When the Weather Turns: Winter Cooking Project #4
November 30, 2008
The Tutor: Davo The Organizer: Karrie
The Tutees/Bloggers: Christie, Jen Wiz
Cut of beef: Beef Tenderloin (aka “The Pismo”)
Price point: Choice, whole unpeeled 5#, $10.95/pound
Choice, peeled 4#, $17.95/pound
Why Jefe Dave chose it: For the ease of entertaining at the holidays—without sacrifice of flavor!
Butchering goal: Peeling the Pismo
Recipe: One in Jefe Dave’s head. He makes a beef tenderloin with demi glace several times a year
Introduction
Well, we really blew it on this one. We prepared the perfect holiday dish, the one that is so easy it’s deceptive, the one that feeds lots of people at a moments notice and makes your family gape at you in admiration even though you barely did anything to deserve it – and then we didn’t post it in time for the holidays. We were too busy eating and drinking our way through December. Sorry.
Still, there’s plenty of cold blustery days left on the calendar and beef tenderloin is a hearty cure for winter blues so it’s not too late for you to give this recipe a try.
Class began as always by cracking open a bottle. In honor of the holiday theme we went with some bubbly to get us in a celebratory mood. Karrie mixed in a spoonful of cranberry-sage sorbet made by the sugar diva’s at Sweet Collective in Lincoln Square. Several students skipped class, which meant that there was little resistance to Christie’s suggestion to play Christmas carols while we cooked.
While we noshed on peimonte tomini, an Italian cow’s milk cheese, Wisconsin parmesan and bread, Dave went over the menu: beef tenderloin with a veal demiglace reduction, roasted potatoes with pancetta, boiled rapini sauted with garlic, and baked foie gras in a maple bourbon glaze.
The Meat
The cut was a PISMO – Peeled Inner Side Muscle On. (Pismo is also the unfortunate name of Dave and Karrie’s beloved Jack Russell Terrier, thanks to Dave’s brother). The side muscle, or “strap” is not good for eating and should be removed. At the store this muscle is usually removed before packaging which increases the price per pound. To save dough you’re better off buying it whole and taking off the muscle yourself. The muscle is extremely easy to locate and you can literally peel it off by hand, or use a knife if it gets stuck.
Jenny did the butchering today since Christie was still feeling wary after her little knife accident during the last class and she removed and discarded the excess sinewy fat and silver skin. The muscle was set aside to use for making the sauce. We started with a 6lb. tenderloin but after trimming it was down to 4lbs.
Dave explained that you can think of this cut in 3 basic sections – the skinny end is the “tail,” the middle is the “center cut” and the other end is the “butt tender” (don’t laugh). The center cut is perfect for butchering down into steaks and is the origin of chateaubriand. The butt tender filet (stop laughing!) is the same meat as the center cut but is not quite as good for steaks.
The seasoning was a simple, generous application of coarse salt and fresh ground pepper. The recipe called for browning the meat before roasting, but we skipped that part – the only reason for browning would be to get the tasty cooked bits into the sauce pan for deglazing and that’s what we saved the muscle for. Many tenderloin recipes also call for tying the meat, which compresses the cut into a more uniform size and makes for more equal roasting throughout. Dave explained this isn’t necessary either, especially when you have guests who like meat cooked at different temps. This way you get well, medium and medium rare pieces to suit the taste buds of all your guests.
The Sides
While the meat cooked we prepared the sides. For the potatoes with pancetta we used Yukon Golds and Volpi pancetta. The potatoes were boiled whole, cooled slightly and cut into quarters. The pancetta was diced into fat bite sized pieces and browned in a sauté pan. The cooked potato quarters were then sautéed in the rendered fat from the pancetta, seasoned with salt and pepper and tossed with thinly sliced onion. The pancetta was reincorporated back into the dish and the whole thing went into a baking dish, covered and kept warm until service.
The foie gras dish had Dave excited all afternoon. The whole liver was first sautéed, then roasted in the oven with a sage/cumin/thyme/bayleaf maple bourbon glaze. Since we didn’t know how long to cook the foie we just kept an eye on it but despite our vigilance, well, we over cooked it. It shrank to half it’s original size and you would not believe the amount of rendered fat in the baking dish. Not even the festive “Mele Kalikimaka” could keep Dave from feeling heartbroken.
Karrie handled the rapini which she rinsed thoroughly and chopped into 2” long pieces, boiled in batches for one minute each, drained and sauteed with garlic, olive oil and seasoned with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. She and Dave continued to eat the leftovers with pasta (and even for breakfast) throughout the rest of the week.
The Sauce
Oh the sauce. We cannot forget this deliciousness. We made it by sautéing shallots with our leftover meat muscle, then adding red wine and marsala wine, boiling and stirring until reduced. We then added veal demiglace, mixed fruit jelly, and simmered. Finally, we whisked in butter, salt and pepper, and then strained through a sieve.
Home chef perspective
Wiz recreated this dish on Christmas Day for my family. She highly recommends the Pismo for the budding home chef—it really is easy to trim and prepare (Wiz and Mom handled it despite having had several glasses of wine by this point and the distraction of 3 little ones constantly underfoot). It is important to remind oneself to trim away from your body, as to avoid any knife accidents! It is also a great dish to feed a crowd, as a 5-6 lb. Pismo can feed a big group. Plus, as explained before, the different sizes of the meat ensure that you will have meat cooked to different temperatures to suit all palates without having to worry about taking things out of the oven at different times.
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