Marinated Tenderloin of Beef with Sauce Béarnaise
Simple to marinate, easy to cook, easy to carve, impressive to serve and delicious to eat.
Like Prime Ribs of Beef au Jus, a roasted Tenderloin of Beef is an expensive cut of meat, but perfect for entertaining and celebratory dinners. Unlike Prime Rib, Tenderloin has no waste, no bones and very little fat, if any at all. For that reason, it is not slow roasted, but cooked at a very high temperature for a shorter period of time. When roasting the center portion of the Tenderloin, this dish is what would be called Châteaubriand in classical French cooking.
While the classical Châteaubriand had its own sauce that was made with white wine and shallots. moistened with demi-glace and mixed with butter, tarragon, and lemon juice, this sounds remarkably close to Sauce Béarnaise. Béarnaise is generally offered today with a Filet Mignon in many fine steakhouses. A Filet is merely a steak cut from the tenderloin and then grilled or broiled.
Tenderloin is Expensive Because There’s Relatively Little of It.
This strip of meat comes from under the sirloin, resting along the back of the cow that gets very little exercise, and there is relatively little of it. A typical untrimmed, full tenderloin weighs only 4-5 pounds. That’s not a lot considering the average cow going to market weighs between 1,000 and 1,400 pounds. But, there is no tough muscle mass that has to be tenderized before cooking. The marinating is strictly to add flavor to the meat.
The Marinade
This is probably the simplest marinade recipe on Kitchen Tapestry. Just a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon, a little minced garlic and freshly cracked black pepper. Buy a mid-priced, $20 or so bottle of Cabernet; something you would enjoy drinking. The quality will come through in the final product.
An Essential Kitchen Appliance
Also like Prime Rib, an essential piece of kitchen equipment for the success of this dish is a digital probe meat thermometer. You absolutely must have one. The trick to a great Tenderloin is in knowing when it's done. The easiest way to knowing this is to buy a digital thermometer with a probe attached to an oven-proof cord that registers on a control unit outside the oven. Or, if so inclined, they also make cordless Bluetooth models. Either way, make sure the probe is firmly in the center of the tenderloin.
Sauce Béarnaise
This cut of beef has very little or no fat, which is where the best beefy flavor is, so the marinade is needed to infuse flavor, but the roast demands the Sauce Béarnaise to replace the missing fat. It really isn't as hard to make as you might think, but I will admit, I've messed it up more than once when I use too much heat, or don't follow the recipe. Béarnaise has a very delicate balance between egg yolk and butter as these two ingredients come together forming an emulsion. But egg yolks can only absorb a certain amount of oil. If you use too much, the emulsion breaks and the sauce thins out. Use too much heat, and the yolks turn into scrambled eggs. When I follow the recipe exactly, however, and keep the sauce pan warm but not too hot and not directly on the heat for very long periods, the sauce comes together quickly and easily.
Finally, Invest in Quality
Buy the right kind of Beef Tenderloin. Make certain that your cut is either Certified Angus Beef or USDA Prime. The next grade of beef is USDA Choice, and there is no point in spending money on Choice beef for a Tenderloin.
Marinated Tenderloin of Beef with Sauce Bearnaise
Ingredients
- 1 3-4 pound beef tenderloin, cut from the round end and trimmed
- 1 750 ml bottle Cabernet Sauvignon
- 4 tbsp minced garlic
- 10-12 grinds freshly cracked black pepper
- Kitchen Tapestry recipe for Béarnaise Sauce
Instructions
- Rub the tenderloin down with the minced garlic and add the black pepper all over the meat.
- Place the meat in a large plastic zip lock bag and pour in the bottle of wine. Remove as much air from the bag as possible and then place in a container to catch any drips and to help keep the roast in contact with the wine.
- Refrigerate for 4-5 hours, but no longer or the wine infusion simple becomes overpowering.
- When ready to cook, remove the roast from the marinade and discard the wine. Allow the tenderloin sit at room temperature for 2 hours.
- In the meantime, pre-heat the oven to 425°F.
