Idea for a Beef Tenderloin

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Alamo_Beer

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So SWMBO and I had a pork tenderloin last night and we cut it into ~1/2" medalions, breaded it in flour and egg and fryed them in a bit of olive oil. (Yeah I know, not so good for the HBT Weight Loss Thread but hey it was tasty! :cross: )

So this morning in my first class I started drifting off and thinking about dinner last night. I started thinking about making beef tenderloin medalions but maybe a bit healthier. I've got an idea but I'm no chef so I don't know if it sounds gross or not. I did a little searching on google but couldn't really find anything bc I don't know any cool cooking terms.

So here it is:

Slice Beef tenderloin into ~1/2"-3/4" medalions.
Marinate in red wine overnight
Get frying pan hot
Season only 1 side of the medalions with lots (ok not tooo much) salt and pepper (maybe kosher salt?)
Cook medalions on only 1 side, the unseasoned side.
Deglaze with red wine (maybe from the marinade?)
Reduce till it coats the back of a spoon (I've never made a wine reduction so this might be a bad idea...)
Eat...

My thinking is that I like my steaks medium-rare to rare. So, for a cool texture and presentation just cook 1 side of the meat.

Am I crazy or is it a good idea? Any suggestions?

THANKS GUYS! :rockin:
 
Alamo_Beer said:
Am I crazy or is it a good idea? Any suggestions?

THANKS GUYS! :rockin:

The thinner you slice them the tougher they will be, why not slice them thicker and brown them on both sides, then they are normally finished in the oven till they are to you desired likeing/doneness.
I may be leaning to the gross side on your original plan but I like my steaks medium, just a little pink in the middle not bloody.
 
I'd say try it, if it works out great! If not, tell us before one of us makes the same mistake...:cross:

Only sugestion is once you get close to the reduction you want, turn the heat down a little and cover. This way it won't directly cook the top side of the medallion, but it will at least be heated to a high enough temperature to kill any baddies, and give it a good even browning over the top while maintaining a med-rare center
 
deathweed said:
Only sugestion is once you get close to the reduction you want, turn the heat down a little and cover. This way it won't directly cook the top side of the medallion, but it will at least be heated to a high enough temperature to kill any baddies, and give it a good even browning over the top while maintaining a med-rare center

Hmm thats a good idea I'm thinking about making this tomorrow night and I might just do that.

Thanks!
 
bradsul said:
I don't think I'd marinate a tender meat like that overnight in something as acidic as red wine. An hour or two should be plenty I would think.

Ahh good point!
 
I wouldn't marinate a tenderloin in anything. But do everything else. You'll want some aromatics (shallots, garlic, some beef stock) in that reduction as well. If you just straight up reduce red wine it'll be sickly sweet and strong, covering up any taste of the beef.
 
PseudoChef said:
I wouldn't marinate a tenderloin in anything. But do everything else. You'll want some aromatics (shallots, garlic, some beef stock) in that reduction as well. If you just straight up reduce red wine it'll be sickly sweet and strong, covering up any taste of the beef.

Ok cool, that makes since. But the cooking only 1 side part sounds ok?

Maybe I will scratch the marinade...:confused:
 
Dont marinate them, dont ever marinate tenderloin. Have them cut 1 1/2 in thick. Rub some extra virgin olive oil on the bottom of pan (preferrably cast iron skillet) so the steaks wont stick or burn. Brown on each side for 2 minutes. Then season top side with some kosher salt, Ground pepper, and some chopped rosemary (optional but adds great flavor) have oven heated to around 400 degrees and place in oven for 8 minutes. Remove from pan and let rest for 5 min to redistribute juices. At this point, if you really want to, use 1 cup of good red wine and deglaze the pan with it. Let the wine simmer until it is reduced by almost half. Pour over the top of steaks at serving and you got yourself a great dish.
 
Last time I "pan fried" a steak I did it in applewine, only had to do one side but I had it covered the whole time, came out about a medium once I stoped smelling the alcohol boiling off :D
 
I've marinated tenderloin before and for short periods it's ok, but it does kind of negate the purpose of the more expensive cut of beef. A reduction is definitely a better way to go if you want some wine flavour.

A red wine and onion sauce is really good. Not sure the actual name for it but I basically braise a bunch of sliced onion for an hour or so and then reduce the sauce quite a bit. Very tasty.
 
bradsul said:
A red wine and onion sauce is really good. Not sure the actual name for it but I basically braise a bunch of sliced onion for an hour or so and then reduce the sauce quite a bit. Very tasty.

Oh man! Now that sounds good!
 
Alamo_Beer said:
Ok cool, that makes since. But the cooking only 1 side part sounds ok?

