Recipe for beef tenderloin sous vide
Beef tenderloin is a fantastically delicious and flavorful piece of meat that deserves the best preparation. Sous vide is suitable for both whole cuts of meat and various smaller cuts. When you cook beef tenderloin sous vide, it becomes incredibly tender and delicious.
What is beef tenderloin?
Beef tenderloin is one of the most tender cuts on the cow. It is part of the short loin, which constitutes the middle of the back, extending down to where the tenderloin begins.
Many delicious cuts come from the short loin, and the tenderloin is just one of them. The tenderloin has greater fat marbling the closer we get to the head, while it is leaner toward the back end of the animal. The leaner it is, the more delicate the preparation required. And here, sous vide is absolutely ideal.
The tenderloin can be cut with or without the fat cap. When the tenderloin is cut into steaks, they are known by names such as ribeye, striploin, entrecote, etc.
Beef tenderloin sous vide time and temperature
The only thing that matters when we use sous vide is the water temperature and how long we let the meat stay in the water bath. After that, the meat takes care of itself.
The perfect water temperature depends greatly on how rare or well done you prefer your meat. Personally, I prefer medium rare, so the temperature for that is 53-55 degrees Celsius. If you like it rare, it’s 49-52 degrees Celsius, and if you prefer medium, you need to go up to 56-59 degrees Celsius. I would never cook the meat well done myself, but if that’s how you prefer it, the temperature range is 60-64 degrees Celsius.
When the tenderloin is medium rare, I find it perfectly juicy and tender.
Dry-aged vs. non-dry-aged
For this recipe, I used a beef tenderloin that was first aged for 3 weeks at the butcher and then 3 days in my own aging cabinet.
If you have a tenderloin that is not dry-aged, you should add one hour to the cooking time.
Beef tenderloin sous vide crust and resting time
Firstly, resting time is not necessary when working with sous vide. The tenderloin is ready to be sliced and served as soon as it comes out of the water bath.
However, it has no crust, so this is something we need to add before serving. A crust is, as you know, an essential part of the flavor experience. It is important to remember, though, that the meat is already perfectly cooked inside, so we don’t want to give it too long when adding a crust.
The most important thing when adding a crust is high temperatures.
I like to use a blowtorch to add the crust. You can also use a regular frying pan, grill pan, griddle, or your grill, but the blowtorch is handy for cuts with a more “uneven” surface, like the tenderloin. If using a frying pan, I recommend cooking with ghee because it reaches a higher temperature than regular butter. It also doesn’t sputter or burn. You can also use a mixture of butter and oil if you don’t have ghee.
Slicing the beef tenderloin
You can slice the tenderloin into pieces immediately after it has formed the crust. It’s a good idea to note beforehand (before cooking, while the meat is still raw) which direction the fibers run. If your tenderloin has a fat cap, you can, for example, score it with a knife to make it easy for you to remember the direction.
Slice the tenderloin against the grain. This ensures the most tender flavor experience.
Ingredients
- 1 kg Beef Fillet
- 200 gram Red Wine
- 45 gram Oil Flavor-neutral
- 3 cloves Garlic
- Spices Salt and pepper
- 13.5 gram Oil
- 10 gram Butter
- 3 cloves Garlic
- Fresh thyme
Instructions
- Press the garlic into a bowl and add all the other ingredients therein.
- Let the marinade sit for 5-10 minutes.
- Score the fat layer on the beef tenderloin.
- Draw the marinade into a meat injector and inject it into the meat in as many places as possible.
- Pour the rest of the marinade into a vacuum bag along with the meat and vacuum seal it.
- As it is difficult to create a perfect vacuum in the bag (without a chamber vacuum sealer), I add a spoon or two to ensure the bag stays submerged. Alternatively, you can place something heavy on top of the bag.
- Cook it for 10 hours at 54 degrees Celsius (129 degrees Fahrenheit) in sous vide.
- Take the meat out of the bag and pat it dry.
- Brown the meat in a pan, first in oil and then add salted butter, garlic, and a few sprigs of thyme.
- Serve the meat with a homemade bearnaise sauce.
Notes
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