For true Fred lovers, this is about 1 serving… but figure the serving sizes based on your normal meat allocations! (the truth is probably somewhere in between) …And hope to hear about your experiences!
Schaub’s in Palo Alto has a marinated tritip called a Fred (named after the store owner’s father who invented the recipe and kept it secret for many years). It is indeed tasty, but significantly pricier than a nice piece of tritip. I have seen and tried a few recipes trying to deconstruct a Fred and in my opinion they are pretty far off. Freds have a very earthy set of flavors with no very bright or sweet notes. Salt and garlic are prominent. After a couple of experiments, I created this one that was preferred by the test diners in a blind comparison tasting.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Total: about 1/2 hour
- Active: low but constant activity, chopping or watching for critical states…
Ingredients (11)
- 1 packet squid ink (optional) but use it for the truly coal black experience… more for color than for taste I think. But it’s pricey to ship and hard to find.
- 1 T cocoa (I think this is optional, too). Could be toasted with the chipotle below
- 2 heaping T black bean sauce (get good rich black stuff — this is key)
- 6-10 cloves garlic chopped very fine (critical to Fredness)
- 2 T olive oil
- 1 T salt
- 1 T tamarind paste (or water)… not essential to Fredness, but adds complexity
- 1 tsp chipotle powder (also not essential, but adds complexity)
- 1-2 T very strong coffee (or water)
- 1 T sugar
- 1.5 – 2 lb tritip (essential!)
Instructions
- Put the garlic and sugar in the oil and cook slowly until a deep caramel color.
- While garlic is carmelizing, If you’re using them, mix the cocoa and chipotle together and scorch them in a heavy bottom pan. You’ll know when this happens when the color darkens and it starts to smell wonderful.
- When garlic is carmelized, mix with the other ingredients you’re using: black bean sauce, is essential; optional items are: squid ink, cocoa + chipotle, salt, tamarind paste, coffee. You can strain out the garlic pieces if you like, but I like leaving them in.
- Consistency should be a little viscous.. runnier than molasses, but thicker than coffee. If too thick, add more coffee or water.
- Put the resulting mixture with the tritip into a ziplock bag and mush it around. Let it repose in the refrigerator for 3 days. Turn it over and mush it around every once in awhile.
- Cook your tritip however you normally do… on the grill or in the oven. The salt content essentially brines the meat, making it juicier
