Grilled Tri-Tip Steaks with Pan Roasted Bacon-Wrapped Scallops | CB test cooks on the new Big Easy Smoker Roaster Grill
Did you get any new tools or other “toys” during the holidays? I sure did! A new Big Easy Smoker-Roaster-Grill. After only a few cooks I’m beginning to think this may become my “go to” cooker for all types of food preparation. This infrared cooker is affordable and takes up a very small foot print on the deck, lanai or back yard patio. And it can perform a number of cooking tasks – all quite well – which is good!
The Char-Broil Big Easy Smoker Roaster Grill - more versatile 100% infrared.
The Big Easy has become the favorite “turkey fryer” for thousands of folks during the past 3 years – replacing the expensive and often risky practice of frying turkeys and chickens in hot oil. The Big Easy uses 100% infrared in the cooking chamber to ‘fry’ up to a 16 pound turkey without any oil. The end result is moist and tender meat with crispy skin. The TBE, as it’s commonly called by enthusiasts on the Users Forums, has also become something of an experimental cooker – with folks using it to prepare a variety of food that no one at Char-Broil even thought of when the cooker was designed to replace hot oil turkey frying. (Check out some of the conversation about this product on the Users Forums – and get tips on how to increase your skill-set and performance of just about any outdoor cooker made by Char-Broil.)
Inspired by the many uses folks were inventing for the original Big Easy, the folks at Char-Broil developed a new product aptly called the Big Easy Smoker-Roaster-Grill. This cooker has taller and sturdier legs, a bigger cooking chamber and several new features which expand the use of the cooker to include grilling and smoking. Just like the original Big Easy the “SRG” generates 100% infrared energy in the cooking chamber to roast larger chickens, beef and pork roasts to a finish with a crispy crust and moist interior. The SRG also has a specially designed grate that covers the opening at the top of the cooking chamber to convert the infrared and convection heat to high temperature grilling. A hinged lid also can be used to cover the cooker while slow cooking and adding smoke to flavor the food roasting in the cooking chamber.
Beef Tri-Tip steaks grilling on the SRG with frozen bacon-wrapped scallops cooking in the cast-iron skiller on the grate.
Today I’m showing pictures of a cook I did this past week using the grate feature to sear beef tri-tip steaks as well as heat a small cast-iron skillet where I pan roasted some bacon-wrapped scallops.
Grilled Beef Tri-Tip Steak - high heat grilling on the new Big Easy SRG.
Beef Tri-Tip is often sold as a roast but can also be found cut into thin strip steaks. It’s an extension of the sirloin and you will sometimes have to ask the butcher for it – as there is only one per steer. I like it because it’s flavorful and great for grilling or roasting.
Bacon-Wrapped Scallops brushed with brown sugar cooking in a skillet on the grate of the SRG along with some new potatoes!
The bacon-wrapped scallops are a frozen prepared convenience product I keep on hand for impromptu dinner appetizers – and they are perfect to prepare using indirect heat or, as I did in this cook, in a skillet over direct heat where they kinda fry and kinda roast. They can also be placed in a disposable aluminum pan on the warming rack of a traditional grill and roasted using the convection heat of the cooking chamber. When I do that I like to add a little smoke flavoring to the cook using wood chips or chunks. With the Big Easy SRG I can also add smoke flavor to food cooking in the chamber, and the bacon-wrapped scallops could have been cooked using the cooking basket and shelves that come with the cooker. But this time I wanted to prepare some left-over new potatoes in the skillet with some of the bacon goodness to add taste!
I’ll post more on this cooker over the next few weeks. Regardless of what grill, smoker or back yard cooker you use – consider preparing a tasty meal of grilled beef tri-tip steaks and roasted bacon-wrapped scallops – it’s something you will enjoy preparing and I’m fairly certain your guests will use one word to describe it: DEE-LISH-US!
Thanks and…
Happy Grilling!
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Here are some tasty recipes for preparing tri-tip on your cooker:
Grilled Beef Tri-Tip with Tropical Fruit Salsa
CB:
Where can one purchase the frozen bacon wrapped scallops you use in this recipe??
Chuck – I purchased mine at Trader Joe’s and it’s been a pretty regular item this fall and winter so far. It may be seasonal. And I’ve seen them freshly prepped and ready for sale at Whole Foods fish counter…but a bit larger and, of course, price is higher.
if you live in ontario you can buy the bacon wrapped scallops at ZEHRS.
try joe patti seafood in pensacola fl. they will send them to you as is with any other fresh seafood! great place!
‘Huli’ is Hawaiian for turnover. Also, in Hawaiian, repeating the same word twice adds urgency or emphasis. Therefore Huli-Huli means ‘Turn over OFTEN and QUICKLY’. That’s because the soy-sauce-based marinade can scorch in a heartbeat!! Cook low and slow and pay attention.