by waaytoomuchintothis » Sun Jun 14, 2015 1:09 pm
For those among us who never heard of a Tri-tip, it is the pyramidal shape that's left of the sirloin of beef after you have sliced off all the steaks. In the Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Southern Illinois region, they are called Sirloin Triangles, and most really fine butcher shops have them pre-marinated and ready to go. There's a lot of competition regarding the marinade. There's a Maw&Paw butcher shop in the St. Matthews area of Louisville, right across from the big Catholic parochial school on Lexington Road. They are Vahallah for Sirloin Triangles, and very nice about getting you a big whole shoulder of pork in excess of 20 pounds that has not been injected with a nitrate salt solution. I guess the old man and old woman may be dead now, but its worth looking them up. They had heirs.
Starting a bit north of you, ccobra, they use a Portugese marinade (all those Portogese fishermen's grandchildren), and they cook and sell them by the side of the road. Look for them from Half Moon Bay down past Monterrey and here and there all the way to Morro Bay and below. The same little grills by the side of the road sell smoked halibut, shark, swordfish, and other great fish. Most people know to drive on the left lane of Hwy 1, because the cars in the right lane are always stopping to buy food through the passenger's window. Its still one of my top 5 favorite drives in North America, between the views and the food.
In some parts of the US, Costco sells an inferior version refrigerated or frozen. If you can't get them anywhere else, its worth the work to carve it in such a way as to avoid serving huge globs of beef fat that shouldn't even have been in the package (they sell it by weight- surprize!).
Thanks for posting this!