Dry Brining Beef Tenderloin

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squirrel

Master of the Pit
Original poster
OTBS Member
May 7, 2010
1,598
88
augusta ga
Okay I think I have said this a million times, but I love this cut of meat! I bought a whole tenderloin (choice) and I cut it down to the money piece and am dry brining in for about 30 hours. It consists of rubbing the meat generously with kosher salt and refrigerate uncovered. How this method works is that the salt draws out moisture but then it gets reabsorbed. Here's a link to the recipe I'm using with the explanation http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Roast-Beef-Tenderloin-with-Port-Sauce-240690

I'm going to use the leftovers to make kabobs later today. I've got a few yellow squash and zucchini that are ready to pick and some portabella's. Yum lunch. So, I'll keep you posted about this dry brining and see how this works out. I've done a salt crust on prime rib before, but that was right before cooking it. I'll smoke the tenderloin instead of roasting it.

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Looks interesting. Cant wait to see the results.
 
Results are in. I don't think I'll do that again. I mean, I really didn't notice any major difference other than it was salty, in a good way, but I think it was a waste of time. I also didn't go with the above recipe. I was feeling a little more laid back. I decided to make some cat-head sized cheddar biscuits and make a stuffed biscuit instead. I cooked the loin on the Traeger at 375F to 130F IT, except I didn't hear the dang alarm and it went to 133, then the temp shot up to 141F while it was resting. Pay attention silly girl!!!! Next time I'll take it to 125F. Here's a few pics and a couple of money shots. This first one is when I took it outta the fridge. It developed a nice skin which did hold in some juices.

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I'm not fond of salt so I never do something in a salt brine  but that looks delicious to me.   thanks for sharing   Than    

Now I got to go see if you ever posted the cheddar biscuits recipe
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Thanks for sharing.

Dan
 
So in your opinion dry brining was a waste of time ?

Looks good and thanks for the biscut recipe .

Nothing better than some catheads, sausage and cane syrup.
 
OMG Squirrel I just had them for the first time last week at the Red Lobster,  they were very Very good! (so were the "All YA Can Eat Shrimp"
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Thanks again, I'll let ya know how they come out when we get around to making some.

Dan
 
All I can say eman is I think dry brining a small beef tenderloin in salt is a waste of time. Might be good with pork, maybe I'll try that some day. Or even a different cut of beef. The thing is, every time I have cooked this center cut of the loin it has always been juicy and tender, so I don't think it can be improved upon IMHO. Now brisket, that's another story.
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I'm with you on not needing to improve that cut of meat but WOW that sure looks awesome both the meat and the biscuits YUM
 
Try doing a basket weave of bacon and cover it with that. I take two loin strips and use the bacon wrap to hold them together so as to increase the mass and therefore the cooking time. The bacon also helps retain moisture while adding a complimentary flavor. Season the meat before you wrap with the bacon so the seasoning is inside actually I season the strips then put them together so the seasoning is all the way through. Not too strong or spicy like a regular rub now. You could do as many strips as you need to feed what ever size crowd.  
 
Dick, you do realize this is beef tenderloin, not pork. I've done that with the bacon but because I'm only cooking this to around 125-130 it is only on for about 30 minutes. Hardly enough time to cook the bacon or impart in real bacon flavor. I've never really cared for seasoning beef tenderloin with anything other than salt/pepper/garlic. I finish it with several bastes of clarified butter. Pork tenderloin is a different story. I'm cooking some tonight and will wrap in bacon and finish with herb butter. Dang, I'm hungry again.
 
Looks good Cheryl, sorry it was not what you wanted. I have tried dry aging several times and have had dry aged beef from the pros and it just is not my favorite. Had some steaks in Vegas dry aged for 21 days and a really good steak house and just didn't care for them. Seems to take some of the firmness of the meat away.
 
No but it would work on beef loin too. As I said, I have done combinations using both beek and pork loin and that is just great too.

The only thing is, it's expensive because of the beef. I wish it were not so I could justify doing it more. The two add to each other and bacon adds to anything. Gee, I wonder what peanut butter bacon would taste like?
 
Dick, you do realize this is beef tenderloin, not pork. I've done that with the bacon but because I'm only cooking this to around 125-130 it is only on for about 30 minutes. Hardly enough time to cook the bacon or impart in real bacon flavor. I've never really cared for seasoning beef tenderloin with anything other than salt/pepper/garlic. I finish it with several bastes of clarified butter. Pork tenderloin is a different story. I'm cooking some tonight and will wrap in bacon and finish with herb butter. Dang, I'm hungry again.
You are one smart little squirrel!

I wouldn't cook Bacon to 125˚ myself, or 140˚ either.

Almost missed this thread again. Try not to hide them from me. Yours are too Great to be missed!
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Thanks for showing,

Bear
 
Hey Squirrelly Girl!

It looks awesome, but sounds like it looks better than it tastes.

I bow to you once again.......

Todd
 
Scarbelly - this wasn't dry aged, just dry brined. I'm dry aging a slab of prime beef and it's looking good so far. I have a second fridge for my "projects" set to 36F and a small battery operated fan. Works great.

Bear! Keep up! Or I'll come and getcha!

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Scarbelly - this wasn't dry aged, just dry brined. I'm dry aging a slab of prime beef and it's looking good so far. I have a second fridge for my "projects" set to 36F and a small battery operated fan. Works great.

Bear! Keep up! Or I'll come and getcha!

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LOL---I don't know where you find all of those squirrels !!!

If it helps, I just now put my Brisket from a couple months ago in my signature. I wasn't going to, because It was only a small flat, and I didn't do a very elaborate step-by-step on it. It really was no harder than a Chuckie. I like the Brisket for slicing & the Chuckie for pulling.

Bear
 
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Now cheryl your beef tenderloin sammies look awesome and all but I want to now about this prime rib that you are dry aging in a refrig and a fan thingy
 
Thanks Papa Bear, I checked out your brisket and I just MIGHT (big might) give a brisket one more try. The thing is, I really don't care for the flavor, I know burn me at the stake.

Mark, I'm dry aging this puppy -

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The fan is cool, it's a battery operated fan to keep the air circulating. This is in my spare fridge that I keep at 36F for all my fun little meat "projects". I wrapped it in shroud cloth and I change the cloth every day. I can age it up to 14 days, but I don't think I will be able to wait that long. I'll probably pull it at 7 days (been 3 so far) and cook it like a prime rib on the smoker. YUMMMMMMM.
 
Love me some beef tenderloin.  That's an expensive cut of meat to be doing too many experiments on.  I see it around here in beef country for around $20 a pound.  Thanks for the tutorial.
 
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