Filet Mignon for 20

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If there’s a Costco around check out their prime filet loins. Some of the best steak houses use just salt and fresh ground pepper and drop some butter on the steak right at the end of marking/plating.
Have fun pregamming wedding food, we know all about wedding food thanks to Dolores our one of a kind band built photo trailer. Heading to a wedding today. Cheers

 

[noworries]

Today I'm getting two 4.2 pound tenderloins all tied up, apparently trimmed without tails and heads. So, I have the option of cooking whole beef tenderloins low and slow in the oven at the bride's parent's home/wedding site, or cutting them into individual pieces cooked separately. Thoughts? I'll post a picture.

We did a taste test on Saturday for the bride, groom, and bride's parents. I cooked one 8+ oz Filet using the SV setting on my InstaPot for two hours at 133 (I was pressed for time so just 2 hrs). Note to self: leave the lid off, the temp won't stay down with it on. I did another 8+ oz Filet on the wavy side of a cast iron griddle on the stove with a foil tent, and seared the SV piece there too. Both turned out perfect. First time with the SV.

Sorry, no pics, I'm not used to documenting my day but will make up for it as we go through the week...

I pounded flat a large chicken breast we bought at the local Indian grocery (halal chicken, and the nicest chicken breast I've ever seen, but $4.00 each). Browned it slightly and baked it in a mustard sauce. I also made a different mustard sauce for one Filet, reheated some sherry-sauted cremini mushrooms, and then reheated and thickened the Irish Whiskey/red wine/chicken broth/beef broth/heavy cream reduction I'd made earlier. (House recipe I'll share if anyone wants - thanks for your help).

The local grocer gave me some beef trimmings that I rendered in lieu of having cooked beef drippings so I could make both beef sauces ahead of time.

I put all the parts in separate Tupperware and we headed off including deep fried Indian Pakoras (corn-based fritter-like marvels and mango chutney) my wife also made that afternoon, but for a dinner we were going to that night including this group (not the wedding). Seems like our five burner stove was all lit up for most of the afternoon.

The kids loved and appreciated a REAL tasting. Precious. They chose to go with bone-in thigh/leg combos instead of breasts for the chicken, and chose the mustard sauce for the beef over the heavier reduction (which actually I concur really works best during the cold winter holidays. I've never made it for late summer and its big). Good on them.

Again, I'll have some pics of the actual deal as we prepare and cook. Looks like 12 beef and 6 chicken - Two guests backed out due to covid concerns. Group tends older and toward higher risk cohort given group size constraints that kept the group small.

Good food is cathartic, good for the soul and a pleasure to provide.
Chow ;)

 

[noworries]

The wedding was a lot of fun. I was glad to help out.

I went with Sous Vide in six gallons of water for the 15 Filets in the 6.5-8.5-oz range. mostly a little more than 7oz.
Two 4+ pound Loins (Curly made sure things turned out right and also made sure I removed the strings):

I used my 8.5 gallon brew kettle and a borrowed SV and made sure that the SV temperature matched against four probes across two Redi-Checks. It was very nice to see them all match (although the Redi-checks lagged the SV since they don't update as frequently and tend to move in two-degree increments):

Filet's vacuum sealed and ready to go with salt pepper and a pat of butter:

Shallot-Brandy-Mustard-Cream sauce and sherry mushrooms in process:


SV in action for about three hours. I did tend it and rotated the meat in the water bath to make sure the circulating water got to them evenly. Next time I'd probably go four hours. A couple of the thicker ones needed some extra sear to get all the way to 135*, the requested temperature:

Searing on a 480* iron griddle as per my infrared thermometer. That induction stove really held a consistent temperature on the griddle. I got it to temp and just left it sit.

Ready for plating with roasted potatoes and local green beans with cherry tomatoes. Chicken is a thigh-leg combo, brazed: