Great Tri-Tip Marinade

We grilled a tri-tip steak for dinner tonight and it was pretty good. It is probably among the best of all the steaks we have made recently. We found a recipe from AllRecipes.com, and made some modifications. The modified version follows:

• 1 bottle Guinness
• 4 tbsp crushed Garlic
• 5 tbsp Brown Sugar
• 1 tbsp pepper
• 1 tbsp Soy Sauce
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
• Emeril's Essence seasoning

This time we weren't grilling on a whim, so we spent some time to do it right. We made the marinade this morning. Before marinading, we sprinkled the Emeril seasoning. The meat soaked in the marinade for about 8 hours. Once the meat was on the grill, my wife boiled the marinade to burn off any meat contaminants, and we used it to baste the meat as it grilled. The meat had a lot of fat on one side, and my wife trimmed most of it off. What was left, added to the brown sugar in the marinade, was enough to cause some serious flame-ups. I had to monitor the meat closely.

The meat was grilled for an hour, rotated and moved from time to time to prevent the flame-ups from charring the meat. Eventually I moved the coals off to the side and slow cooked the meat for the final half hour. The meat was so tender from the marinade that the charred sections slid right off. This was a very tasty steak. Add some grilled corn and my family's baked beans recipe, and we had a great meal.

I think next time we will grill for 45 minutes instead of the hour, but otherwise it came out exactly as we wanted. Be sure to give this one a try.

World's Greatest Sloppy Joes

My wife made one of my family's perennial favorites for dinner tonight - Sloppy Joes. These are no ordinary Sloppy Joes, mind you. We don't do Manwich or any other tomato-based sauce. I am going to share the recipe with you tonight. I am at least a third-generation benefactor of this recipe, if not fourth.

With no further ado, here it is:

• Ground Beef
• Worcestershire Sauce
• Ketchup
• Mustard
• Brown Sugar

That's all it takes. Just mix the ingredients together on your stove, seasoning to taste. The idea is for a sweet and bold tangy flavor. The tangy mustard and Worcestershire sauce counterbalance the sweeter ketchup and brown sugar, which makes for a sweet and spicy glaze. Add to a hamburger bun or white bread (or if you must be healthy, whole grain wheat bread), slather with mustard, and you are ready to go. My wife loves Bread and Butter Pickles, so she always adds those and some red onions. She tends to improve upon the family staples.

That's all there is to it. Enjoy.

SurfJedi's Ultimate Roast Beef Sandwich

I made a sandwich tonight that was so good I had to write about it. I am calling it SurfJedi's Ultimate Roast Beef Sandwich. I am not normally a sandwich guy, so when I do eat them I go all out to make sure they are pretty darn good. Tonight was no exception. In fact, this was probably one of the most successful concoctions I have come up with yet. Now I probably hyped it too much, so hopefully you agree that this is a pretty good meal.

I used the following ingredients:

• Deli Roast Beef from my local grocery store
• Tillamook Sharp Cheddar cheese pre/deli sliced
• Cayenne Pepper
• Cajun Seasoning
• Garlic Powder
• Chili Powder
• 1/2 Avocado (lightly salted)
• 2 slices red onion
• 2 slices vine-ripe tomato
• Mayonaise
• Deli Mustard
• Whole Wheat Bread

I first mixed a small portion of the garlic powder, chili powder, cayenne pepper and Cajun seasoning in a bowl for even distribution. I laid a layer of roast beef on a foil-lined broiler pan, and spread the spices over the layer. I added another layer of beef, and added more Cajun seasoning and cayenne pepper on the top. I intended the main spices to seep up from the layer below, so I only needed my favorite ingredients on top. I put the broiler pan in my toaster oven. My toaster has heat settings and cooking method options. I put it on max heat (450º) and set the method to broil.

As the meat heated I sliced the tomato, onion, and avocado. As the meat cooked a very pleasant aroma began spreading through the kitchen. At this point my son was trying to help my wife make cookies, and I was delayed slightly in pulling the meat out. It was slightly overcooked for what I had intended, but it turned out having a crisping effect on the edges which tasted pretty good in the end.

I pulled the meat out and placed my cheese slices on top, then put it back in to the toaster. I lowered the heat to 250º. While the cheese was melting I put the mayo on both slices of bread, and added more Cajun seasoning on top of the mayo. I added the deli mustard to one slice of bread and the onions and tomato on one slice.

When I pulled out the roast beef there was a nice layer of juice at the bottom. I put the roast beef on the bread, and added the avocado to the top of it. I put a dash of salt on the avocado and closed the sandwich.

As I said before, this turned out really well. I think if I had to change anything, I might try some horseradish or Cholula/Tapatillo hot sauce. Some bacon might have been pretty good too, but I was working with what I had on hand. I would highly recommend this sandwich. Give it a shot and let me know what you think.