Charcoal Cooking A Beef Tenderloin

[KendrellJones]

Charcoal cooking other pieces of meat is easy.

But, I go to Publix's meat section and see these wonderful tho thick been tenderloins and it makes me wonder. Can I order much thinner pieces?

How do people cook those thick cuts?

I was at Bern's restaurant in Tampa and had one a long time ago. My gosh, it was my favorite cut of meat.

[LittleBlueLW]

Very hot fire to sear both sides then move off an cook indirect to preference

[oldgator]

Bern's and other steakhouses have ovens with temp greater than 1000 degrees to give steaks a quick sear to seal in juices. After a minute or so of quick sear the steak is moved to cooler part of oven to finish cooking

seasoning for Filet Mignon and other fine cuts
---black pepper, a little garlic
---15 minutes before cooking sprinkle Kosher salt(or other large grain salt) on both sides of the steak. 15 minutes allows the salt to rupture surface cells on the steak. This makes it easier to get the nice color grilled steak. It adds a little bit of flavor to the surface of the steak. If you leave the salt on longer before cooking the salt will start to draw water from deeper in the steak causing it to dry out some
---If you don't have a high temp grill/oven to sear then cook the steak you can coat the steak with olive oil. If you have a high temp grill/oven the olive oil may scorch.
---a t4rick if you have high temp grill/oven---do a quick spray of the steak with Pam non stick olive oil spray after the high temp sear and before you finish cooking the steak at lower temp. adds flavor and seals in even more juices.

do yourself a favor and serve filet mignon with Bernaise sauce(the McCormick's powder mix you add milk and butter to works well)

[rpmGator]

If you want to use charcoal, you can use the round tubular charcoal starters to sear with. The type you use newspaper to light the coal with, gets very hot as all the heat goes directly up.

Take the grill off a small weber and sit it on top of the fire starter after it reaches its hottest point. Sear the steak, pull it off, take the coal and dump it in your charcoal grill and finish that way if you need any more cooking.

I have two webers, the small and a bigger one. I use the grill from the smaller one to use on the fire starter to sear and finish in the big one so I can indirect cook until finished.

The charcoal starter is less than twenty bucks for a good one. Plus you never have to use lighter fluid again.

[g8orbill]

when I was in the steak house business and people wanted a filet med well or well and would not let us butterfly it-I would put it on the grill 5 mins on each side to get the grill marks and then wrap it in potato foil and put it over the hottest part of the grill and basically steam it for about 12 minutes- it would come out looking done and yet was really med rare at best-people would rave about how juicy and tender their med well and well filets were at my restaurant-perception is all in the steak cooking business- in truth a filet is not meant to be cooked past medium-you people who like their meat well done cook out all the juice and flavor

[manigordo]

Originally Posted by oldgator

Bern's and other steakhouses have ovens with temp greater than 1000 degrees to give steaks a quick sear to seal in juices. After a minute or so of quick sear the steak is moved to cooler part of oven to finish cooking

seasoning for Filet Mignon and other fine cuts
---black pepper, a little garlic
---15 minutes before cooking sprinkle Kosher salt(or other large grain salt) on both sides of the steak. 15 minutes allows the salt to rupture surface cells on the steak. This makes it easier to get the nice color grilled steak. It adds a little bit of flavor to the surface of the steak. If you leave the salt on longer before cooking the salt will start to draw water from deeper in the steak causing it to dry out some
---If you don't have a high temp grill/oven to sear then cook the steak you can coat the steak with olive oil. If you have a high temp grill/oven the olive oil may scorch.
---a t4rick if you have high temp grill/oven---do a quick spray of the steak with Pam non stick olive oil spray after the high temp sear and before you finish cooking the steak at lower temp. adds flavor and seals in even more juices.

do yourself a favor and serve filet mignon with Bernaise sauce(the McCormick's powder mix you add milk and butter to works well)

Ugh! NEVER, EVER use anything but home made. EVER!

[g8orbill]

why ruin a great pieced of meat with some bofunk sauce

[ufhomerj31]

Montreal steak seasonings on both sides, cook and enjoy.
Got some prime strips for tonight's game.
Using charcoal grill and a little pecan chips for Smokey flavor.

[KendrellJones]

Thank you all for your wonderful posts. Loved them.

Apparently searing at high temp at first then cooking at lower temps to about medium rare is a great guideline.

RPM, I got a charcoal chimney some 10 years ago. Will NEVER go back to starting coals with charcoal lighter. The only way to go!

[baygator1]

Originally Posted by KendrellJones

Thank you all for your wonderful posts. Loved them.

