But tenderloin or "filet mignon," if you want to be all fancy about it , the milder, more tender cut from the other side of the rib cage, has a lot of good things going for it, too. For one thing, it's by far the most tender cut on the steer. No matter how you cook it, it's gonna be soft enough to cut with a fork, and if you nail it just right, it gets a melt-in-your-mouth, almost buttery texture, all with a minimal amount of fat.
It's also very easy to carve and serve. Since it has a nice cylindrical shape and no bones, you don't really have to worry about mastering fancy carving skills or finding the grain or anything like that. Just slice medallions and serve. If primal and carnal is your bag, then prime rib should be your roast of choice. But if you want to go subtle, elegant, and refined? Put a tenderloin on your table this year.
That said, tenderloin is not without its problems, and almost all of them boil down to its low fat content. First off, there's this:. Most of the distinctive flavor in meat comes from fat, and, with only trace amounts of marbling, tenderloin is just about as nondescript as beef comes. That's why most tenderloin recipes you'll see come with some kind of big, punchy flavor added, whether it's in the form of a bacon wrap, a pepper crust, or a high-impact sauce.
Lack of fat can also make cooking it more difficult. See, fat is an insulator don't believe me? Just ask a whale or a walrus , and, as such, it slows down the rate of heat transfer. This means that, given two pieces of meat of the same size and shape, the one with less fat will cook faster. So why is this a problem? Isn't cooking faster a good thing? Back up. Faster cooking also comes with some baggage: The faster a piece of meat cooks, the larger the temperature gradient within that piece of meat.
This means that with a lean tenderloin, it's very easy to end up with a roast that is well-done in the outer layers while the center barely hits medium-rare, like this:. To make this problem even worse, without the benefit of fat, well-done lean tenderloin ends up dry and cottony. So the question is, how do you roast a tenderloin so as to maximize the amount of medium-rare meat, while also adding plenty of flavor? Let's first talk a bit about how well-done you should actually be aiming for.
I used to be one of those "wave the steak in the direction of the fire and serve it to me" types. The rarer, the better. But when I actually started thinking critically about what was in my mouth, rather than letting whatever minor sense of machismo I had get the better of me, I realized that rarer does not always equal better, and I'm willing to bet that anybody who currently thinks so could be convinced otherwise.
These days, I firmly believe that when you're cooking red meat, the degree of doneness to which you cook it should be directly related to its fat content.
Rich, fatty cuts, like prime-grade prime rib , are better cooked to at least medium-rare, and often even up to medium—hot enough that the plentiful intramuscular fat can start to soften, spreading its flavor and its lubrication over your mouth. This also may explain why the French, with their very lean beef, tend to prefer their meat cooked very rare, while Americans, with their extra-fatty meat, veer toward medium. Nobody can explain why the Brits cook their lean beef beyond well-done.
A lean tenderloin, on the other hand, has no intramuscular fat, so go beyond medium-rare at all and you're just drying it out. For tenderloin, edge-to-edge pink, with perhaps even a spot of translucent rare meat in the very center, is the way to go. And, of course, we still want a really nice dark crust on the exterior for flavor and texture.
Before we get to the oven, though, we need to first figure out what cut of meat we're working with. A full tenderloin is a big chunk of meat, about four to five pounds.
Because a whole tenderloin has an uneven shape, with a thin, tapered tail and a fat bulb on the other end, you'll need to fold that thinner end back and tie it into place to get it to cook evenly. This is fine if you've got a large party of eight to 12 to feed, but for a smaller group of four to six, you'll want to use a center-cut tenderloin , also known as a chateaubriand. It can be oven-roasted, cut into steaks, or sliced into strips for stir-fries.
Fillet steak is cut from one of only two tenderloins that sit along the spine. Contact us. Lamb Beef Veal Goat. Tenderloin Tenderloin is prepared from the Hindquarter and is removed in one piece from the ventral surface of the lumbar vertebrae and the lateral surface of the ilium. Secondary Cuts. Fillet The fillet or tenderloin is one of the most tender cuts of beef. However, this feed usually produces less fat content in the animal than other feeds, which generally results in less marbling.
Grain-fed beef produces the rich marbling that makes the filet so tender. Grain feed usually comes from corn and corn by-products, like the husks and cobs. It tends to make meatier animals and richer flavors than grass feed, and lends to the slightly sweet flavor people enjoy in steak, especially with filet mignon. Filet mignon pricing runs the gamut from affordable to incredibly pricey.
Still, buying this cut yourself to cook at home can save you a lot of money over enjoying it at a restaurant. Filet mignon has about calories for a typical 3-ounce serving. With no carbohydrates and 22 grams of protein, this cut of beef could be a good choice for people looking to lose weight and build muscle when eaten as part of a healthy, balanced diet. This steak is also an excellent source of niacin, phosphorus, selenium, zinc, and iron. A true filet mignon should already come to you with the fat trimmed off it, making it one of the leaner cuts to enjoy.
Even without the fat that other steaks rely on to keep them flavorful and tender, this one remains tender without it. You can cook filet mignon in a cast iron skillet and finish it off in the oven. Or, make grilled filet mignon if you love the flavors of the grill. Remember, though, that this meat is thick, so any cooking method you choose is one you might need to experiment with.
The art of cooking filet mignon relies on using both direct and indirect heat. Then, move it to indirect heat your cast iron pan can go right in the oven to finish, or move the steak to a side with less heat on the grill until it meets the internal temperature for medium rare. We love enjoying filet mignon with garlic herb butter drizzled on top or served on the side for dipping.
Or, add a small slice of butter on the top of your steak for a subtle, savory addition. Any steak is better with aging to give it the beef flavor you love. While the gorgeous red hue of brand-new beef is appealing to the eye, you will probably be a little disappointed by its flavor. And, aged beef gets more tender as it ages, which is exactly what you want for steak. This holds true for tenderloin and filet mignon. Both cuts of meat are excellent agers, becoming more tender and flavorful as they age.
At Chicago Steak Company, we have both wet-aged and dry-aged filet mignon. Both processes allow muscle fibers to break down over time to keep the meat tender, which also enhances its flavor in the process. Beef Wellington is one of the most prized dishes in the steak world. The Wellington gets baked until the dough is cooked through and golden brown, giving you a crisp, savory way to enjoy steak.
But is filet mignon or beef tenderloin better for beef wellington recipes? Honestly, either one will do.
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