Dove’s Chocolate Chipotle Tri Tip with a Pepper Garlic Crust

How good does a Dove’s Chocolate anything sound? Our friends Nate and Le Tonia are Dove Chocolatiers. A few months ago they sent us some of Dove’s Sweet’N’Spicy Cocoa Rub. I have used it on pork, lamb, duck, chicken and now a beef tri tip. It is not like anything you are thinking. It’s better.

For example, the Mexicans have been cooking with chocolate in their foods for 200 years. Most folks don’t realize that a lot of good chili has a little cocoa in it. The cocoa is not meant to be over powering, but just to add another subtle layer to what you are cooking.And that is exactly what has happened here tonight.

We had some “Crash Test Dummies” over for a 4^th of July BBQ. (We did 3 BBQ’s that weekend.) We did up some MoinkBalls in teriyaki, Sweet Pepper Sliders, and a mountain of Buffalo wings along with 2 Tri Tips today.

The Tri Tip was out of the ball park good. The Dove’s cocoa rub along with some chipotle chili powder and then a garlic pepper crust wasn’t like anything I have ever experienced! When the taste of beef layered with all the flavors of the grill is what you crave there is nothing like a good Tri-Tip Roast. It is a big tender piece of meat that is just packed with flavor. Awesome.

We smoked the Tri Tip roast for about 45 minutes. Then, grilled them at 350 for about 15 minutes until the meat thermometer read 130 degrees. Keep in mind that your meat will continue cooking for another 10 degrees after you pull it off the grill. USDA says 140 degrees for rare.

These guys were about 4 pounds each. I injected as much Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce as they would hold. Then, made a wet rub with Dove’s Sweet N Spicy Cocoa Rub, chipotle chili powder, pepper, garlic, and Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce to bind it all together. Sprinkled it on the meat rubbing it in, working my seasoning deep into the meat. Then, onto our Royall 3000 Wood Pellet Smoker for 45 minutes of smoke before grilling it.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Grill: Royall 3000 Wood Pellet Grill

Pellets: Royall House Blend: hickory, oak, cherry

Ingredients:

2 nice Tri Tip Roasts

Dove’s Sweet N Spicy Cocoa Rub

Chipotle chili powder, to taste

Black pepper, coarse grind to taste

Garlic, dry crushed, to taste

1 cup Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce

On The Royall 3000 Wood Pellet Grill/Smoker

Directions: Tri-Tip

Inject as much of the Country Bob’s as the meat will hold. You will be able see when it is full. Rub your spice mix into the meat and let it set awhile. Overnight is best, but not necessary.

Cooking Directions: Royall 3000 Wood Pellet Grill/Smoker

Open the lid and set the dial to “Smoke”, after about five minutes shut the lid. Give it about 10 minutes to heat up. Patti has lined the drip pan with foil for me, it makes for easier clean up. Place everything directly onto the grill and just let it hang out in the smoke and get happy for 45 minutes or so.

This is referred to as “smoking”; the temperature is around 150 - 180 degrees. 30 minutes of smoking is not enough to have any cooking effect on your meat but it is enough to open the pores up so that the meat can pick up all the flavor of the smoke.

After 45 minutes, turn the digital control up to 350 degrees and pull the meat off the grill.

When the grill comes up to temp, add the meat for 15 minutes, or until the meat reaches an internal temp around 130. Pull the meat off, cover it and let it rest for 10 minutes before serving. This will be rare to medium rare. Keep in mind that the meat will continue cooking for another 10 degrees after you pull it off the grill. So for medium pull it at 140 and overdone 160.

Note: I get a lot of questions about the kind of pellets you can use with a recipe. Keep in mind that a recipe is just an outline. Some you need follow closely like when you are making bread, but most you can do anything you can dream, our favorite way to cook. Feel free to mix and match the pellets until you find a combination you really like. Also you are only smoking at temps less than 250 degrees, anything higher is cooking and there will not be much if any smoke so it does not matter what kind of pellet you are using.

Beautiful, you can see the chicken wings on the bottom shelf here.

Directions: Gas Grill
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 60 minutes
Grill: Gas

Preparing Grill: Medium Indirect Heat

Preheat your grill to medium heat (300 - 350) and turn off one side so you will be cooking with indirect heat. Add your wet hickory chips over the fire and oil the grill. A cooking spray is easiest for this. (Note: you can add your hickory directly to the grill or you can use foil smoke packets.(Two handfuls wet chips and one dry, fold foil into a packet, poke holes in it with a fork and you’re good to go.)

Preparing Charcoal Grill

Get the Grill ready, you will want your temperature of around 300-350 degrees. Remember, you are going medium heat here for about 15 minutes. Bank your coals over to one side of your grill. Add your “drained wood chips” and you are good to go… You’re cooking/smoking times and temps will be the same as above.

Let it rest before slicing it

Cooking In the Oven:

We have been getting requests for recipe conversions for the oven. I tell folks all the time that cooking on a Royall wood pellet grill is just as easy as cooking in your oven. Just about anyone can do it and do it well. Think about it. You set your control knob to the temp you want, put your meat in and leave it for a set time.

It is the same thing, time and temp. is what it is all about. The Royall is just like your oven except it uses wood pellets and has wheels.

If you want to smoke in your oven they sell oven smokers for that. I, myself, would not spend the money on one of those when you can make your own out of foil.

Foil smoke packets. (Two handfuls wet chips and one dry, fold foil into a packet, poke holes in it with a fork and you’re good to go.) Just set it in the oven. You might want to make sure you turn on your vent fan or your house will fill up with smoke. You will give your alarms a good work out.

Let’s Eat!

About our Recipes

We do our recipes on our patio where we have a lineup of grills, including Royall Wood Pellet Grill/Smoker, Traeger, Charmglow, Char-Broil, The Big Easy, Char Griller, Brinkman and Weber. I call it our “Wall of Grill”. Our grilling styles are healthy and low fat and will fit pellet heads, gas, natural wood and even charcoal purists. Almost any of our recipes can be done on any kind of good BBQ.

The important thing to keep in mind is TIME & TEMPERATURE. You can even do some of them in the oven or crock pot, but, then you lose all the flavors you get from cooking outdoors. But sometimes it does rain.

Remember that a recipe is simply an outline; it is not written in stone. Don’t be afraid to make changes to suit your taste.

Take it and run with it….

Live your Passion...

Enjoy,

Ken & Patti

http://datenightdoins.com

Al Malekovic makes a fine all purpose sauce. Patti uses it for seasoning all kinds of things, but I like it on burgers and steaks. “Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce”

Check it out, for a free bottle go to his web site or email him. If you email him, tell him that you saw it here and we used it all up and to send us more...

www.countrybobs.com Al@countrybobs.com

Contact info for: Letonia White,

Independent DOVE CHOCOLATE DISCOVERIES™ Chocolatier

Email: LeToniaW@gmail.com

Web: http://www.dove-chocolate-discoveries.com/letonia