At holiday time, my local supermarket often puts whole beef tenderloins on sale at a special price, $13.99 a pound this year ($8.99 a couple of years ago.) This one came in at just under 7 pounds. That is a lot of meat. Far too much for the two of us.
This is an expensive cut, it is tender and flavorful. There are just two of these per cow. This was about as small as they come, at about 7 pounds the two of these would have been between 14 pounds from a cow that probably weighed in at 600-800 pounds. A fairly small percentage of the dressed or finished weight from the cow. It is the same cut that filet mignon steaks are cut from. Those steaks were on sale for $19.99 a pound when I bought this.
This yielded two roasts between 1.5 and 2 pounds each, six steaks, between 5 and 11 ounces each, and about 1.5 pounds of cubed beef to make stew from. I have a scale, I have cutting boards, I have knives, there is no reason I can't cut this down myself. And I have the last couple of years. Before that I had the butcher at Whole Foods cut a 2-pound roast for christmas one year, it was just under $100.
The Christmas roast beef, was cooked a perfect rare to medium rare, tender as could be and full of flavor. The rest is in the freezer to be used over the next couple of months.
For the roast, I salted it and let it set on the counter for about 90 minutes to take the chill off of it before putting it in the oven. The internal temperature about 55 degrees when it went into a 425 degree oven (salt and pepper on the outside) uncovered. I am cooking for temperature, not time. I checked it a couple of times, and pulled it when the temp was between 126 and 130 degrees depending on where the temperature probe went in. Covered it with foil, and let it rest on the counter for 15 minutes while I cooked the Yorkshire puddings. It was perfect.
Delicious!
ReplyDeleteI am an omnivore
DeleteI am sure that it only became "perfect" because of the Yorkshire puddings.
ReplyDeleteIf I get the Yorkshire's to rise.
DeleteWorthy of the term "feast"
ReplyDeleteEveryday should be a special occasion.
Delete😛 😊 😘
ReplyDeleteIt turned out well this year.
DeleteSounds like you know what you are doing!
ReplyDeleteI have been learning a long time.
DeleteSounds perfect. I did something very similar only my roast was covered in chopped herbs, shallots and a bit of orange zest. It's from an old recipe I've had for over 25 years but hadn't made in at least 10 years. It turned out perfect.
ReplyDeleteIt's an expensive cut of meat but as you say, you can get a whole lot out of a whole cut.
Orange zest would be an interesting addition.
DeleteMy mom melted butter in a 9x13 pan in a 500° oven, rolled the tenderloin in it, cooked it 500° for 15 minutes and then reduced the heat to 325 to cook the meat until it was at the desired temp. It was tasty but the big thing I remember is the big puff of smoke billowing out when she opened the oven door.
ReplyDeleteI can hear the smoke alarms.
DeleteMy wife has a wicked way with tenderloin but hers are pork rather than beef. They're delicious but I don't know if Yorkshire Puddings would go with them.
ReplyDeletePork tenderloins are fun to cooks with, there is at least one in the freezer at the moment.
DeleteI have got to be better about buying bulk meat when it is cheaper and splitting it up. Our freezer is small, but I could do better than I do.
ReplyDeleteSassybear
https://idleeyesandadormy.com/
Good for you! One of my goals this year is to cook a roast. I should bookmark this to remember how to do it
ReplyDelete