Beef tenderloin is one of the most desirable, decadent cuts of beef you can buy. With its super tender texture and mild, succulent flavor, it’s no wonder beef tenderloin commands premium prices at meat markets and fine dining restaurants.
But what exactly does this luxurious cut of meat look like before it hits the grill or oven? Here’s a complete visual guide to identifying beef tenderloin.
Where Beef Tenderloin Is Located on the Cow
To understand what tenderloin looks like, it helps to know where it comes from on the cow’s body
The tenderloin is a long, tapered muscle that runs along either side of the backbone, underneath the ribs. It sits inside the loin primal cut between the sirloin and rib sections.
Because this muscle doesn’t get much use, it stays very tender compared to other cuts. When removed from the loin primal, the tenderloin is sometimes called the “short loin”
Whole Untrimmed Tenderloin
A whole beef tenderloin is an oblong, tapered shape ranging from 2 to 4 feet long and 4 to 7 pounds.
The wider end that was closer to the sirloin is more broad while the tip end is narrow and tapers to a point.
A thick layer of fat called kidney fat or suet surrounds the whole tenderloin. This fat insulates the tenderloin muscle and prevents it from getting tough.
![Whole untrimmed beef tenderloin laying on a cutting board][1]
A whole untrimmed beef tenderloin has an oblong, tapered shape with a thicker fat end and a narrow tip end.
Trimmed Tenderloin Roast
Once all the fat and connective tissue or “silverskin” is trimmed off, the tenderloin has a nice cylindrical shape. It looks like a “filet”, which is French for long and lean.
The tip still tapers to a point while the wider end near the sirloin retains more thickness. The chain muscle, a small additional muscle, runs partially alongside the length of the tenderloin.
![Trimmed cylindrical beef tenderloin roast][2]
Trimmed of fat and silverskin, the tenderloin has a cylindrical shape with a tapered tip end.
Sections and Cuts from the Tenderloin
Because of its tapered shape, the tenderloin can be broken down into different cuts or sections.
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The narrow tip end can be portioned into bite-sized appetizers or folded under to make a uniform roast.
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The mid section is ideal for cutting filet mignon steaks.
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The wider end closest to the sirloin makes great porterhouse or T-bone steaks if left attached to the loin, or club steaks if portioned from the tenderloin.
![Diagram of beef tenderloin sections – tip, filet mignon, club steak][3]
The tapered tenderloin shape lends itself to different cuts like filet mignon, club steaks, and appetizers.
Identifying Tenderloin in the Meat Case
When purchasing tenderloin at the grocery store or butcher shop, you may see it marketed in a few different forms:
- Whole tenderloin roast – Can be sold trimmed or untrimmed, great for roasting
- Tenderloin steaks – Cut into filets mignon or sometimes called chateaubriand, 1-2 inches thick
- Tenderloin medallions – Slices from the wider end, often wrapped in bacon
- Tenderloin tips – The narrow tip end cut into bite-sized cubes or strips
![Beef tenderloin cuts displayed at butcher counter][4]
Look for whole or partial tenderloin roasts, steaks, medallions, or tips at the meat counter.
What to Look for When Buying Tenderloin
When selecting a tenderloin roast or steaks, look for these signs of quality:
- Uniform shape – Has a consistent tapered shape, not oddly misshapen or warped
- Bright red color – Indicates freshness, should not look brown or gray
- Ample marbling – Thin white lines of fat visibly marbled throughout the lean meat
- Firm texture – Should have a slight springiness when touched rather than being mushy
- Fresh cut surface – The cut sides should not look dry or brown
Popular Uses for Tenderloin
Because of its unmatched tenderness, beef tenderloin is most often used for:
- Filet mignon steaks
- Elegant roasted whole tenderloin
- Roast beef sandwiches made with sliced tenderloin
- Fancy restaurant beef entrees
- Special occasion dinners
Cooking Tips for Tenderloin
To enjoy flavorful, juicy beef tenderloin:
- Cook with dry heat quickly over high heat to medium rare doneness at most
- Enhance flavor with rubs, marinades, butter, or sauces
- Avoid overcooking or it will become dry and tough
- Roast whole tenderloin pairs nicely with a red wine reduction sauce
With its distinct long, tapered shape, beef tenderloin is easy to identify and select for an indulgent meal. Know what to look for when buying tenderloin and how to cook it properly to enjoy this luxurious and delicious cut of beef.
