I smoked two tri tip over the past week and the survivor has been sitting in the fridge waiting for me to to slice, seal and freeze. So I sliced it cold, tonight, and couldn't help but make a late night tri tip sammy. I was pleasantly surprised at the marbling, and wish I had sliced this one up for the gathering we had and not its companion.

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It was Choice from Costco but it definitely was on the higher side of Choice. Every now and then you get one of these and thank your lucky stars.

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Looks great.  My Costco hasnt had tri tip for awhile, but always has some choice meat varieties that look awfully close to prime. Hard to pass up sometimes.

Yeah, my Costco never carries Tri Tip either...   I did recently find one that looked similar to yours in terms of marbling recently...  Funny thing it was really small(just under 2 pounds), about half the size of a typical Tri-Tip... which for me was fine, because I ate it alone that night...

That night I also had homemade fries and homemade catsup.  OMG it was good...

Wow that looks good! I'm going to watch for that!
The marbling looks fantastic!

Looks great, wish our Costco had tri tip here. I have only found one local butcher so far that will get it and they were 9.99/lb a couple years ago when I did.

Love TT!  Fantastic cook... nicely done

Looks great. No tri tip to be found-in my neck of the woods.

Nice color on the tri-tip. 

this was a sams club peppercorn marinated tri tip that i smoked, sliced, and vac sealed

That's a nice, fatty tri tip.

I had two gatherings this past weekend, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. Sunday's meal was smoked salmon and tri tip, simply cuz Costco has been stocking some outrageous tri tip recently. I also notice the price can shift up and down rather abruptly, as much as $1.50/lb either way.

Two full salmon fillets and two 3# tips . . . the salmon disappeared rather quickly and I just had enough left over tip for one good sammy tonight. That's 12 people eating all that meat! Served with a side of roasted onion, crimini mushrooms, golden potatoes, and brussel sprouts. My cousin accused me of trying to kill him by hiding the brussel sprouts in the veges.

Sorry, no pics . . . I was the only one cooking and was running like a mad man most of the time.

Can somebody please describe what a finished tri tip is like?  The pics above look great.  But the grain reminds me of flank steak whereas I always assumed it was more like sirloin for some reason.  Any descriptions or comparisons to more common beef cuts would be appreciated!

That is a tough one...In your two descriptions, I would say the mouth feel is much closer to sirloin then flank!  To me Tri-tip has the consistency of a thick piece of Round at medium temperature, but more flavor.

And sliced thin against the grain, there is enough intramuscular fat for tenderness. Sometimes with a good tip, almost pull-apart tender.

Yeah, my Costco never carries Tri Tip either...   I did recently find one that looked similar to yours in terms of marbling recently...  Funny thing it was really small(just under 2 pounds), about half the size of a typical Tri-Tip... which for me was fine, because I ate it alone that night...

That night I also had homemade fries and homemade catsup.  OMG it was good...

That looks seriously good.  Would you mind posting your homemade catsup recipe?  Maybe in the rubs/sauces/brines folder?

Same here in FL, Costco did not have tri tip and everyone I talked to never heard of it, or if they did, they would tell me only the mid west has it !!!  Just a few months ago our local chain of Publix grocery stores started selling it. Since then I have cooked at least 5 and will continue to do so or until they run out