Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Like prime rib? try a beef tenderloin




My whole family are bloody cow eaters. When my sister-in-law Krista entered the family she was a "well done" kind of gal. Now a nice welcoming family would just throw the meat back on the grill and turn it into a hockey puck for kindness sake. Not us, its medium rare and you are going to eat it, and you are going to like it. About 10 years later, Krista can say she likes her meat medium rare.
We like prime rib, we often cook it on holidays. I have recently concluded that instead of buying a "rib eye roast" which is what most consider a prime rib (now a rib eye roast is a rib eye steak uncut into steaks) I decided it is much better to get a tenderloin roast (the fillet mignon) .  The reason for this is because the rib eye is half fat that you don't even eat. The tenderloin is much leaner and very tasty.  It is also a lot easier to cook right because it isn't so thick. In order to cook it perfect you must, must have the KITCHEN TOOL OF THE WEEK:


A digital thermometer with a digital probe that has a long cord so you can put it in the roast and read it without opening the oven.
I buy my tenderloin roasts at, wait for it. . . Costco. Put it on any pan that is rimmed and salt  and pepper it very liberally. I tucked my ends underneath so it was the same thickness all the way across. If you don't tuck it under, you will have more well done ends which might please if you have some hockey puck eaters come to dinner.


Heat your oven to 500 degrees. Put the roast in for 30 minutes. Open the oven and put your digital probe right into the middle of the thickest part of the meat. Now shut the oven and turn off the oven and don't open it again until your digital thermometer reads 125 degrees (if my picture is looking a little bloody, let it go to 130 degrees, but no more, you will regret it!) Once it reads 125 degrees, take it out and let it rest for 10 minutes until you carve it.
I do have to tell you that when I asked Certified Executive Chef Kent Anderson from Chef's Table about using this method to cook a prime rib, he laughed at me like I was an idiot. Despite Mr. fancy pants chefs mockery, I still maintain. Here is why, the high temperature browns it nicely, then while it sits in the hot oven it slowly and evenly comes to temperature. So it is the same pinkness from the edge to the middle. Kent Anderson says you just cook it at 350 until it reaches 125, but I say that make the middle pink but the edges brown. So I am right, and he is wrong. Sorry Kent, your certification means nothing to me. 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Nat, he paid 200,000 for that education! ha ha