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A Rare Case: What’s the Best Degree of Doneness for Beef Tenderloin?
I used to be one of those “wave the steak in the direction of the fire and serve it to me” types. The rarer, the better. But when I actually started thinking critically about what was in my mouth, rather than letting whatever minor sense of machismo I had get the better of me, I realized that rarer does not always equal better, and Im willing to bet that anybody who currently thinks so could be convinced otherwise.
These days, I firmly believe that when youre cooking red meat, the degree of doneness to which you cook it should be directly related to its fat content. Rich, fatty cuts, like prime-grade prime rib, are better cooked to at least medium-rare, and often even up to medium—hot enough that the plentiful intramuscular fat can start to soften, spreading its flavor and its lubrication over your mouth.*
*In fact, in blindfolded taste tests I conducted, even avowed rare-meat-eaters more often than not picked the medium-rare prime rib or the medium prime rib over the rare as the best-tasting. This also may explain why the French, with their very lean beef, tend to prefer their meat cooked very rare, while Americans, with their extra-fatty meat, veer toward medium. Nobody can explain why the Brits cook their lean beef beyond well-done.
A lean tenderloin, on the other hand, has no intramuscular fat, so go beyond medium-rare at all and youre just drying it out. For tenderloin, edge-to-edge pink, with perhaps even a spot of translucent rare meat in the very center, is the way to go. And, of course, we still want a really nice dark crust on the exterior for flavor and texture.
Making the Cut: Choosing the Perfect Beef Tenderloin
Before we get to the oven, though, we need to first figure out what cut of meat were working with. A full tenderloin is a big chunk of meat, about four to five pounds. Because a whole tenderloin has an uneven shape, with a thin, tapered tail and a fat bulb on the other end, youll need to fold that thinner end back and tie it into place to get it to cook evenly.
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This is fine if youve got a large party of eight to 12 to feed, but for a smaller group of four to six, youll want to use a center-cut tenderloin, also known as a chateaubriand.
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This is the center section of the tenderloin, and it has a smooth, even, cylindrical shape that makes cooking it much simpler. (If you want to learn how to save some money by trimming a tenderloin yourself, check out our guide here.)
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Cooking it on its own can cause it to sag and turn misshapen as it cooks, so I always like to truss a tenderloin by tying it up at even intervals. Learning how to tie butchers knots makes this very easy, though regular old square knots will work as well.
So how do you get there? Well, traditional recipes for tenderloin (and most steaks and roasts) call for first searing the meat at a high temperature, then finishing it off at a relatively low temperature. By this stage, we all know that the whole “sealing in the juices” thing is nothing more than a myth with no actual basis in reality, right? So, while the standard hot-then-cool method works okay, it actually works better if you do the process in reverse.
Its a thing called the reverse sear, a technique I developed while I was working at Cooks Illustrated (and if youve already heard me talk about it a million times, you may want to skip ahead a bit). These days, I use it for everything from prime rib to pan-seared steaks to pork chops—any time I want perfectly evenly cooked meat and a great crust.
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When you start the process by placing the raw meat on a rack in a low-temperature oven (in this case, I went with 225°F—the lowest temperature my oven could reliably hold) and slow-roasting it until the center hits just a few degrees below your desired final serving temperature (a serving temperature of 125°F for rare or 130°F for medium-rare is what I shoot for on an instant-read thermometer), you end up with a piece of meat that has a very small temperature gradient. The meat will be almost perfectly cooked from edge to edge.
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Low-and-slow cooking also gives you a larger window of time between that point at which the meat is perfectly cooked and the point when its overcooked.
