By Daniel Hale

With football season fast approaching, it’s time to make my first tailgating meal. Being from California, I have to go with tri-tip!

A few years ago, I wrote about my first real attempt at grilling tri-tip. I cooked it indirectly on my Weber kettle, then finished it over direct heat for that amazing sear.

This time I wanted to take the same cut in a different direction. I decided to put a Santa Maria-style tri-tip on the rotisserie.

And what better grill to use than the Monument Eminence 605? This is a big grill. This isn’t something I’m throwing in the back of the car and hauling to a stadium parking lot. This was game-day cooking at home.

Rotisserie Tri-Tip on the Eminence 605

I started with Steven’s Santa Maria Tri-Tip recipe, seasoning the meat with coarse salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and dried rosemary. The tri-tip started at about 3 1/2 pounds before I trimmed a fair amount of exterior fat.

 

Once the meat was secured on the rotisserie spit, I set up the Eminence 605 for indirect cooking. I lit the burners on either side of the meat and left the burners directly below the tri-tip off. The grill settled in around 285 to 290°F.

The rotisserie kept the tri-tip turning steadily without any flipping or repositioning. After about 45 minutes, the deepest part of the roast had reached 117°F.

Finishing with the Infrared Rear Burner

The Monument Eminence 605 includes a rear infrared burner designed to work with the rotisserie. The rear burner is either on or off rather than adjustable like the main burners.

 

I turned on the infrared rear burner and kept the rotisserie running. The added radiant heat browned the outside while I watched the internal temperature closely.

I wanted medium-rare, so I pulled the tri-tip when the deepest part reached 130°F and let it rest before slicing. The finished meat had a pink center and a browned, rosemary-flecked exterior.

Tri-tip has grain that changes direction, so I separated the roast as needed and sliced each section across the grain. The method was different from my previous tri-tip cook, but the temperature strategy was familiar: cook it gently first, then use higher heat to finish the exterior.

Santa Maria-Style Sides on the Grill

A Santa Maria-style tri-tip called for the traditional supporting cast, so I also made Steven’s Santa Maria Garlic Bread and Santa Maria Pinquito Beans.

I made a couple of changes to the beans. Instead of pinquito beans, I used Frijoles Colorados Cortos (small red beans). I also substituted chipotle sauce for the red chile sauce. Other than that, I followed the recipe.

 

I cooked the beans in a saucepan on the Eminence 605’s side burner while the tri-tip was on the rotisserie. Bacon, ham, onion, garlic, tomato purée, chipotle sauce, and the seasonings all went into the pot with the beans.

For the garlic bread, I followed the Santa Maria Garlic Bread recipe. I grilled the bread at the end of the cook while the rest of the meal was coming together.

 

That gave me the full game-day menu: rotisserie tri-tip, Santa Maria-ish beans, and Santa Maria grilled garlic bread.

The Results

The tri-tip came out beautifully, with a pink center and a browned exterior from the infrared finish. The rosemary really came through in the Santa Maria seasoning and gave the beef a distinct herbal note without covering up the flavor of the meat. I especially liked what the chipotle sauce did for the beans, adding a deeper smoky flavor and a little heat. And the garlic bread may have been the surprise of the meal. Grilled until crisp around the edges and loaded with garlic butter, it was excellent alongside the tri-tip and beans.

Game Day at Home

I’ve now cooked tri-tip a few different ways, and the rotisserie gave me another one worth keeping. The Eminence 605 handled the slow roast, the infrared rear burner handled the finish, and the side burner gave me a place to cook the beans at the same time.

 

For a tailgating-season meal at home, it made good use of the grill without turning dinner into a juggling act.

A big thank you to Monument Grills for sponsoring this cook.

The post Kick Off Tailgating Season with Rotisserie Tri-Tip appeared first on Barbecuebible.com.