We are lucky to make our home near the Texas wine country!
Now that I live closer than ever, I can get to many of the wineries in less than an hour. And, you know I love to cook with live fire AKA Smoke and Fire with Lisa. I couldn’t think of a better pairing with the wildly popular “Cardiff Crack” Tri-Tips Spicy Chipotle Marinated Tri-Tip and Whole Burgundy Pepper Marinated Tri-Tip from Seaside Market and then paired with one of my favorite Texas wines. Elisa Christopher Wines makes an awesome Merlot from Texas-grown grapes and is located on the Texas Wine Trail on 290W in Johnson City toward Frederickburg. This Texas Merlot is juicy with fresh dark, ripe fruits, full-bodied and lots of great silky tannins making it a perfect pairing with one of my favorite cuts of meat. Tri-Tip is a nice beefy cut of meat that doesn’t take long to grill, can feed a crowd and does well with bold marinades like this one. Serving can be very versatile. Make the traditional sandwich with a hard roll and sauce or serve alongside grilled vegetables. Don’t forget their popular BBQ Sauce!
The tri-tips were grilled over lump charcoal on my Barebones Cowboy grill. I love this grill for the surface area, even cooking and the adjustable grates so I can grill an array of colorful vegetables all at the same time or spread them out, depending on how much I am cooking at a time.
You can purchase these online at the Seaside Market and they are so easy to cook and taste so amazing you’ll want to order both flavors. The intense flavors infused into the tri-tips are accomplished by a “secret” process and since no one really knows what the recipe for the marinade is, once you have this beef, you will crave more.
It’s that good.
Follow the package directions for all cooking instructions.
Let me know if you visit Elisa Christopher Wines. More about their awesome sparkling wines coming soon!
Look how beautifully they grill! Seared on both sides then moved to a cooler side of the grill allows the tri-tips to cook to medium pink for those who like it that way and the smaller ends cook more to well done.
Pleasantly pink in the middle, any leftovers can be eaten at room temperature which is especially delicious on a crusty roll. Because my cowboy grill is perfect for grilling lots of vegetables well, asparagus seasoned with olive oil and just touched be the heat made a great no fuss side vegetable served room temperature. Charred poblanos, Fresno and jalapeño chilies and purple onions were chopped up for a simple room temperature relish to go with the meat and asparagus which would be great on a sandwich as well.
