Guinness Tri-Tip Marinade

If you like Guinness, or good meat for that matter, this recipe is for you. People often cook with beer, but a stout the quality of Guinness can provide so much more flavor than a simple Budweiser can do. This recipe is good for one tri-tip steak. If you are grilling more than one steak, double the recipe.

• 1 bottle Guinness
• 3 tbsp Cayenne Pepper
• 2 tsp Table Salt
• 2 tbsp Black Pepper
• 4 tbsp fresh garlic
• 4 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

Start by pouring the full Guinness bottle into a mixing bowl. You want this to be your main liquid ingredient, so if you play with the recipe, try not to overpower the Guinness. Mix in all the ingredients. This probably won't smell good to you, so you don't want to go by the nose on this one. I thought it smelled great however. :)

Place the tri-tip steak in a large zip-lock freezer bag, and pour the marinade in. It should sit in the fridge at least 4 hours, if not overnight. When you are ready to cook the meat, take it out of the fridge early. You want to grill a steak from room temperature. A tri-tip is best cooked "low and slow", so you can get away with a temperature a little colder.

Spread the coals around the edge of the grill, leaving some space in the middle. I let my coals burn a little longer before I put the meat on when I grill tri-tip. You want to make sure there are no flare-ups that can burn your meat. Cook for 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the size of the steak. I turn it once at 20 minutes, again at 40 minutes, and then I rotate and flip at 50 minutes and 1 hour. This gets you a nice brown edge with a light pink center. Perfect.

I used this recipe and the flavor stayed pretty well. I could taste the Guinness in the meat. Add some flour tortillas, some fresh salsa, guacamole, onions, and (Tillamook) grated cheddar cheese, and you have a great tri-tip taco.

Be sure to let me know how this works for you. It is among my favorite grill marinades.