American · Californian · main

Santa Maria Tri-Tip with Pinquito Beans

Santa Maria Tri-Tip with Pinquito Beans reads umami 8.3, richness 6.1 and salinity 5.4 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a American · Californian main, about 5 hr 29 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

The measured notes (of 18)

Umami 8.3 · Richness 6.1 · Salinity 5.4 · Allium 4.2 · Smoke 4.0 · Sourness 3.6 · Sweetness 2.9 · Fruity 2.4 · Heat 2.2 · Herbaceous 1.8 · Warm Spice 1.7 · Earthy 1.6 · Bitterness 1.6 · Citrus 1.3 · Funk & Ferment 1.3 · Nutty 0.6 · Floral 0.6

What's in it (15)

Time & effort: about 5 hr 29 min (5 hr 14 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 102.9 kcal, 11 g protein, 4.9 g fat, 3.1 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (9 steps)

  1. Santa Maria barbecue is a Californio tradition, not a Southern one: it descends from the rancho beef feasts of the central coast, it is cooked over coastal red oak on an adjustable grate rather than smoked low and slow, and the seasoning is three things — salt, pepper and garlic. No sauce is mopped on and no rub is sweet. The fixed plate is tri-tip, pinquito beans, salsa, garlic bread and green salad, and locals will tell you the plate is not negotiable.
  2. The two ingredients that cannot be swapped. Tri-tip is the triangular tail of the bottom sirloin, a cut that was ground into hamburger nearly everywhere else until Santa Maria butchers began roasting it whole in the 1950s; ask a butcher for it by name. Pinquito beans are a small pink bean grown almost exclusively in the Santa Maria Valley — denser and less mealy than a pinto, and they hold a firm skin through a two-hour cook. They ship from Susie Q and a handful of valley growers. A pinto is the nearest substitute and it is noticeably softer.
  3. Red oak is the traditional fuel and it is worth sourcing chunks of it if you can, because it burns hot with a clean, faintly sweet smoke; the local trees are coast live oak. Oak lump charcoal is the reasonable stand-in.
  4. Mix the salt, pepper and granulated garlic and rub it hard into the tri-tip on every surface. Let it stand at room temperature 1 hour.
  5. Build a hot fire with red oak or oak charcoal and let it burn down to glowing coals. Sear the tri-tip directly over the coals, 5 minutes a side, until it is well crusted and the fat cap has taken some flame.
  6. Raise the grate or move the meat to the cooler side and cook 30 minutes more, turning every 10 minutes, until the thickest part reads 54 C (130 F) for medium rare. Rest it 15 minutes, then slice it thin ACROSS the grain — the grain changes direction halfway along a tri-tip, so cut the roast in two at the bend first and slice each piece separately, or every other slice will be tough.
  7. For the beans, render the bacon in a heavy pot 8 minutes, add the onion and garlic and cook 6 minutes. Add the drained pinquito beans, cover with water by 5 cm, and simmer 2 hours until tender. Stir in the tomato puree, mustard and red chile sauce and simmer 20 minutes more.
  8. For the salsa, stir the diced tomatoes, spring onion, green chile and red wine vinegar together and let it stand 1 hour at room temperature. Serve everything on the same plate.
  9. Substitutions: hot sauce can stand in for the red chile sauce.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.