Ultimate Roasted Beef Tenderloin Filet – impress your family and friends with this easy and delicious roasted beef tenderloin!
This dish, this is what Mr. Fantabulous calls a “Man’s Dish”. It’s big, beefy and just flat out cave-man “ish”. Me, I call it YUM cause it’s all kinds of awesomeness in my mouth and tummy! And OMG seriously it could be any easier to make! I swear the hardest part (aside from waiting) is probably just tying it up. The tying up hard isn’t hard though you do need to be able to tie it snuggly however this is a great way to have your kids or other half to help you out in the kitchen. And my rule when it comes to tying things up in the kitchen is “he who ties it up, gets to cut the strings when it’s done”. Why is that? Well for me growing up that was the “funnest” part when it came to getting dinner ready to go to the table.
I think that stems from watching Mom and Dad “struggle” with tying up a Thanksgiving turkey and as badly as I wanted to help I was always told no because it was too difficult and dangerous. Dangerous? How? Yeah, that was before the metal skewers came out to pretty much harpoon the turkey and anchor in it so the string could be tied to it. I, personally don’t use that then again I don’t make a 25 pound bird stuffed with 47 pounds of stuffing like they did either.
But back to this dish and the simplicity of it. Yeah, you, yes you can make this! Yes, you the one that swears by boxed mac ‘n cheese or take out 5 nights a week. Stop it. Just take your time, get all of your ingredients out and ready prior to cooking and just follow along with the recipe. Cooking doesn’t have to be scary or intimidating but rather pleasurable and fun.
Now beef tenderloin isn’t exactly the cheapest thing in the butcher case and there’s a reason. It, to me, is one of the best cuts of beef. When made like this, it’s incredibly tender and virtually melts in your mouth. Usually here beef tenderloin goes on sale around the holidays so I try to stock up then. However if it’s still out of your price range you can buy petit beef filets (Sam’s Club or Costco sells them) and use this same recipe on those cuts of meat. They are still as tender but definitely much easier on the wallet.
This dish does require some prep work as in once you rub it with the seasoning, you need to tie it up and then place it in the fridge over night..uncovered. Yes, uncovered. So why do this? Think of what salt and seasoning does to meat? It actually starts to break down the protein and fat in the meat, drawing out some of the moisture. However it doesn’t let it drain out; instead of actually sucks the moisture back in however this time WITH the now seasoned liquids. If you soak this or don’t let air get to it, the outside won’t dry out allowing moisture to be drawn out. This my friends is what is called dry aging. However this is just a teensy bit of true dry aging as proper aging is done for an extended period of time and in a more controlled manner.
As you can see by these pics, look at the juiciness of the meat above. It’s tender and just tastes so much better, like true beef, versus something that you just plopped into the pan and cooked. So please, when you make this recipe, definitely let it dry age in the fridge. This is the secret to making truly amazing beef tenderloin.
Now as you can see in this recipe I pan seared my beef in bacon grease. Yes, bacon grease however never fear, you can use other oils for this. I wouldn’t pan sear in straight butter as that will burn. I just love the flavor the bacon grease imparts on the beef. It just adds another level of flavor to it.
For this dish I opted to keep the side dishes pretty
Once the tenderloin rested, I cut off the strings (and yes I got giddy doing it), it was time to slice and plate. I so wish I had a picture of how this all looked plated as honestly this plate was gorgeous! Now I know 99% of you will go “Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!” when I tell you this but this is how I eat beef – I add ketchup. Yes, even to steak HOWEVER this, this dish is so amazing that it’s a no-ketchup-needed beef! It was truly incredible! If you wanted to add anything to it, I would suggest perhaps some horseradish sauce or even a bacon dijon butter sauce but honesty, you’ll need nothing but your fork. And heck, you may want to go full-on caveman with this and just pick it up and eat with your fingers.
As Mr. Fantabulous sat down his first words were “WOW! This looks all fancy baby! It looks good!” and then silence… Have you ever seen one of those Discovery shows that has animals in the wild eating meat? They are in full concentration of the meat that everything around them fails to exist. And then if something dares to get in between the wild animal and it’s meat, it growls, hisses, bites and sounds that are purely demonic come from their bodies. Well this is what happened to Mr. Fantabulous. I asked 3, maybe 4 times what he thought of it and nothing. Then I touched his arm and OMG you would have thought I attempted to take the food from his mouth! He looked at me like I was a predator trying to take his first born. LOL
Finally he came up for air, retracted his fangs and wiped his face. He then proceeded to get up without saying a single word to me, grab the phone and sit back down at the table. He started to dial and again, he was deaf to my “um, hello??? Can’t you answer me? Who are you calling???” comments and finally spoke as I heard the person on the other end of the phone say “hello”. He simply said “Ma, you need to come over tomorrow and have Lori make this for you and Dad. OMG, Ma… OMG it’s amazing. Love you, bye!” and he hung up on her. He didn’t tell her what he was eating as he wanted more and that was enough conversation.
Yeah, I did good! Mama Fantabulous called back and then I filled her in on the details. They didn’t come over the next day but they did the following weekend so I made this dish again. They were in LOVE with this dish! I know you will love it too!
If you have leftovers, pray that you do, you’re going to LOVE what I do with them! EPIC! But that’s for another post!
Ultimate Roasted Beef Tenderloin Filet
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Ingredients
- 3lb Beef Tenderloin (or petit tenderloin filet)
- 2–3 tablespoon bacon grease (or olive oil)
- 1 1/2 tablespoon Montreal Steak Seasoning
- 2 tablespoon butter, unsalted and softened
Instructions
- Pat the beef down with paper towels. When dried, coat the beef evenly with the steak seasoning and rub all over.Fold the narrow end of the tenderloin back under itself in order to create a relatively even thickness along the entire length of the tenderloin.Tie the tenderloin at one-inch intervals using butcher’s twine.
- Place the tenderloin on a cooling rack on top of a baking pan and place it uncovered in the fridge overnight. Yes, uncovered. When ready to make remove the tenderloin from the fridge and place on the counter to come to room temperature.
- Preheat oven to 425F, rack in the middle.Line a baking pan with foil and place a cooling rack in it.
- Heat a cast iron or stainless steel pan over medium-high heat. Add in the bacon grease.
- When the grease is melted add in the tenderloin. Step back as it’ll spit up grease to quick sear the outside. Pan sear for 6-8 minutes on each side. When all sides are browned, place the beef on the cooling rack and evenly spread the butter on top. Place the pan in the oven and bake for 15-25 minutes or until desired consistency. 120F for medium rare (15-20 minutes), 130F for medium (20-25 minutes). Remove the pan from the oven and transfer the beef to a carving board. Tent with foil and rest for 10-15 minutes.
- Cut off the twine and carve.
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