When it comes to steak, the three cuts that most people buy in the United States are ribeye, filet mignon, and T-bone. One cut of steak that deserves more attention , though, is the tri tip. Also known as Santa Maria steak, the meat is shaped like a boomerang, and is the budget-friendly cut of steak Guy Fieri loves to grill .
However, whether you reverse sear or smoke tri tip, it's one of the trickiest cuts to slice because it consists of two grain directions that intersect. A more popular cut of steak in California than anywhere else, tri-cut comes from the bottom of the sirloin subprimal of the cow, whereas top sirloin comes from the top. It's lean and has a tender texture when cooked correctly, and the dense marbling gives it a bold flavor.
The name comes from the triangular-shaped muscle — tensor fasciae latae — attached to the butt of the bottom sirloin. That's also the reason it's more difficult to cut this piece of beef against the grain than other parts: While the muscle fibers run at an angle to the butt, the fibers in the rest of the bottom sirloin run vertically. So, with tri-tip steak, to cut meat against the grain means that you have to slice one way across the muscle fibers and another across the rest of the steak.
It can be easier to find where the different directions of the grain are while the meat is still raw. Just look for a pattern in the flesh, similar to the grains you see in wood. After cooking, you can cut the sirloin vertically in two, and slice .
