Chateaubriand: Beef tenderloin to you and me

My apologies to my Hindu and Vegetarian friends, but sometimes beef is so damn good. This is coming from a bacon loving member of the tribe.

The difference between Chateaubriand and the tenderloin is slight. The tenderloin is the center foot and a half; you can have the butcher cut a smaller section.  The Chateaubriand is about six inches longer on either side. And when a chef, server or home cook says Chateaubriand with an overcooked faux French accent they deserve to be slapped. That and Chateaubriand is almost impossible to spell correctly on the first pass.

Beef tenderloin is a pricey hunk of flesh. Pork also has a tenderloin. Both can be cooked the same way. Except the pork should be cooked for about half the time and you'll spend about 75 percent less. So I cook pork tenderloin with greater frequency and usually only cook beef tenderloin on special occasions like when I bribe a good friend to help me fix the plumbing in the kitchen.

Beef tenderloin is expensive because on any given steer there isn't much of it, making it kinda rare. Which is also the only way to cook tenderloin. Let me explain.  Beef tenderloin is not a flavorful cut. If you want flavor save yourself a ton of dough and go buy a sirloin.  What it brings to the table is sweet talking, long walk on the beach, watching a beautiful summer sunrise with your new hon following the evening of your third date tenderness. If you get my drift. If you cook a tenderloin past medium rare what you get is flavorless, used to be tender, "why did I ever marry that jerk" tough. Since it doesn't have a lot of flavor, tenderloins just love to get all buttered up and saucy. And that is called foreshadowing.

Tenderloin is easy to cook if you follow the rules. Deviate from the path and your road is a tough road. What separates tenderloin from tenderloin is a crispy charred outside holding in beef that melts in your mouth. So start with the crisp and worry about actually cooking it later. Yeah, you heard me, crisp first, cook later.  I like to show a tenderloin whose boss by tying it up with a bit of string. This step is not necessary. This is more important with pork.  Every 2-3 inches put a loop of string around the tenderloin to make it round. Now the important part starts.  Salt the tenderloin on all sides and tightly wrap in plastic wrap. Leave it out on the counter for about an hour to come closer to room temperature.  No, you won't die from eating flesh that is growing nasty bacteria on the outside. Any evil bacterium will meet its maker soon.

After the hour is over, unwrap the beef. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees, with the rack in the center. At the same time, heat up a big metal skillet on medium high to high.  Put in enough peanut or other non-smoking oil to easily coat the pan. What we are going to do is put the char on.  First, place one end of the tenderloin into the searing hot pan. Hold the beef with your hands or tongs if you are too freaking scared of the occasional oil splatter. You'll know when its ready, when the beef fairly easily releases from the pan. You might need to use a spatula to help it let go. It takes about 30-60 seconds. Do not force it. If you are leaving good chunks of beef stuck to the pan, it is not ready yet. The char is supposed to stay on the beef and not on the pan. Repeat the process with the other end and then on all four sides of the tenderloin. This whole process should take no more than 8 minutes. What you should have is a beautifully charred, essentially uncooked, hunk of meat.

There is an alternate technique. Use a blowtorch. Its brute force will do the job. And you can use it to sweat the pipes in your kitchen because you had to put in cut off valves so you can replace your counter tops but that is another story. Use the blowtorch to char the hell out it and any evil bacterium.

Place the charred tenderloin on a cooking sheet with a wire cooling rack. Coat the tenderloin with unsalted butter and spice if you wish. Place the tenderloin in the oven on the middle rack and let let it cook for 40-50 minutes, until an instant read thermometer reads 125 degrees. Cook beyond 135 degrees and you'll get shoe leather. Remove it from the oven and resist any temptation to cut into it for 10-15 minutes. It is still cooking and the juices are moving back deep inside the meat from the walls.  While the beef is resting, generously coat it with herbed or spiced butter.  After the tenderloin has rested, slice it into 1/2" thick medallions of goodness and serve.  I like to serve the tenderloin with extra herbed or spiced butter on top. I served this dish with veggies (red onion, bell pepper, apple and dried cherries) I cooked in the same pan that I seared the meat to add a beefiness to it. I drizzled the veggies with a basil and blood orange sauce. I placed the tenderloin medallions on cinnamon clove spiced quinoa- leave a comment if you want those recipes.

Herbed or spiced butter. Can be almost anything your imagination can serve up. Here's the basics. Use about 4-6 tablespoons of unsalted butter.  Bring to room temperature. Mash in whatever you are using to flavor it. Keep about 2-3 tablespoons to rub the tenderloin after its removed from the oven. The other 2-3 tablespoons can be shaped into discs, squares, swans, automobiles, bunny wraps....and then placed into the refrigerator to cool and harden. Use these miniature flavored butter sculptures as garnish.

Possible combinations for flavoring the butter: Use salt if you want.  Clove or two of garlic minced, 1 shallot, and 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley. Or, 1 clove minced garlic, 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger, 1 tablespoon minced lemongrass, 1 minced shallot and 1 tsp of cayenne pepper or 2 -3 minced fresh Thai chiles.  Or 1 tablespoon of adobo sauce, 2 chipotle peppers, juice from 1/2 half lime, and 1 clove of minced garlic, 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro and 1/8 onion minced. Or make up something yourself. Enough.