- Place the tenderloin in a shallow roasting pan and insert the probe thermometer in the very center of the roast, being sure the probe is no more than half way through the meat.
- Roast for 10 minutes per pound to get to an internal temperature of 130°F, but let the thermometer be your judge.
- Remove the roast from the oven and tent it with aluminum foil for 15 minutes before slicing. Carve into ½ inch slices and serve with the Kitchen Tapestry recipe for Béarnaise Sauce on the side.
Béarnaise Sauce
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup tarragon or white wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- 3 tbsp finely minced shallots
- 1 tbsp dried tarragon leaves, crushed
- 3 egg yolks, room temperature
- 1 oz butter, room temperature
- 2 sticks butter, room temperature
Instructions
- About 2 hours before you start making the Béarnaise, take the three eggs out of the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature.
- Similarly, take all of the butter out of the refrigerator and allow it also to come to room temperature.
- Place the white wine, white wine or tarragon vinegar, shallots and tarragon in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil over medium high heat.
- Reduce the heat and allow the wine and vinegar to reduce until you have about 2 tablespoons of liquid left.
- To properly make this sauce, you will need a metal mixing bowl (which will likely be made of stainless steel) that fits neatly over a saucepan. Do not substitute a traditional double-boiler. I've tried this and it does not work because the curvature of a double-boiler (or lack thereof) simply will not allow you to properly whisk the ingredients.
- About thirty minutes before making the Béarnaise Sauce, separate the yolks and discard the albumen. Put them in the mixing bowl, but not over the heat just yet. Vigorously whisk the yolks together for 2 minutes. Add the ounce of butter and whisk it into the yolks for another minute. Allow the yolks and butter to rest for 15 minutes or longer before proceeding.
- In the meantime, cut the two sticks of butter into 5-6 pieces each and place in a microwave-safe measuring cup (you will need the spout). Microwave the butter until melted, about 45 seconds.
- Fill the saucepan about 1/3 full of water and bring to a light simmer. Place the metal bowl on top of the saucepan and begin whisking.
- In the beginning, add just a couple of tablespoons of melted butter to the yolks at a time.
- Whisk for a minute over the saucepan of simmering water. Then, whisk for a minute with the mixing bowl off the saucepan.
- Add the next couple of tablespoons of butter and return the mixing bowl to the saucepan. Repeat the process of whisking on, then off the saucepan of simmering water.
- Add the reduction of wine, vinegar, shallots and tarragon after you've added melted butter to the egg yolks twice. The sauce will loosen a bit after you add the reduction, but have faith. It will continue to thicken as it continues to cook.
- Keep repeating these steps: add butter; whisk on the heat; whisk off the heat; repeat. Whisk the mixture continuously; don't stop for more than a couple of seconds while you add more melted butter to the yolks. Once you've added 1/2 of the melted butter, you'll then be able to increase the amount of butter that you can add at a time.
- Don't stop whisking and keep the above process in motion, going on and off the heat at regular intervals.
- Eventually, you will have all the butter incorporated. If the sauce is still too loose, increase the amount of time you leave the mixing bowl over the heat. In the end, the sauce should be of the creamy consistency indicative of a Béarnaise sauce: not as tight as mayonnaise, but thicker than a cream gravy.
- Remove the mixing bowl from the heat entirely and allow it to rest until ready to serve at room temperature.
Notes
- Once you start whisking, don't stop until the process is complete. You cannot leave this alone for another chore.
- Many recipes for Béarnaise Sauce call for clarified butter, which is the complicated process of removing the milk solids from the oil. The only thing clarified butter will do for you is allow the butter and the yolks to incorporate a little more quickly. Non-clarified butter provides no ultimate benefit in terms of taste or texture, but you will have to whisk a little longer to finish the sauce. You will notice after you melt the butter that the milk solids sink to the bottom, while the oil, which is in fact clarified butter, floats to the surface.
- You will also notice that once you get into the milk solids at the bottom third of your measuring cup, the sauce will loosen up a bit. Have faith. Keep whisking and keep the whisking process going. Eventually the sauce will thicken.
