Name: Tremendous Beef Tenderloin
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 75 min
Total time: 95 min
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients: 4 lb center-cut beef tenderloin; 2 tbsp kosher salt; 1 tbsp coarse black pepper; 2 tsp garlic powder; 2 tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped; 2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves; 2 tbsp neutral oil; 4 tbsp unsalted butter; 6 garlic cloves, smashed; 4 fresh thyme sprigs; to finish flaky sea salt

Tremendous Beef Tenderloin

Prep

20m

Cook

75m

Total

95m

Bigly says

Beef tenderloin. BEEF TENDERLOIN! The most expensive cut on the cow, the most beautiful, the most misunderstood. I have eaten more tenderloin than any chef in this hemisphere — and that's the conservative estimate, the real number would make food chemists weep — and I'm here to tell you that 90% of the tenderloin served in restaurants is RUINED. Overcooked. Underseasoned. Sliced too thin. Plated next to a sad little smear of something brown they're calling a 'jus.' Wet sadness on a plate. A crime against beef.

Here's what nobody tells you. Tenderloin has no fat. None. The fat marbling is the whole reason a ribeye tastes like a ribeye, and the tenderloin skipped that line at the cow factory. So if you cook it like a ribeye, you've got shoe leather. You've got jerky with delusions of grandeur. The trick — and this is the trick of all tricks, the one trick the cookbook authors will not tell you because they're scared — is the reverse sear. Low oven first. Then a screaming hot pan to finish. The inside cooks evenly, edge-to-edge pink, and the crust comes from a 90-second tour of hellfire in a cast iron pan. Easy math.

By the way — and this is important — people will tell you that you need a $400 thermometer and a sous vide circulator and a degree from the CIA to do this. They're lying. They're trying to sell you equipment. The neighbor who taught me this trick lived to be 102 and the only thing in his kitchen was an instant-read thermometer he got free with a magazine subscription in 1987. He nailed it every time. Plain and simple. Game over.

Ingredients

4 lbcenter-cut beef tenderloin(trimmed and tied at 2-inch intervals)
2 tbspkosher salt
1 tbspcoarse black pepper
2 tspgarlic powder
2 tbspfresh rosemary, finely chopped
2 tbspfresh thyme leaves
2 tbspneutral oil
4 tbspunsalted butter
6garlic cloves, smashed
4fresh thyme sprigs(for basting, in addition to leaves above)
to finishflaky sea salt

Steps

1
The night before (or at least 2 hours ahead), pat the tenderloin completely dry. Combine kosher salt, black pepper, garlic powder, chopped rosemary, and thyme leaves. Rub all over the meat. Place uncovered on a rack over a sheet pan and refrigerate.
2
Remove the tenderloin from the fridge 1 hour before cooking to take the chill off. Heat oven to 250°F.
3
Place the seasoned tenderloin on a rack set over a sheet pan. Roast 50-70 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer in the center reads 115°F for medium-rare or 120°F for medium.
4
Remove from the oven and let rest while you heat a large cast iron skillet over high heat until smoking, about 4 minutes.
5
Add the neutral oil and swirl. Carefully lay the tenderloin in the pan and sear, turning every 30 seconds, until deeply browned on all sides, about 3-4 minutes total. Do not crowd the pan or skimp on the heat.
6
Add the butter, smashed garlic, and thyme sprigs to the pan. Tilt the pan and baste the tenderloin with the foaming butter for 60 seconds.
7
Transfer to a cutting board and let rest 10 minutes. The internal temperature will climb to 125-130°F for medium-rare.
8
Snip and remove the kitchen twine. Slice into 3/4-inch thick rounds against the grain.
9
Arrange on a warm platter, spoon over any pan butter and accumulated juices, and finish with flaky sea salt.

One more thing

You slice that tenderloin and the rosy pink runs corner to corner like a sunset over a meat ranch. People will ask if you're a professional. You smile mysteriously. You don't answer. Let them wonder. That's the recipe.