Apparently searing at high temp at first then cooking at lower temps to about medium rare is a great guideline.

RPM, I got a charcoal chimney some 10 years ago. Will NEVER go back to starting coals with charcoal lighter. The only way to go!

Ditto on the chimney....only way to go.

[gatorbadboy]

What many people do not realize is that many high end steak places only use the grill to do theinitial sear and to put the grill marks on it for looks. Most finish their steaks using broilers that cook at 900-1200 degrees. The reason is that when you have really thick cuts you have to use ultra high heat to get a good med rare. Lower heat does not allow cooking control and you end up with medium to medium well meat with the carry over cooking. There are ways to create a broiler using coals, Alton Brown did a show on it on food network.

As for tenderloin, I personally use propane rather than charcoal. I season with salt, pepper, and some type of steak seasoning first and let that dry rub sit a couple of hours on the meat. Most importantly this draws some of he water out ofthe meat, which intensifies the flavor some. I then make a crust coating with whole grain mustard, garlic, onion powder, etc. I then use a rotisserie over the grill. I center the meat and cook it for about 5 minutes with high direct heat, using all 4 burners. I then turn off both middle burners and cook with indirect heat from the two outside burners. I cook to about 145 degrees internal temp and remove as the carry over will bring it up about 5 more degrees. Let rest for about 5 minutes then slice and serve.

[cstgator]

Originally Posted by g8orbill

why ruin a great pieced of meat with some bofunk sauce

Have you ever head of French cooking? They use sauces on steak all the time and it is some of the finest cuisine in the world. Those steaks are ruined?

Anyways, yeah a broiler or pan that is capable of extremely high heat is the way to go for thick steaks. This is why I love the ribeye cut so much, immense flavor and easy to prepare the way I like it.

[manigordo]

Originally Posted by cstgator

Have you ever head of French cooking? They use sauces on steak all the time and it is some of the finest cuisine in the world. Those steaks are ruined?

A great Marchand du VIn sauce is fabulous or a fresh Bernaise is great with tenderloin.

I hollow out mini brioches and place a fried green tomato in it with my thick tenderloin on top. Cover with Marchand du vin sauce and one has a rare treat... something few get a chance to enjoy.

[rpmGator]

The chimney system to light charcoal is the way to go for sure. I use mine to light campfires also...

[deebo65]

Originally Posted by g8orbill

why ruin a great pieced of meat with some bofunk sauce

This

[g8orbill]

Originally Posted by cstgator

Have you ever head of French cooking? They use sauces on steak all the time and it is some of the finest cuisine in the world. Those steaks are ruined?

Anyways, yeah a broiler or pan that is capable of extremely high heat is the way to go for thick steaks. This is why I love the ribeye cut so much, immense flavor and easy to prepare the way I like it.

cst- I am a m eat and potato boy and do not nor do I ever care to eat some french crapola- thwe whole reason they put all taht chit on their meat is because it is crap meat and they have to do something to make it taste half way decent

[cstgator]

Originally Posted by g8orbill

cst- I am a m eat and potato boy and do not nor do I ever care to eat some french crapola- thwe whole reason they put all taht chit on their meat is because it is crap meat and they have to do something to make it taste half way decent

Okie dokie. Lol.

[oldgator]

tip for those using wood to smoke meats.....use Australian pine

Australian pine isn't in the pine tree family of trees. It is actually in the oak family.

Australian pine smoke is great for meats that benefit from a 'oak' type flavor

in addition, Australian pine is the hottest burning wood there happens to be

[fbgator27]

Anyone a fan of the reverse sear method? Basically works the opposite of what everyone on here is suggesting.

Took me a few tries to get it right but it works great for thick cuts of meat. You basically slow cook (225-250 degrees) your steak or whatever meat up till about 10-15 degrees of your desired doneness then pull the meat off, wrap it in foil, and crank up the grill as hot as she goes. Put the meat back on without the foil for 60 seconds or so to get that nice char and then let it rest.

Works great if you have a grill where you can control temp fairly well.

[cstgator]

Originally Posted by oldgator

tip for those using wood to smoke meats.....use Australian pine

Australian pine isn't in the pine tree family of trees. It is actually in the oak family.

Australian pine smoke is great for meats that benefit from a 'oak' type flavor

in addition, Australian pine is the hottest burning wood there happens to be

Yup, this is a great method.

And something that I forgot to mention earlier would be wood charcoal. Burns hotter than regular charcoal and it of course imparts a nice woody flavor to the meat. If you want to cook a thick filet mignon without cheating using a broiler or something like that, this is the way to go.