Looking for some new ideas on tenderloin


 
J

JSMcdowell

TVWBB All-Star
For whole beef tenderloin I have always just seared and then indirect, with some S&P, sometimes some oil.

I travel to south florida for New Year's each year and it has become a tradition to have an all out all day feast on New Year's day. We always finish up with some sliced tenderloin. I was wanting to do something different for this year with the tenderloin.

Well my family just informed me that I am responsible for cooking a whole tenderloin for Christmas day. So now I at least get to try something new before I head down to Florida.

So what are you ideas ?

On Christmas day I will have a 22" OTS. New Year's I will have a gasser, but trying to talk my buddy into getting a OTG. I don't think Delta will let me check my performer.
Thanks!
 
That is definitely a different idea. I have never made that, could be interesting.

Of course my family’s expectation of my food is actually higher than the people I will be cooking for on New Year’s.
 
I ended up doing about 30 ABTs and 2 Pepper stout beefs Friday evening, so I really didn't want to put much effort in Saturday. I was going to try the Salt Crust, but again, a little more effort than I was looking for.

I cleaned it, then covered in salt & pepper for about a 30 minute warm up while I prepared the grill. Covered it in oil and started at 400 indirect on a 22" OTS. Threw a chunk of pecan on the coals when the meat went on and took it down to 350. At about an hour, the meat was at 115 so I pulled off the lid and crank the air to the coals for a couple minutes. After about 30 seconds of that, realized I had left the chunk of pecan on, so had to remove that. After a couple of minutes, the coals were nice and hot and I threw on direct for a few seconds on each side, giving a nice sear on each side. Let it rest for 1 hour (I had only intended a 30 minute rest, someone was dragging the turkey) and then sliced.

It was the best tenderloin I have made by far. I had trimmed off the small ends and the whole thing was fairly uniform. After the initial slice off the first end, it was prefect rare/med rare. The thing that really got me was how little of a gray area there was on the outside of the meat. Usually I get 1/8 - 1/4 inch. On this it was almost non existent. Of course, the pink smoke ring from the pecan did cover up some.
 
If you REALLY want to "knock their socks off" for New Years - I'll second the Beef Wellington.

I've seen and tasted variations with both Liver / Pate and with Mushrooms & Shallots (Duxelles) and with both. I liked all of the variations nearly equally.

If you think that all or some of your guests may be sqeamish about the Paté, then try one with just mushrooms and shallots instead.

Made-up as individually-pastry-wrapped servings is, IMHO, more impressive. But if you want to make a whole tenderloin, and slice to serve, check out Tyler Florence's "Ultimate Beef Wellington" recipe - I saw the show, and it looked mouth-watering G-O-O-D.

The pastry can get a little soggy on the bottom, but it soaks-up some of the meat juices and makes for some outstanding flavor - If you've never had it, it's a real treat!
 
I ended up doing 3 whole tenderloins (1 at lunch, 2 at dinner), reverse sear, with a tin foil pack of hickory & pecan on the gasser.

They came out perfect, but I will definitely be trying some other ideas for myself. We were just cooking so much that day, didn't want to complicate things.

I also made the Orange Marmalade Sriracha wings for the first time and WOW was everyone impressed.

Andy,

I agree, that is my absolute favorite way to eat beef tenderloin. Been make it for a few years now, but it's probably be over 6 months. Need to get that one going soon.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top