...but what I'm really thinking about   , is the supper menu here...... And while I'm in Denver at the RMAF, I plan on eating at the Buckhorn to sample rattlesnake, alligator, buffalo, and elk. And they have Porterhouse, Tenderloin, and Strip Steak's as well !!!

Out of all of the 4 legged critters I've had, Elk is on the top of the list of tastiness. Granted I had wild Elk from NW Montana (so fresh that it was still warm when it hit the fire ). Not sure where the stuff they'll have at the Buckhorn is from so I can't comment on how it'll taste.

[woodsyi]

Sorry I went off topic just a little.  I still like tenderloin because I can do more with it in terms of presentaion on a fancier dinner with sauces and what not.  What the heck can you do with Porterhouse steak besides putting it on plate with potato and garnish?  

Now going off topic again,  I had a tough time finding tri tip roast for this weekend.  A lot of butchers don't carry it because they have to order it by 40 to 50 lb box and only a few sell.  They claim that they end up having to grind it.  I had to special order it through Wegmans to get a couple of 2.5 lb tritip roasts.  I placed the order yesterday morning and they called back in the evening to say they will have it today delievered from their Rochester butchery.  That is service.  

[sts9fan]

"For me, tenderloin is one of the blandest flavored meats; give me lots of bearnaise so I can taste something, please"


yeah this is because unlike most "highend" cuts tenderloin gets its tenderness from lack of use not fat aka flavor.  Again I love a good rib roast fo sho

[ctviggen]

Fat is what gives meat flavor, I think.  Although I used to be on a low fat Pritikin/Ornish diet for many, many years and eschewed fat at all costs, now that I'm on a low carb diet, I eat all the fat.  Fat is good.

[powerbench]

I have worked as a butcher for  approx 15 yrs so my take is it depends what your using the meat for ,and how your prepping it.For example BBQing is different than a roast or broiling.The issue is also the cut and the amount of marblingh(fat) there is.What the bone does for any cut is  conduct heat to aid in cooking and suprisingly enough adds flavour to whatever it it. Thats is why soup bones are used to make broths etc...

Beef tenderloin like ribeye are more of the tender cuts but cooked wronged would be a waste...Steaks with the bone and slightly more fat content ie rib steaks ,t-bones (are the same as porterhouse) are more adept to general BBQing  do more fat/water content to protect from overcooking...