I spent last week in Austin. I love Austin. Great food, delicious cocktails and don’t even get me started on Torchy’s breakfast tacos!! In any case it made me start thinking about the bbq season. It’s finally warm and the rain has stopped here so time to clean that grill!
One of my first night staples when camping is tri-tip. Why is it a staple? Always a hit, I can cook different levels for different people’s preferences, and it makes for great leftovers in breakfast burritos!
So living in California where I do, we have an local bbq place that has amazing tri-tip so I won’t lie, I cheat on this recipe. However I thought I would do the post for anyone who wants a sure proof tri-tip!
If you live in the Bay Area, you can just cheat and go get an already marinated bag of Kinders tri-tip and throw it on the grill once you are set up at campsite. However if you don’t have a local one or need it to be cheaper given a larger group my suggestion is this –
- Go to Costco and buy their large tri-tip – rule of thumb is 1/4 – 1/3 per person but I like leftovers for other meals so go 1/3 – 1/2 per person
- Find at least 2-3 Kinders bottles of original marinade
- Add meat to a large ziplock bag and add Kinders marinade
- Seal bag and shake around to fully coat the meat
- Marinate for at LEAST 24 hours
So for camping, I always marinate the night before the trip so it is ready to go when I get to the campsite the next day
For grilling – (I always do this on my small portable grill to control heat but if I was to do on a campfire, I would do in a large cast iron to control and even out heat)
- Preheat grill or start campfire – if grilling, put cast iron over heat until hot to touch
- Add meat fat side down to grill or campfire grill – if grilling on campfire put pan very close to fire for searing part and then move to indirect heat
- Sear fat side down for 5 min and then flip for 5 more minutes
- Continue to cook for 10-12 more minutes for medium rare, 20-25 for medium, 30-35 for medium well
- Normally most my friends like medium rare so I cook to that, remove, cut the ends and add those back into a skillet and cook to medium well for the friends who want that
Serve with garlic bread, corn, salad and/or potatoes!
Also a personal favorite is pairing with a local wine from Buon Vino 🙂
Cooking with Campfire 