filet mignon

If you have a tenderloin (a roast, not just one steak), heat your oven to 475, lower it to 375 when you put the tenderloin in the oven, and cook 14 minutes to the pound - until the internal temp is around 140. Let it rest for 15 minutes, and it should be perfect. A little salt and pepper on the outside before cutting, and you're set.

If it's a steak I like to BBQ it. I use lots of charcoal get it really hot and have the rack about 2 inches from the coals. I turn a total of six times using high enough heat to just keep it from flaming. If it's a thick piece it's a 15 minute job. You don't want to dry it out but at the same time it's a thick cut that is extremely tender until you burn it.

I cut into it after about 15 minutes at high heat to see how it's cooking. Sometimes you can kind of just tell by looking at it and pressing on it.

Nothing like a crispy on the outside fluffy juicy center filet.

Good luck.

Similar to some of the recommendations for the Prime Rib, use a thermometer if it is a roast, if you like Rare to MR, take it off when the temp is 120 - 125 and let it rest for 10 - 15 minutes. The juices will redistribute throughout the meat, and will not come pouring out when you cut into it. It will also continue to cook. For best flavour, do not cook over MR (but everyone has there own tastes). For a steak, cook as you would any steak, but keep in mind that it is a very lean piece of meat, and overcooking will result in a very dry taste.

Salt & pepper only. Charcoal grill, very hot fire, 4 minutes on one side, turn 2 minutes on second side.Remove from grill, tent in aluminum foil for 10 minutes. Comes out perfectly medium rare.

Will work for wine
Cliff

am i the only one that makes little slits in the meat and stuffs garlic into them?



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Any decision made when sober should be reconsidered while drunk!

quote:

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Originally posted by tbirdbass:
...little slits in the meat...

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"Who took the cork out of my lunch?" - W.C. Fields

Filet mignon is prized as much or more for its texture rather than it's flavor. Imo, filet mignon should be pan-seared at high temperature in a very lightly oiled (peanut oil) heavy skillet. The meat is then placed on a warm platter in a warm oven and covered, while the pan is deglazed (Cognac is best.) and a sauce made. The juices from the meat platter are added before the sauce is finished. Green peppercorn sauce is my favorite made this way.

Just one more sip.

Board-O -- do you have a recipe for this favorite green peppercorn sauce?

I would be much obliged.

DdB

In search of the big 'WOW!'

Asking Board-O if he has a recipe is like asking him if he has anything good in his cellar.....

Watch out for that board o guy..all of his wine is really old.

To be the man, you gotta beat the man. WOOOO!

ingredients:

Thick, top-quality filet mignons. I use 8 ounce filet mignons. If you're not serving a number of other courses, you might opt for larger ones.

Green peppercorns. If you get them dried, soak them in Cognac for a day or longer to reconstitute them.

Peanut oil

Butter 2 tablespoons

Cognac (brandy can be used)

Dry or sweet Sherry (A little Amontillado sweetness adds a nice touch to this sauce.)

Shallots 2 cloves, chopped (garlic can be used instead, 4 cloves, minced)

Heavy cream

Dijon mustard, 2 teaspoons

Cooking instructions:

Press plenty of green peppercorns into both sides of each filet mignon, but don't flatten the filets.

Preheat oven to 140 degrees.

Add a very small amount of peanut oil to a heavy cast iron skillet, preferably one with a top to minimize splatter. I use a cast iron
chicken cooker that came with a glass top. You want just enough oil so that when you heat it, it will just spread out and cover the pan. You aren't frying the meat; you're pan broiling it. Heat the skillet on high heat til the oil begins to smoke. Using tongs, add the filets to the pan and sear on each side for about three minutes.
Remove the filets to a platter, cover with aluminum foil, and place in the oven.

