How to Cut a Tri Tip

The USDA Choice Natural Tri-Tip is well-known and loved throughout the Pacific Northwest; however, if you’re not from around here, you may not know exactly what the tri-tip is and how it’s best served. So in this episode of Beef EDU, we have Will Homer, our Chief Operations Officer, to explain how to cut a tri tip. This is often a disputed mystery, so here we are, clearing it up.

What is the natural tri-tip and how do you cook it?
First, the tri-tip is a triangular cut of beef from the bottom sirloin subprimal cut. Cook a tri-tip for you and your family using this recipe.

Second, the Tri-Tip is referred to as the California cut because the Santa Maria Market first introduced the tri-tip to locals in the 1950s. Before this, the tri-tip was mainly used for ground beef and stew meat.

How to cut a tri-tip?
1.You’ll want to cross cut the grain by starting on the big end. This ensure tender pieces.
2. To avoid having a big piece (that everyone wants to get their hands on), you can cut the tri-tip in half.
3. Keep cutting small pieces across the grain.
4. Once you’re done with the first half, start cutting across the grain on the second half, ending with the small bottom tip.
5. Watch how the pros do it below.
6. Add to your plate and eat up!

A little about our beef:
Ranchers of Painted Hills Natural Beef are in Wheeler County, Central Oregon, and raise cattle while stewarding the land in the shadow of the state’s famed Painted Hills. So, while times have changed in 25 years, ranching the way nature intended has not.

Above all, we are proud to pasture-raise cattle without added hormones and no antibiotics. We raise a beef product as striking as the natural wonders it’s named after.

Again, we thank you for trusting us to feed you, your friends, and your family. Please share the finished product with us at Painted Hills Natural Beef on Facebook and Instagram. 

seasoning a tri tip
tri tip on the grill
natural tri tip on cutting board
tri tip on the grill

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