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Anyhow, I marinated the tri-tips overnight  Then I browned/seared them,  placed them in a slow cooker, along with some of the marinade, and put it all on low for about 8 hours. About half way through, I added some sliced onions. When done it was fork-tender, making for some outrageous au jus sandwiches on sour dough French. Thanks for the report.  I would not have guessed tri-tip has enough connective tissue to tenderize like this. Cuts without connective tissue do not NEED to be tenderized, and they do not become tough with slow cooking (nor do they become much more tender). Think in terms of a Venn diagram: Some cuts of meat have a lot of connective tissue which needs to be gelatinized over a long period of time. Other cuts do not have this tissue. I have never slow cooked (pot roasted, braised, etc.) tri tip, but such cooking would not hurt it. And tri tip periodically comes on sale for $3.99 a pound or so. (Albertson's used to have 2 for 1 sales which effectively reduced the tri tip price to $2.50 a pound.) So I can certainly see tri tip done in a pot roast _style_. While not _effectively necessary_ to cook tri tip this way, it can't hurt it. On the other hand, if cooking for 8 hours, might as well use an even cheaper cut with more connective tissue. For example, pot roast. I used tri-tip for my Vaca Frita, it gets very tender in a couple of hours or less.

I would not have guessed tri-tip has enough connective tissue to tenderize like this. Cuts without connective tissue do not NEED to be tenderized, and they do not become tough with slow cooking (nor do they become much more tender). Think in terms of a Venn diagram: Some cuts of meat have a lot of connective tissue which needs to be gelatinized over a long period of time. Other cuts do not have this tissue. My belief is that cuts without connective tissue to begin with tend not to become falling-apart tender since they are solid muscle tissue and tend to remain in one piece. (But I'd revise this belief if I saw enough evidence to the contrary.) Steve

I would not have guessed tri-tip has enough connective tissue to tenderize like this. Cuts without connective tissue do not NEED to be tenderized, and they do not become tough with slow cooking (nor do they become much more tender). Think in terms of a Venn diagram: Some cuts of meat have a lot of connective tissue which needs to be gelatinized over a long period of time. Other cuts do not have this tissue. My belief is that cuts without connective tissue to begin with tend not to become falling-apart tender since they are solid muscle tissue and tend to remain in one piece. (But I'd revise this belief if I saw enough evidence to the contrary.) Good point. I think you right in this belief. These cuts basically start out relatively tender (even if eaten raw, which, true story, a woman I know often does), but never get any more tender. Which is why a black and blue steak (seared on the outside, blue (almost raw) inside) can be very tender. It's been so many years since I have had home-made pot roast, or ordered it in a restaurant, that I had nearly forgotten the falling apart thing. On the original topic, I am almost certain tri tip will never become falling apart tender, though it's pretty tender to begin with. Falling apart tender meat usually has a strong resemblance to string cheese, with vertical columns of meat that separate easily with a fork. Pot roast is a perfect example. Tri tip doesn't do this. We here in California, especially as tri tip spread from the Central Coast to other parts, are lucky to know this cut so well. Yes, I know the tri tip has been there for millions of years, but the realization that tri tip could be a separate cut of meat, and prepared in certain ways, is relatively recent. Though I hear Coulotte steak, which I remember hearing of in the 60s, is basically tri tip. (Coulottes were something some of the high school girls wore, so I noticed when a cut of meat was similarly named.) Nevertheless, the Revolution started in Santa Maria in the 50s and 60s and spread. When I was at UCSB 1970-74, I never heard of it. Nor through the 80s. Now, a bunch of restaurants in Santa Barbara County claim to be the inventors of it. The most accepted story is that a butcher at a Safeway in Santa Maria in the 1950s decided to grill the tri tip instead of using it for hamburger, offered it for sale to customers at a grill set up outside the store, and the rest is history. It took a while to spread. I only learned of it around 1995 or so, when a friend of mine brought up some tri tip for a party at my house and referred to it as San Luis Obispo-_style_ tri tip. Since then, it has spread like wildfire. And, like fajita cuts, is being priced way above what it used to be priced at.

Yes, I know the tri tip has been there for millions of years, but the realization that tri tip could be a separate cut of meat, and prepared in certain ways, is relatively recent. Medieval attitudes toward eating kine might be somewhat illustrative on this issue, if you care to pursue it.  The transformation of perceptions of this foodstuff into a premium item is a more modern happening. Anyway, we generally do not use tri-tip as a cut for our various slow-cooker or pressure cooker or stewing operations, but we have done it on occasion, largely on account of (transient) price.  A pot roast of tri-tip does turn out quite nicely in my experience, without reservation.  I'm partial to chuck, but I cannot _object_ively say that tri-tip isn't as good.

In article <fol6el$ This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , Steve Pope So I can certainly see tri tip done in a pot roast _style_. While not _effectively necessary_ to cook tri tip this way, it can't hurt it. On the other hand, if cooking for 8 hours, might as well use an even cheaper cut with more connective tissue. For example, pot roast. Nob Hill had it a pretty good sale on it for Super Bowl Sunday.I don't know that much about bovine anatomy. I just know that cooking the tri- tip in the slow cooker made for a much more tender tri-tip than the typical grilling. Ciccio

I recently cooked a couple of tri-tips in a slow cooker. I had always         Gah!         Heresy most vile.         Tri Tip belongs under the broiler or on the grill.         Why in Dazbog's name would you take a perfectly grillable piece         of bovine protein and subject it to a treatment designed to render         shoe leather edible?         IBM