Beef tri tip ideas

Tri-tip is the most favored cut for use in International Chili competitions - that is chili >without< beans..just the meat and spices. Each year the winning recipe is posted here: http://www.chilicookoff.com/Winner/WC_2012.asp
It might seem like a waste of meat, but when you realize real chili only contains meat, it is entirely different from what most people buy in a tin can.

I live in tri tip country. It's the official regional dish http://food52.com/recipes/15222-holy-smoke-santa-maria-tri-tip The best way to cook it is outdoors over lumps of oak charcoal, or just oak wood. Depending on where you live it might be too cold for that right now. You could try roasting it in the oven at about 325F and adding a little bit of liquid smoke to he drippings. Using the internal brine helps keeps it moist during cooking.
You could also braise it but that's a crime against tri tip.