Santa Maria style is a barbecue technique from California's Santa Maria Valley built around grilling meat, usually beef tri-tip, uncovered over glowing red oak wood coals. The meat is seasoned simply with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, grilled over the coals, and sometimes basted with a thin sauce of beef broth, tomato sauce, and spices; tri-tip typically takes about 30-40 minutes to reach doneness.
The style traces to 19th-century vaqueros who cooked beef over open-flame pits on the region's ranches, a technique that may draw on earlier Chumash open-fire cooking traditions in the area. Red oak, rather than mesquite or other hardwoods, is what most distinguishes it from other regional barbecue styles, though individual ranches and families vary their rubs and basting sauces.