Add 2 tablespoons butter to the pan. It will melt quickly.
Stir and scrape the particles off the bottom of the pan. Add the shallots and cook briefly til they become translucent. Keep stirring and
scraping.
Then add about 3-4 tablespoons of Cognac and either flame
to burn off the alcohol, or just cook for a minute and the alcohol will evaporate. Add about 4-5 tablespoons of Sherry and continue scraping and stirring. After it reduces a little, add about
3-4 ounces of heavy cream, stirring and scraping all the while.

As it begins to thicken, pour in the juices that have accumulated on the meat platter
from the oven. When the sauce begins to thicken, remove it from the burner or it will separate. Add 2 teaspons of Dijon mustard and stir well. Pour the sauce over the filets and serve.

Wild rice or garlic mashed potatoes goes well with that
sauce.

You can vary the amounts of the ingredients to taste. It can be made with black peppercorns, but that can be kind of spicy and
it could overwhelm a good red wine. I also use this recipe for breast of duck. If you do, cut through the skin and fat, but not into the meat, and palce rows of green peppercorns in the slits. You will also need to pour of the fat after pan searing the breasts.

Just one more sip.

hey tbird -

Having much trouble with vampires as of late?

Just kidding, I like garlic just as much as the next guy...unless the next guy is Decanter and the garlic smell is interfering with his palate at a blind tasting

I'll have one drink, two at the most. After three I'm under the table, after four I'm under my host

We grill Tenderloins and make au poivre a few times a month. It is essential that you use fresh high quality peppercorns. Preferably a melange of green, white, red and black.
Penzey's is a good source.

"One Chambertin does the work of two Beaujolais"

Board-O: I have long been a fan of sauces such as these but rarely make the effort to make them at home. With your recipe I will now! Thanks.

DdB

In search of the big 'WOW!'

My favorite is Filet dredged in ground coffee and chocolate, searded on both sides for 2 minutes, then in the oven @ 375' for 15 minutes. Serve with yer favorite Cali Cab.

"Reach out your hand, if your cup be empty, if your cup is full, may it be again."

quote:

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Originally posted by tbirdbass:
am i the only one that makes little slits in the meat and stuffs garlic into them?



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Any decision made when sober should be reconsidered while drunk!

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Nope.

funny wine quip goes here.

Anthony -

Easy and great!

Good Fillets, Montreal steak seasoning (easy to find off the shelf, (or seasalt/course pepper), good blue cheese.

High heat on a good grill - 3 to 4 minutes a side (depending on meat thickness).

Lower the heat to medium and go about 2 more minutes a side, tops. If the fillets are as thick as they are wide, turn them on there sides for 30-40 seconds, also. Tot time shouldn't be more than 12 minutes unless there really thick.

Lastly, after the last turn, with a minute or two left, sprinkle a couple of Tsp of crumbled blue cheese on top to melt before you pull 'em off.

Oh yeah, don't cut into 'em while cooking either - just feel 'em. After a few times you'll get the touch thing down. Good Luck!!

thats everyone for all the ideas. i guess i will try them until i get one that like. now i just need to find out where in pittsburgh i can buy a good piece of meat.

p.s. board-o thanks for the very detailed recipe for the sauce.

I agree filet are not the tastiest of the meats it is a texture thing. Give me a porterhouse, which has much more flavor and a lot less of the "status".


If God wanted us to be vegetarians, he wouldn't have made animals out of meat.

Drink all you want, they will make more.

I listened to a chef talk on the cuts of beef he uses. He said there were three "luxury cuts"- filet mignon, shell steak, and ribeye. Porterhouse/T-Bone is a combination of the first two.

Just one more sip.

I'll take the rib steak, cap on, with freshly made (is ther any other kind?) bernaise sauce, thanks.....

Board-O

Thanks for the recipe, I had to read it in sections to prevent myself from drooling all over my keyboard.



Don't drink the puppies or there won't be any big dogs later!

Anthony:

I recommend Barker's Meats in the Strip District for filet. Wholey's is also decent, and if you don't mind paying more, even Giant Eagle is ok.

