My Asada Rub Has Potential . . . What Kind Is Debatable

I would like to preface my first entry by letting you know that I am 26 years old, and I live with my parents. They are currently both day traders but tell everyone they're retired. Before that, they were both CEOs for over twenty years, one in publishing and one in health care. However, just because they are "retired" does not mean that they are not still bosses. And of course, I am their daughter, so I am just like them (much to their chagrin).

My parents are having friends over for dinner tomorrow, so I offered to make an Asada rub for Tri-Tip. My father (a master of the grill, he's been told many times to open his own restaurant) skeptically agreed. I looked up recipes for ideas to tack onto what was already in my head, but I pretty much went with my gut on this one, so this has potential to be either a disaster or a success. Stay tuned.

I started off by adding tequila, and I chose Tres Generaciones Reposado because it's my favorite. But if you are willing to try this, any kind of tequila will do. For the fruit juices, I excitedly pulled a fat lime and regular sized orange out of the refrigerator and put into the microwave to heat up. It wasn't until I began to push the buttons that I remembered that our microwave is broken. So I stuck them in the oven and put the heat up to 175. I left them in for a little over five minutes, until they were warm all over and felt as if they were about to burst with juice. I cut them in half, poked holes in the fruit with a fork, and squeezed out the juice. My favorite way to juice citrus is to do this, then to dig my fingers into the fruit and bend it in half until the inside is a bunch of pulpy shreds.

For the chipotle peppers, I first cut off the stems and then cut the peppers in half. I de-seeded them with my fingers over the trash can, which was something of a boring process, albeit necessary. After all that was done, I cut the pieces into smaller chunks before I blended them in a coffee grinder we have just for this purpose. If you're like me and stick your nose into everything when you shouldn't, be forewarned. I got ahead of myself and bent over to enjoy the aroma of the ground up chipotle peppers but wanted to die as soon as I did. Fortunately I was able to move my head over the floor in time before I sneezed, but I seemed to inhale Essence of Chipotle so far up my nose that it took a while for the pain to go away.

Then I mixed all of the ingredients together to make the marinade, and I applied the marinade to the meat in the Tupperware it's currently stored in. I always recommend using your hands for cooking, especially with marinades. I poured a bit of the marinade on each side of steak, then worked it into the meat with hands so that it covered every possible inch. After that I poured the remains of the marinade over all the steaks, worked it on all of them a bit more, then put it in the fridge to marinate overnight.

My father came into the kitchen part of the way through and nearly had a coronary over how much cinnamon ("That's waaaaay too much!") I put in. We'll see how it turns out tomorrow night.


Spiced Asada Rub
3 Tri-Tip Roasts
2 tbsp. Tequila
3 tsp. Coarse Salt
1 1/2 tsp. Black Pepper
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Coriander
2 tsp. Crushed Garlic
Juice from One Lime
Juice from One Orange
1 tsp. Crushed Red Pepper
1/2 tsp. Cardamom
8 Dried Chipotle Peppers, de-seeded and ground
1 tbsp. Olive Oil
1/4 tsp. Cumin

Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl. Pour small portions of the marinade onto the meat, working it all over the surface. Refrigerate at least one night ahead. Grill to desired degree of doneness and enjoy.