Tri-tip -- Santa Maria, California barbecue

August 3, 2001
By JOE O'CONNELL, cbbqa past President 

Outside California, the tri-tip cut of beef is not well known.  But in California, the Santa Maria tri-tip barbecue remains the center of authentic California barbecue.  

Taste and texture

Californians know that the tri-tip roast combines the strong flavor of beef with the perfect texture of a great steak.  The taste and texture of the tri-tip roast is unlike any other cut of beef. 

The taste of tri-tip is strongly beef.  The taste cannot be compared with that of any other cut of beef.  Tri-tip is not light and smooth, like the taste of the tenderloin (filet).  Instead, tri-tip tastes like meat - the essence of great beef - a taste that is bold and strong.  The flavor is all meat, not buttery and soft but meaty and hard.  Not other cut tastes more like beef than the tri-tip.

Combined with the beef taste is the texture with says beef.  Tri-tip has a bold texture that is moist and chewy and not at all dry or tough.  Tri-tip has none of the leathery texture of inferior cuts and grades of beef.  On the other hand, tri-tip does not have the soft texture that some mistakenly equate with great beef.  Tri-tip has the texture of great beef, like a rib-eye, and not the "melt in your mouth like butter" texture of tenderloin.  Tri-tip's texture says beef, not butter.  Chewy but not tough, with the texture of beef, not mashed potatoes.

In recent years, barbecue tri-tip has taken on a folk status as those outside of California try it for the first time. Called either California tri-tip or Santa Maria tri-tip, the cut and barbecue method are uniquely Californian.