I always do my Prime Rib using the AB low and slow technique and love it. However, my wife is hosting a small party where a tenderloin would be better for serving. We don’t eat much tenderloin so I was wondering if I can use the same theoretical technique on a this lean piece of meat? Any temp adjustments? Browning recs? Avoid the final high temp?
Chris
Treat the same way.
I made beef tenderloin for NYE this past weekend. I marinated the beef in soy sauce for 24 hrs and then roasted it at 425 for 15 minutes and then turned it down to 350 for 11/12 minutes per pound. I took mine out after about 33 minutes and it was a perfect medium rare.
“Low and slow” is not necessary for a tenderloin. If you can get a nice sear on the outside you can finish it easily in the oven at a higher temp for not as long a time. Tenderloin is much smaller and different cut-wise than prime rib.
I had good luck once doing a salt-crusted tenderloin. Just make sure to use a thermometer to get it out at the right time, since you have no way to see the meat.
Check out Alton’s prep for tenderloin roast on YouTube. I’ve done this a few times, most recently last weekend and it’s great. Basically sear the roast in a pan. I split it in half for this. Let them rest for 10 minutes then roast at 250 degrees until 130-135. Wrap in foil and rest for 20 minutes or so. There’s not much carry over heat at the low roasting temp and it turns out perfectly cooked.
Sear all sides in a pan or dutch oven and then place in oven to reach desired temperature. For NYE we used this procedure to get the tenderloin to 125F and let it rest before wrapping it in mushrooms, prosciutto, and puff pastry to make beef wellington. Then we baked for 30 minutes to get puff pastry to do it’s thing which brought the meat internal temp to 135-140F and it was juicy! My feeling is that going slow to reach temperature may drive too much water out of the tenderloin if it is fairly lean. Enjoy and let us know how it comes out.
We made a tenderloin roast for Christmas that was otherworldly, grilling over indirect heat for 30-40 minutes. Small roast, about 2 pound. Followed recipes blended from Alice Waters and the Test Kitchen cookbook. As Francis says, the logic for tenderloin is different than for most other parts: you want a rarish center, which will be tender because of the cut, and the objective is to attain a flavorful, crusty outside. Grilling at high temp, as we did, is one way to achieve this end; searing, per Gary, is another. Waters advises seasoning the outside a day or two ahead of cooking.
Let us know how it comes out.
Necro thread!
I’m planning to prep a tenderloin roast via Kenji’s recipe (Slow-Roasted Beef Tenderloin Recipe) for a small party. I’m concerned about the timing given that the roast is said to take “2 to 3 hours” - an hour will be a big deal for planning sides.
Can I lengthen the lag between roasting and finishing from the 10 minutes specified? If yes, for how long?
Once it’s out of the oven it’s fully cooked, so you can leave it for as long as you want really, days in the fridge if you wanted to
I’d bet on the under, personally. I do this in the Anova a lot at much lower temps (130) and it’s closer to 2 hours than 3, at 225 it’ll take much less time.
All depends on the size of the loin. We had a huge one at a family gathering last month and it took forever to finish. I’d never seen one that big. A normal sized one will take 90-120 minutes maybe.
A lot depends on how early you take it out of the fridge and how warm the inside gets. If it’s still 50° when you start, you’re going to have to cook it a lot longer than if you actually get it up to 70°. If you only take it out of the fridge an hour before you start like a lot of recipes recommend, the center will still be 50°. I like to do 2-3 hours.
Thanks all. If it’s ok to sit for a bit (hours rather than minutes) between roast and sear then I can be conservative on the roast timing. It makes sense to me that it can sit, since as Zach points out, it is cooked but I’ve not seen recipes mention that so I wondered if it might cause texture issues
No texture issues whatsoever. I regularly will put a piece of meat in the fridge after roasting - it helps to dry out the surface and leads to a better sear. If you plan to finish the roast in a hot oven, letting it dry in the fridge is actually better, as you will get nice browning without as much gray band and zero chance of overcooking the middle.
Another bonus to this method is because the meat is so slowly cooked, you don’t need to rest it like you would if you cooked a steak in a hot pan or grill.
If you wrap it in foil, 30-60 minutes is easy. Multiple hours is probably going to get kind of cold and then you sear and the inside never really gets warm again.