How To Cook a Filet Mignon
Known as the king of steaks, filet mignon can be cut with a fork when it's cooked right and this recipe shows you how to cook filet mignon that's as good as what you'd eat in a five-star restaurant.Dress your filet mignon with an easy bearnaise sauce and add simple side-dishes and dinner is not only served, it's served in royal fashion.
Transcript
-Hey everyone. I'm Judith with recipe.com. And today, I'm gonna
be showing you how to make the finest cutup beef.
That's right. I'm gonna be showing you how to make
a filet mignon. So what you'll need is 1 stick
of butter which we've melted. We have 2 minced shallots.
We have the yolks of 3 eggs. We have 3
tablespoons of fresh Tarragon leaves. We have a 1/4 cup
of dry white wine. We have 1/4 cup of champagne
vinegar, black pepper and salt to taste, and assortment of
dried herbs including sage, rosemary, and thyme. And of course,
we've got some olive oil to cook with there too.
And last but not least of course, we have a
3-pound cut of beef tenderloin. Now usually if you order
a filet mignon in a restaurant, you might see kind
of a small round piece. Well, this is where it's
come from. This is the whole piece entirely. And that's
what we're cooking. So, let's get our large skillet to
a medium-high heat and we'll get that nice and hot.
We've also preheated our oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. So,
first things first, we just wanna cover our beef tenderloin
with some oil right here and we'll just spread it
all over with our hands. Be nice and generous with
that. We'll get it all covered up. Okay. Then let's
get our salt and pepper and we're gonna just season
that all over on all sides with it there like
so. And let's get our black pepper and our other
herbs on there to. So, we'll just sprinkle all of
that on there. So, that's getting hot. So we'll put
a little bit of oil in there. So, and we're
gonna sear our tenderloin on all sides. So we place
it in there. What you can do is you can
get your tongs and fork and you can just turn
it all over on all sides and we just wanna
get it nice and seared. Great. So the idea is
not to cook our filet mignon. It's just to be
able to sear it and get a nice brown color
on all sides. So we've seared it on all sides
as you can see. And now it's time to transfer
it to the oven. So we're gonna take our skillet,
put it in the oven for about 15 to 17
minutes. And then that will give us a nice medium
rare. If you wanted medium, put it in again for
an extra 3 minutes. So, we'll put that in the
oven and we'll come back. So, as we have the
filet mignon in our oven, we're gonna make up our
Burnett's sauce. So first of all, we're gonna put in
our wine and champagne vinegar. and we're gonna add all
our shallots to the pan, to a small saucepan. Here
we go. And we're also gonna add in half of
our fresh Tarragon leaves. So wonderful, wonderful herb. Give that
a little stir and we're gonna let that simmer and
reduce to half. So now that our Burnett's reduction is
done, we're gonna get our blender and we're gonna add
our 3 egg yolks. Get all that in. And then
we'll also gonna add our Burnett's reduction to that. And
we're gonna blend that on a low speed. So once
that's all combined together, were just gonna lift our lid
here. We're gonna pour in a third of our melted
butter on a medium speed. But once the mixture is
emulsified, we're gonna add in the remaining butter in a
slow stream on high. Okay. And then last but not
least, we'll add in our remaining Tarragon and salt and
pepper to taste. There we go. Pinch of each. And
we're gonna give that a good pause. Okay. So that
should be all blended together nicely. and we're gonna transfer
it to a dish and keep it in a nice
warm spot. So there it is. You have this lovely
creamy Burnett's sauce which is gonna pair really great with
our filet mignon. So make sure to keep that now
in a nice warm spot, perhaps by the stove, you
can cover it up and keep it there until it's
ready to serve. So, we take in our filet mignon
out of the oven and it just looks and smells
gorgeous. So we're gonna transfer that now onto our cutting
board and we're gonna tend that with foil and let
it rest for 10 minutes before we slice it up
and serve it with our beautiful Burnett's sauce that we
just made and its' gonna be great. That's how you
make your finest filet mignon. Well, thanks for watching everyone.
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What You'll Need
- 1 large end piece of beef tenderloin (about 3 pounds), tied and trimmed
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Assorted fresh herbs (such as thyme, sage, and rosemary)
- Hydroponic watercress (optional)
- 1/4 cup champagne vinegar
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- 2 shallots, minced
- 3 tablespoons fresh tarragon leaves
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 stick unsalted butter, melted
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Step By Step
1
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Drizzle the tenderloin with oil. Season well with plenty of salt and pepper. Sprinkle with assorted fresh
herbs. Allow the tenderloin to come to room temperature before cooking. Place a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat and sear tenderloin on all sides (add additional oil, if necessary). Place the skillet in the preheated oven and roast the tenderloin for about 15 to 17 minutes. (At this point, a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat should read 135 degrees F for medium rare; for medium, roast for 3 minutes more.) Remove from the oven. Tent tenderloin with foil; allow to rest for 10 minutes before slicing. Serve
with Blender Bearnaise (see below). If you like, garnish with watercress.
2
To make the reduction for the bearnaise sauce, combine vinegar, wine, shallot, and half of the tarragon in a small saucepan and place over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer and cook until reduced by half. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Blend yolks and bearnaise reduction together in a blender on low speed until combined. With the blender running on medium speed, add one-third of the butter in a slow, steady stream. Once the mixture emulsifies (it will become thick and satiny), turn the blender speed up to high and add the remaining butter. Add the remaining tarragon, season with salt and pepper, and pulse in the blender. Transfer to a dish; hold in a warm spot until ready to serve.
Once you've learned how to cook filet mignon that is tender and juicy, you can serve a restaurant-quality meal any time you want right in your own home. A tenderloin is a pricey cut of beef, but there's little to no waste and nothing says "I love you" more than a perfectly cooked filet mignon, so it's a great choice for special occasions.
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