Actually, I don't know if it's Montana style - I only live here, I don't set whatever the standards allegedly are. I cook everything from traditional miners' Cornish Pasties like my grandmother made, to assorted Thai dishes, to what has become what I call for lack of a better term Jäger's Hot Pot.
Anyways, it took me years on the forum before I stumbled into this area. Maybe that's why there's only three pages of threads here; nobody notices it exists?
After seeing some really tempting recipes here, I felt I ought to offer at least one recipe for others to think of trying. So let's start with the food porn first...
I BBQ a lot because it's convenient, usually a lot less mess in the kitchen, and where our BBQ is on the back deck, I'm looking at the mountains at the entryway into Glacier National Park while I'm cooking on the back deck. But I'm not one of the many grillmeisters out there, and I've never done tri-tip on the Q.
Every time I stop in at the Costco just down the road or at the Super One, I do a quick trip past the meat department to see what specials they have. Regularly, there are steals of deals on tri-tip, so while it's just the two of us, I grab one if there is.
See how it's perfectly pink medium rare right from edge to edge, the same degree of doneness everywhere in the meat?
Now, it wasn't quite AAA Prime Rib, like the monster cut Michelin quality prime rib I did for a friend once. But it's about a tenth of the cost per pound, hell of a lot less fat, it's dead easy, and it's delicious.
I don't doubt this will work for any other nice beef roast. I'm thinking tenderloin the next time...
I got the inspiration for this from, first, that friend's chef buddy (who supplied that prime rib), and this website:
https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/12/...prime-rib.html
Anyways, here's the recipe I've settled on and put in the cookbook (any of you single guys might want to make a note of this next time you want to convince a woman you're a keeper). BTW, I use a Windows based recipe database program called Now You're Cooking - love it.
Tri Tip Pepper Crusted Roast
2.5 - 3 lb. tri tip roast; any silverskin removed (if you have a decent butcher, there won't be)
4 cloves garlic (or more to taste; I'm a garlic fiend usually, but 4 seems right for this)
4 Tbsp. multicolored peppercorns; very coarsely ground
kosher salt
For the demi-glaze pan sauce (fancy big city restaurant term for thin pan gravy gently poured over the meat slices if you have high class liberal friends over).
all the pan drippings
1 Tbsp. flour; rounded
3 cups veal or beef stock
1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
a dash or two of Worchestershire to taste
salt; to taste
paprika; to taste
This calls for the coated roast to sit in the fridge coated in the garlic/pepper overnight while it gives the meat a chance to air dry and end with a nice finish. I haven't yet just been in a hurry, slathered the thing, and thrown it in the oven. Putting the spice/garlic/salt coated roast in the fridge overnight gives you a poor man's version of dry aging the better cuts of beef. I think it's worth the time to do it this way. Your call of course if you're in a hurry.
You can buy blends of peppercorns pre-mixed if you can't find individual black, white, green, and red peppercorns (which aren't actually a peppercorn). This results in quite a peppery finish to the roast; not super peppery, but if you think pepper can be overdone, you can either substitute other spices or use half the pepper and then a combination of whatever other spices you prefer.
Higher end grocery stores sell veal stock or demi-glace (reduced by half veal stock)... at higher end prices of course. Redneck cheap guys like me just buy that beef stock because we're too lazy and too hungry to make our own.
DIRECTIONS:
Ensure the roast is trimmed of any remaining silverskin before starting; the ones I get at both Costco and Super One here are already well trimmed. You can attempt to pull the tips closer to the center to minimize the parts that overcook, using skewers and butcher's string, but it is not a big issue. After doing it once, I never have done that again.
First, the garlic paste. Finely mince the garlic with your favorite Chinese cleaver (my fav is a #2 that I bought for $10 in a Chinatown about 40 years ago, couldn't cook anything without it), or it will take you forever to properly crush the garlic to make your paste. Once finely minced, crush garlic in your mortar with a couple of pinches of salt. Salt in the mortar makes crushing the garlic much faster. Once there are no longer any big pieces, then finish with about a tablespoon of olive oil or so. You're going to paint this all over your roast, so you want it as close to an oily paste as you have patience to try to achieve. I've run out of patience after about five minutes.... good enough.
Using a silicon (or whatever) baking sheet, thoroughly paint the roast with the crushed garlic mixture. Salt all surfaces well with kosher salt, then cover with the very coarsely ground pepper (and/or other herbs) and firmly press into the surface of the meat. Ensure all sides are covered with the paste, generously salted, and covered with peppercorns.
Place on a small rack in a large enough pan to hold the tri-tip to elevate the roast off the bottom of the dish and let sit uncovered in the refrigerator overnight. Remove about an hour before cooking to allow the tri-tip to come to room temperature.
Pre-heat oven to 450 F while waiting for tri-tip to come to room temperature.
Take a large oven-safe skillet or non-stick baking pan big enough to fit the roast and throw a couple of tablespoons of butter in and melt the butter. When the melted butter is just bubbling, take the skillet off the heat, place the roast in the skillet, and turn in the pan until all sides of the roast are covered with the melted butter.
You're not trying to sear the surface of the roast; you're just coating it with melted butter.
Place the skillet in the oven for 15 minutes at 450 F. After 15 minutes, pull the tri-tip from the oven and turn the oven down to 200 F. Turn the roast over in the pan and immediately return to the oven to continue to cook to the desired doneness, somewhere around 15 - 20 minutes for the flatter tri tip. For this type of roast, removing from the oven at 120 F. by your meat thermometer results in the best flavors and textures (so the grill guys say, I wouldn't know). Transfer to a plate, tent very loosely with aluminum foil, and allow to rest and finish for 15 minutes. Which is just about enough time to make the pan sauce to pour over the slices of roast - or turn the pan sauce into gravy for potatoes. In our house, it becomes both.
To make the pan sauce, place the pan on a burner on medium heat and whisk the flour in the pan drippings for a couple of minutes. As I cook this in a non-stick baking pan, once the roast is out of the oven and pan to rest, I pour the drippings from the baking pan into a skillet, then whisk the flour in while giving it a stir to brown it up. Whisk in the stock you are using as you de-glaze the pan, turn up to medium high, and add the balsamic vinegar and any other spices to the taste you want. Continue to whisk while reducing the pan drippings and three cups of stock you started with to the consistency you want. Finish by added any juices that have run off from the resting roast.
Transfer pan sauce to a container for the table, carve the roast, and serve. Horseradish also goes well with this, so sometimes the pan sauce only goes on the smashed potatoes.
If you have even one carnivorous bone in your body, you'll enjoy this. And it's easy-peasy! No Martha Stewart kitchen techniques required here...
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Originally Posted by MDC
USAF RET 1971-95
