We wanted something special for our Christmas Day meal, but we did not want to make anything too complicated or time-consuming because we wanted time to open presents, go for a walk and watch Avengers: Infinity War on Netflix.
Laura and I decided several days ago we would go out to Costco and buy a beef tenderloin. We watched several YouTube videos on how to break one down and even though the thing cost us $70, we were able to salvage a lot of really good meat off of it for roasts, stews, kababs, etc. The treasure we were going after though was the middle of the tenderloin called the Chateaubriand, which is the choicest part. Christmas Eve day, under James eye, I proceeded to break down the tenderloin, trying to follow what I had observed on the videos. The main thing is to remove the silverskin that surrounds the tenderloin, then some of the fat (there is not much of that, the tenderloin is very lean), then cut it up into useful pieces.
Except for the center-cut Chateaubriand, we put everything else into labeled vacuum sealer bags and popped them in the freezer. We trussed the roast with kitchen twine, covered it with plastic wrap, then put it in the fridge for the next day.
Christmas morning, I took the meat out and let it come to room temperature. Before we went on our walk, I liberally salted and peppered the meat. This helps in the browning step as the salt draws moisture from the skin.
When we returned from our walk, we started dinner, which was to consist of Laura’s great mashed potatoes, some fresh green beans cooked with bacon and of course the beef.
I set the oven for 425 degrees, then rubbed the meat with some olive oil. Got a cast iron pan hot on the stove and seared the meat on all four sides about 2 minutes per side. I lifted up the meat and placed it on a wire rack inside the pan, inserted a meat thermometer and set it for 130 degrees. Into the oven it went. I would say it took about 20 minutes I would say, but I wasn’t timing it because I had the meat thermometer there to let me know when it was done.
When the alarm went off, I just removed the pan, put it on a pot holder, pulled out the thermometer and tented the meat with foil and told Alexa to set a timer for ten minutes.
While the meat was resting, we got everything else ready to serve. After ten minutes, I carved the meat into one inch slices. It was a perfect medium rare. Everything was delicious!
I would recommend trying to make this for New Year’s. It was really easy to do and it came out perfect. Here is a good YouTube video on how to break down the tenderloin.
