Cuts · US butchery
Tri-tip
A triangular muscle from the bottom sirloin, central to Californian Santa Maria barbecue and effectively unavailable in British retail. The clearest case in the catalogue where the honest answer is that the cut does not exist here.
Known as
The same muscle carries different names in different butchery systems, and some of those names mean different cuts elsewhere. Where a name is ambiguous, BBQHQ says so rather than picking one.
- United States
- Tri-tip
- Santa Maria steak
- Bottom sirloin butt, triangle
- bottom sirloin butt triangle — technical
What to ask a butcher for
- United States: In the UK there is nothing to ask for by name. Describe the triangular muscle at the bottom of the rump and expect it to be cut to order, if at all.
Where it comes from on the animal
Tensor fasciae latae (tri-tip)
Hindquarter, bottom sirloin · moderate use · connective tissue: moderate
A small triangular muscle from the bottom sirloin. Notable for having no UK retail existence at all: British butchery does not separate it, so it ends up in mince or in a rolled joint, and a British reader following a Californian recipe is looking for something their butcher has never cut.
Muscles: Tensor fasciae latae
Asking a butcher for it
Named the way us butchery names it. If the counter does not recognise the name, the anatomy is the fallback: ask for the cut by where it comes from.
- What to say
- Tri-tip, or Bottom sirloin butt, triangle (US) depending where you are.
- If that draws a blank
- Ask for hindquarter, bottom sirloin — the muscle is Tensor fasciae latae.
- What to specify
- Typical weight is 0.7–1.2 kg.
What it is suited to
Derived from how hard the muscle works and how much connective tissue it carries, which is the pairing that decides whether a cut wants a fire under it or beside it. BBQHQ does not rank cuts and does not name a best one.
- Moderate connective tissue: it will take either approach, and the two give genuinely different results rather than one being a compromise.
What to use instead
A substitute is not the same as an equivalent. These are graded, because “yes, use that instead” is the answer that ruins dinners: most real substitutions work only once something about the cook changes.
No cut in UK butchery corresponds
Not a substitute for this
British butchery does not separate this muscle as a retail cut, so there is no UK name for it and no UK product to buy. A butcher can cut one to order from the bottom of the rump if you describe the triangular muscle, but it is not something they will have.
Asking for it in another country
UK butchery: No direct equivalent
British butchery does not separate this muscle as a retail cut, so there is no UK name for it and no UK product to buy. A butcher can cut one to order from the bottom of the rump if you describe the triangular muscle, but it is not something they will have.
The UK side of these mappings rests on AHDB’s published cutting specifications, which BBQHQ has read. The US side does not: USDA’s Institutional Meat Purchase Specifications and the Beef Checkoff cut pages both refuse automated access, so no mapping here reaches “same cut” across two butchery systems. See the open question.
Typical size
0.7–1.2 kg