Here is my biased, unsolicited advice: If you are going to invite a food writer to a barbeque and if you are also going to ask said food writer if the tri-tip is done and if said food writer tells you that yes, in her opinion the tri-tip is at that exact moment grilled to absolute perfection, if all of these things are true, take the goddamn meat off the grill.
You don’t need to invite her (although she sure likes it when you do) and you don’t need to wave her over to the grill away from delightful conversation and put her to work at your party (although she really doesn’t mind), but if you do, listen to her. Don’t, after all that hassle, over-cook the beef anyway.
Luckily, the beef wasn’t too terribly overcooked, just a bit more towards well-done than most people would probably like. The crowd was a forgiving one–former colleagues from Sunset–who I have witnessed dig into uncooked cake and burnt turkey. Everyone seemed too engrossed catching up and comparing the competing slaws to worry too much about the meat.
Charmian Christie | 03-Jul-08 at 3:48 am | Permalink
I feel your pain!