Every year, I pack up the smoker and head north with other smoke-fanatics and partake in BBQ, booze and banter. Everyone has their own dish to feed the masses. This time: Beef Tenderloin
You’ve seen my RecTeq for a few posts now, it’s a glorious beast of a smoker/grill – The RecTeq RT-700 “The Bull”. This has been my workhorse for a few years now and hasn’t let me down. The only downside – I can’t transport it. Ray and Ron knew we’d run into this problem.. enter the RT-340 “Trailblazer”. Fold up the legs, and put it in the back of the vehicle. Problem solved.
As with every SmokeFest, I needed a crowd-pleasing dish to keep the people talking. Never did a beef tenderloin, so I did it. In fact, I did two. One a week before to practice, and the one for the big dance. Let’s get started!
The Prep Table
Yeah, these things are costly. Just like briskets (for me at least), it adds pressure to make sure the cook is done right as to not waste a paycheck. To save a little scratch, I bought one whole, untrimmed, glorious cut of cow.
So I trimmed it up and got two pretty good cuts. I gifted one of the cuts to family, but kept the crown jewel for myself. I watched many a YouTube video on prepping the meat. One end is considerably thinner than the other, so doubling up (like I did on the left) solves that problem. And yes, I deserve some criticism for the trim – one day I’ll get a fancy knife.. until then, that’s what I got.
This is an older smoke – pre-ForensicBBQ – so I didn’t take nearly the pictures of the process like I wanted to. The only seasoning I put on this was a sprinkle of salt and pepper, and a coating of Herbs de Provence. If I cook it right, I wanted the beef to shine and not be overpowered by the seasoning.
I also made a fresh garlic/rosemary compound butter (fresh mince on the garlic, rosemary plucked from the garden, softened butter, mixed, rolled, and refrigerated)
That’s not it, we went with a dill horseradish sauce just to see how that would be received. (Sour cream, mayo, dill, horseradish, lemon juice, S&P)
I’ll confess: For SmokeFest, I bought a pre-trimmed Tenderloin. Time was a little short, so by the time we got there, I was already setting up the Trailblazer, throwing the Herbs on it and got going. Recommendation: Trim your own! Save the money, get that extra steak, and feel accomplished.
The Process
(You’ll see both the practice cook and the SmokeFest cook pictures here. I didn’t take many during SmokeFest – too much of a good time with good people)
This was just a reverse-sear like you would any other great steak. I smoke it at 225 for about an hour or so (until Internal Temp is about 110), add the GrillGrates, crank the temp and sear it until it’s RARE – 125. I used only Hickory wood for this one. Only takes a few minutes and some careful ThermaPen poking.
I’m guessing that picture is right before I pulled it off there. That color is spot on and probably hovering right about 100 degrees IT. This is where you get that thing off the smoker, wrap it in foil, and throw the temp to FUL (You RecTeq’ers know). Get the GrillGrates on there and get the hottest temp you can. It takes some time, you’ll lose some temp, but trust your machine.
We don’t want anything other than rare for this meat. Get that full beef flavor, complimented by the Herbs de Provence. Melt some of that rosemary/garlic butter on top, and if you’re feeling it, put a little horseradish sauce on there. I know you’re waiting for the result.
The Result
Practice cook far exceeded the SmokeFest cook – but both were an excellent result. I’ve had your “medallions” at a restaurant before, but I’ve never had a cut of beef this flavorful, this juicy.. it was my favorite product.
Let the thing rest. Fight the urge, give it a little time to collect the juices and present itself to you. No, not even just the edge.
Like I said, it was marvelous. If you didn’t know, I pretty much only cook for me (My wife is a vegetarian.. can you believe it). If it’s not a party or local BBQ, any leftovers are brought to work for a second opinion – and to boast – and everyone enjoyed.
You can tell it was my favorite cook. This was done before I even thought about launching the site, and I still took a pile of pictures of it. This will get brought out again for special occasions, because it was fantastic.
Thanks for letting me re-live this one. I’m still traveling for work, living off microwave dinners and tuna fish, and typing this out and looking at these pictures did not help things along.
The Recipe
The Beef Tenderloin
Ingredients
Beef Tenderloin
- 1 PSMO Tenderloin
- 1/2 Cup Herbs de Provence
- 1-2 Tbsp Salt & Pepper
Rosemary/Garlic Compound Butter
- 1 Stick Salted Butter Softened
- 2 Cloves Garlic Minced
- 1 Tbsp Rosemary Finely chopped
Dill Horseradish Sauce
- 1 Cup Sour Cream
- 1/4 Cup Mayonnaise
- 2 Tbsp Prepared Horseradish
- 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
- 1/2 Tbsp Fresh Dill Minced
- 1 Tsp Kosher Salt
- 1 Tsp Black Pepper
- Fresh Dill to top sauce for presentation
Instructions
Compound Butter
- Combine softened butter, garlic, rosemary in a bowl
- Place contents onto wax/parchment paper and form into a log
- Place into the refrigerator to chill, and slice up when needed! (Keeps for about a week in the fridge, easy to freeze!)
Dill Horseradish Sauce
- Combine all ingredients (Sour cream, mayo, dill, horseradish, lemon juice, S&P) into a bowl and stir to combine. When serving, add fresh dill to top for presentation.
The Tenderloin Cook
- Preheat smoker to 225 with hickory wood
- Do a slight sprinkle of some salt and pepper on the tenderloin. Follow-up with the Herbs de Provence (I went light on the seasoning, but to each their own)
- Place on the grates until internal temp is 100-110 degrees. Pull and tent with foil.
- Crank pellet smoker up to 500 (FUL, or HI) with GrillGrates
- When hot, place the tenderloin on the GrillGrates and cook until desired temperature. (anything other than Rare, what are you doing)