Tri Tip - crazy, delicious, crazy easy

We sell a whole lot of tasty grass fed bison steaks and burgers, but those of use who eat a lot of bison know that it's super easy to make incredibly delicious meals from other cuts as well.  I've become a big fan of our tri tip roasts.  They're around 1.5lbs, give or take, so it's plenty of meat for 4 people, and a terrific value cut.  Here's all I do to it:

Dry the meat with a paper towel and then rub it with some olive oil.  Then slather it up with a dry rub - I've been using this one at Whole Foods made by Allegro that has coffee and cocoa powder in it - the flavors perfectly compliment the taste of the bison, but any dry rub you are a fan of will do.  Let it sit on a plate for a bit so it's not ice cold when you start to cook it.

I get my grill nice and hot then lower it to medium when I put the meat on.  My grills thermometer reads about 500 through the cooking process.  I do 3.5-4 minutes, flip it over (use a tongs, never a fork), another 3.5-4 minutes, flip again, 2-3 minutes, flip again, 2-3 minutes.  You want a nice crust going but not too much char.  About 15 minutes total.  

While that's going on, take a square pyrex baking dish and put a big sheet of foil in it.  Put in a preheated 350 degree oven.  When the grilling time is done, put it in the foil, lay a few pats of unsalted butter along the top, close up the foil and put it in the oven.  You want an internal temp of 140 degrees; it usually takes about 15-20 minutes to get there.  You can baste with the melted butter halfway through, and at the end.  

When it's done cooking, pull the tri tip out, leaving it in the foil (but taking it out of the baking dish) and let it rest for 20 minutes.  You can continue to baste once or twice while it rests.  After this time, slice the tri tip nice and thin against the grain.  Then toss the meat with several good spoonfuls of the drippings and some finishing salt (I like to salt bison at the end rather than the beginning to avoid excess moisture loss).  

Bon Appetit!