Beef Tenderloin!

Ahhhh.....Beef Tenderloin.

It deserves capital letters.

It is delicious.

My mom made this recipe for our Christmas Eve Dinner and it was AMAZING! So when I went to the Restaurant Depot this weekend with Lenore and Nicole....and I saw some lovely beef tenderloin(s) on the shelf I thought,

"Mmmmm....that would make a great welcome home dinner!"

Now, beef tenderloin is fairly pricey. I got mine for approx $42, but here is my logic:

• I was able to cut it into 4 pieces for 4 separate meals
• That's $10 a meal
• $5 a person per meal...for delicious beef

Not bad.

I think you can expect to pay more than that at a normal grocery store....maybe around $60-$70 for a 6 pound tenderloin.

Anyhoo, here we go!

This is my massive cut of beef. It was more than a little intimidating to see all that fat and blood juice.

I LOVE YOU RESTAURANT DEPOT! They even provide you jackets to wear in the refrigerated section...which apparently make you look like the Gordon's Fisherman.

Make sure you have some of these handy when buying large quantities of meat. Or baking large quantities of muffins. They really help prevent the frostbite.

Would they work on feet?

So here is half of my massive tenderloin, pre-butchering. According to my sources (Pioneer Woman) it is very important to trim off a good bit of that fat AND the silvery membrane which will make your meat tough.

I thoroughly enjoyed this step.

I may have missed my calling.

Is it too late to go to butcher school? Do they have butcher school? Can I get a degree in butchery?

I tried to take a picture of myself trimming off the fat, but I didn't have enough hands and wanted to keep all my digits....so here is a picture of the beef - the one on the left has been trimmed, the one on the right has not. Duh.

I then put 3 of my 4 pieces of tenderloin into freezer bags and look forward to eating them later!

The remains.

Next up, the coating. Or is it a marinade? I'm really not sure.

For this recipe, you will need softened butter, dijon mustard, parsley flakes (or fresh parsley is probably better) and crushed peppercorns.

I halved the recipe since I was working with a quarter piece of meat. The above is

1/2 cup parsley

1/8 cup softened butter

2 tbsp dijon mustard (I went a little heavy on the mustard because I like the tang!)

You want to mix this up - real good!

And schmear it on the tenderloin. Top and bottom and in all the cracks!

Next you combine your coarse salt and crushed peppercorns and pat them into the schmear. The patting is very important. It makes your tenderloin feel appreciated.

I used:

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp of whole peppercorns - then crushed (not 2 tbsp of crushed flakes...unless you like it HOT)

The directions then say that you can chill the beef for up to 24 hours. I wasn't expecting Eric home for another 21 hours, so I figured the fridge was as good a place as any to keep this thing.

Hello fridge!

The next evening, I open the fridge and - HELLO LOVELY!

I prepped my roasting pan - that I bought at Kroger for 10% off! It says it is nonstick, but I wasn't messing around. NO WASTED TENDERLOIN.

And preheated my oven to 350.

I tenderly placed my tenderloin (get it?) on the rack and inserted my new favorite kitchen appliance. It is a meat thermometer! But a really cool one....that I got at Kroger for 10% off!

Then I constructed this foil tent to protect my beef, and placed it in the oven.

And my supercool thermometer stayed outside!! You put the probe into the thickest part of the meat, and watch the display until it reaches your desired temp! It even has an alarm in case you happen to walk away for a minute...or 5. For this dish, around 140 degrees would have been medium rare, and 160 was medium.

I went for the 160...I'm not into blood.

160 took about 53-55 minutes in my oven.

At 95.2 degrees is when my kitchen started smelling delicious and the dogs started whining.

Here are the little beauties! (P Dub's potatoes on the right...recipe coming later)

160! Time to bring this baby OUT!

Ta-DAAA!!! Now you are supposed to let the meat rest for 10 minutes. It has been working hard.

Next you need to find yourself a freak-disjointed finger to help you cut your tenderloin.

Don't have one?

You can borrow mine, but only if you are feeding me tenderloin.

And this, folks, is deliciousness. Eric probably would have preferred it a little redder...but I know for next time!

Much love,

Plain Nicole