Technically you are supposed to cook it on each side when because most the bacteria is "surface" bacteria. But that's according to the health dept.

Since you are cutting the medalions yourself, and trust your cut of meat, I would think you are going to be ok...But it sounds like you are kinda doing a seared AHI thing, and they do the same cooking time on each side.
 
Brentk14 said:
Dont marinate them, dont ever marinate tenderloin. Have them cut 1 1/2 in thick. Rub some extra virgin olive oil on the bottom of pan (preferrably cast iron skillet) so the steaks wont stick or burn. Brown on each side for 2 minutes. Then season top side with some kosher salt, Ground pepper, and some chopped rosemary (optional but adds great flavor) have oven heated to around 400 degrees and place in oven for 8 minutes. Remove from pan and let rest for 5 min to redistribute juices. At this point, if you really want to, use 1 cup of good red wine and deglaze the pan with it. Let the wine simmer until it is reduced by almost half. Pour over the top of steaks at serving and you got yourself a great dish.

This is the shiznit right here... :rockin:

I would, however, change it up slightly by sauteeing some shallots and garlic in olive oil and then deglazing with red wide. Use the same pan that the beef was cooked in.
 
Beerthoven said:
This is the shiznit right here... :rockin:

I would, however, change it up slightly by sauteeing some shallots and garlic in olive oil and then deglazing with red wide. Use the same pan that the beef was cooked in.


Ya I agree with you. The shallots and garlic will blend with the wine and then it wont be so sweet. I forgot to add the garlic in there. I always use garlic when doing that recipe. another good twist to that recipe is instead of using wine. Just coat the tenderloin with some gorganzola chease the last 5 min of cooking in the oven. Thats a great combo(If you like cheese that strong)
 
Brentk14 said:
Ya I agree with you. The shallots and garlic will blend with the wine and then it wont be so sweet. I forgot to add the garlic in there. I always use garlic when doing that recipe. another good twist to that recipe is instead of using wine. Just coat the tenderloin with some gorganzola chease the last 5 min of cooking in the oven. Thats a great combo(If you like cheese that strong)

drooling_homer.gif
 
I do a similar one.
Rub roasted garlic and minced thyme, rosemary salt and pepper on one side.

cook the other side for just a minute in a hot skillet with a dab of olive oil, do not flip, but rather put it under the broiler for 4 minutes or so to cook the top and the herbs and garlic. The hot pan will continue to cook from underneath.

Make the wine sauce. Bam. All that jazz.
 
I'll leave you the cooking part here....


...Remove from pan, toss in some minced Shallot, deglaze with a small amount of liquid of your choice (white wine works nice), toss in some green peppercorns (whole , brined) and about 3 Cups of Heavy Cream, reduce until it starts to get thick (don't go too far you want it to coat the back of spoon nicely or a little more but not 'gluey'), season with a little salt and flame out and add some Dijon in if you want (a small amount). Spoon it onto your plate and then place the Tournedos on top. Serve with something :D
 
But that's not healthy :D

Just make Tartare. Then you don't need any oils or such. Hehe...but in all honesty, I can't seem to fit low cal eating and a Tenderloin in the same phrase. Save the healthiness for skinless Chicken breast or vegetarian dishes :fro:

Actually your initial idea is rather cool in the presentation brainstorm, but the thing is when you cook it, you're not going to be turning it (one turn during the cooking is the right way to go) then the cooking progresses from the bottom up. What you'd have is it cooked one half progressing from the done outside up through to a raw top. If you're like me, no biggie :D. So it won't really fall into a medium rare/rare classification. It would be like medium rare on half and the top raw.

It would look cool with two of these offset on top of each other, garnished with some baby Cress or something. Oh some Shiitake sauteed in there after you take out the meat would be nice, before you deglaze with your Red wine. The 'lot's of pepper' would fit really nicely. In fact that is how you make Au Poivre. You could do one side 'Au Poivre', but make that the cooked side. This might actually look interesting, or it could look very wierd.

Oh and you'd probably want them sort of thin (like around an inch) and flash cook them. I mean it, in and out if you want to shoot for that look, otherwise it'll look more gray than anything which isn't all that appealing. (I have personally never tried this, so I am just brainstorming here)
 
PseudoChef said:
If you just straight up reduce red wine it'll be sickly sweet and strong, covering up any taste of the beef.

Strong I can see. But sweet? Where's the sweetness coming from?
 
flowerysong said:
Strong I can see. But sweet? Where's the sweetness coming from?

I dunno, I personally find most wine sweet. I can now tell if it's dry and things like that, but they still seem pretty sweet to me. Add in the concentration of flavours from the reduction.

Just my personal outlook, I suppose.
 
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