Epicurious.com also has a great recipe for a cabernet horseradish sauce. Check it out.

Soooo, other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?

Board-O recipe has become a standard at our house when we stay home on Friday night. Mrs. 7 & I prepare the meal together, share a bottle or two of wine & generally have a wonderful evening. Yum. Makes staying home better than going out.

Will work for Wine

Cliff

I tried Board-O's recipe last night. Inconceivable! Fantastic, accompanied by a nice bottle of '97 Saddleback Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley. Board-O, might you have any good recipes for rabbit? I'm picking up my first rabbit for tomorrow night and need ideas.

Wisdom has two parts: 1) having a lot to say, and 2) not saying it.

Oh my God! Not the "..what goes with rabbit.." thing again!

...aged a full week in particle-board barrels.....

cliff, my wife says the same thing. The wine is invariably better at home than out, unless we bring it with us. The food is better than 90+% of the restaurants.

casey (or kc), I've never made rabbit, but the best rabbit dish I've ever had we had in the Canary islands a few times. It's called Rabbit Salmorejo. Gastronauta lives in the Canaries and once posted a recipe for it. There's a great market near me that carries fresh rabbit, but my wife doesn't want to eat Thumper. Try the recipe with fresh breats of duck, magret. D"Artagnan supplies it and you may be able to find it near you. The market near me also has locally raised duck breast from Muscovy duck.

kybo-

Just one more sip.

I just made the "Board-O Filet" (no, that doesn't sound right ... like a plank of meat!) -- or "Filet a la Board-O".

Had it with a well-decanted '99 Justin Isosceles. YUM! I'll be doing this again.

Thanks Board-O!

_________________
Stevie Wander

I'm going to be making it for the OJEFFSOs and kybos with breast of Muscovy duck and serving a 1980 Heitz Martha's and a 1966 Latour with it.

Just one more sip.

Uh, just curious of course, no thoughts of crashing of course, but when exactly are you doing this, ole' buddy ole' pal?

December 7. When are you and Mrs. bman (or is it bwoman) heading down this way?

Just one more sip.

Chinacat,

I have a question about your coffee/chocolate dregding for the filets. I assume you use a fine grind coffee (is espresso alright to use?), but for the chocolate, do you use a good quality bittersweet cocoa, or are you grating the chocolate by hand (again, I assume bittersweet). If you could give some examples of the kind/brands of chocolate you use, it would be appreciated. I'm thinking about doing this on the weekend. Also, is it possible to BBQ these steaks instead of pan searing and finishing them in the oven?

Thanks in advance.

Just reading some of these recipes is making my mouth water.

A few days ago I received a packet of coupons from Mortons of Chicago. After reading this thread, I think it's time to go get a thick filet.

Board-O: we've actually been toying with the idea of a road trip during the kids' week off in March, but will probably not do it since we are saving our travel $$$ for a possible trip to London or some distant place this summer. But a trip towards your neck of the woods is still on the radar for some time in the (I hope) not too distant future.

Any plans to return here any time soon-ish?

Just wanted to bring this back up to the top in hopes that chinacat would be able to answer my question about the coffee/chocolate for filets.

Nothing imminent. There might be a memorial service for my brother next Spring, in which case I'll let you know.

Just one more sip.

IMHO, I like the filet to be "black 'n' blue" by heating up the grill to about 600 degrees, rub the filets with olive oil, kosher salt and fresh ground pepper, then sear them on the grill for 2 minutes on each side, let stand on a warm plate for 5 minutes, then serve with bearnaise.

After you get used to the mooing and bleeding, it's the best way to have a filet.

Board-O,

I finally tried your green peppercorn sauce, and boy did it ever live up to the billing. I used Brandy and Amontillado, and it was awesome. Thanks again for sharing the recipe!

I posted that recipe because I love it. Now you have to try it with fresh magret.

Just one more sip.