Once the meat is done, all youve got to do is put a sear on it. With a steak, Ill generally do that in a large skillet on the stovetop. If your tenderloin is small enough, you can do it the same way, basting it with butter, shallots, and thyme for extra flavor and richness. The added milk proteins in butter also help it to brown faster than oil does.
But what if its too large to fit in a skillet, or you prefer to use the oven?
At first, I thought I could treat a tenderloin exactly how I treat my prime rib—just toss it in a 500°F (260°C) oven for a few minutes to sear the exterior. I tried it and ended up with barely browned meat and a big, fat layer of overcooked meat around the outer edges.
The problem, of course, is that fat content again. A prime rib has a nice thick layer of fat on its exterior that can help it brown faster and more evenly. It also cooks more slowly due to this insulation, so even with a 10-minute stay in a 500°F oven, you get barely any gray, overcooked meat under the surface. With a lean tenderloin, on the other hand, 10 minutes in a 500°F oven leads to a chunk of meat thats cooked beyond medium, almost all the way to the center!
So my goal was to figure out ways to speed up the browning process so that the tenderloin wouldnt have time to overcook. It took a two-pronged approach to get there.
Everything You Should Know About Tenderloin Steak
FAQ
Are beef tenderloins the same as filet mignon?
Beef tenderloin is a larger cut that includes the filet mignon. Filet mignon comes from the tapered end of the tenderloin, making it smaller, more tender, and often more expensive. How do I purchase beef tenderloin? You can find beef tenderloin in most grocery stores or at butcher shops.
What is beef tenderloin called at the grocery store?
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Reddit · r/Butcheryhttps://www.reddit.comFilet mignon or not? : r/Butchery – RedditDec 31, 2023 — Yes those are tenderloin steaks. They are from the butt end on the opposite side of the bone in the top sirloin. Filet Mignon is the generic name in…
How many people will a 5 lb tenderloin feed?
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Southern Livinghttps://www.southernliving.comHow Much Beef Tenderloin Per Person To Buy For Your DinnerNov 24, 2024 — It’s actually fairly easy to figure out how much beef tenderloin per person you need to buy: Simply purchase 8 ounces (1/2 pound) of meat for each g…
Is beef tenderloin a good cut of meat?
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Extremely Tender:Tenderloin is taken from the psoas major muscle, which is minimally used, resulting in a very tender texture.
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Lean:It’s relatively lean, making it a healthier option than some other cuts.
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Versatile:It can be prepared in various ways, including grilling, roasting, searing, and even used in raw dishes like steak tartare.
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High Quality:Due to its tenderness and lean nature, it’s often associated with high-quality dining experiences.
What does a beef tenderloin look like?
Once trimmed of fat and silverskin, the tenderloin is more cylindrical in shape. It looks like a “filet”, which is French for “long and lean”. The tip end tapers to a point. The sirloin end is wider. The chain muscle runs partially alongside it.! [Trimmed beef tenderloin roast]
Where does beef tenderloin come from?
This premium cut comes from the short loin primal cut near the back of the cow, an underworked part of the animal. Beef tenderloin is known for being the most tender cut of beef due to its low amount of connective tissue with minimal excess fat like you would see in a prime rib roast.
What is a beef tenderloin?
Beef tenderloin is a larger cut of beef consisting of the entire tenderloin muscle. The tenderloin is a long muscle—ranging from eighteen to twenty-four inches—stretching from the loin primal to the sirloin primal. This muscle is near the cow’s backbone, so it hardly gets any exercise.
What is a thick cut Tenderloin?
Thick cut tenderloin, the most tender of all cuts, prepared simply to highlight the rich flavor of the beef in an elegant presentation. Tenderloin blanketed in mushrooms, prosciutto and puff pastry resulting in the ultimate surf and turf experience in one bite.
What is a tapered beef tenderloin?
The tapered shape of the tenderloin lends itself to different cuts along its length. The tip can be portioned into appetizers or folded under the roast. The mid section is ideal for filet mignon steaks. The wider end produces club steaks or can be left whole as a roast.! [Beef tenderloin sections] When shopping for tenderloin, you may see:
What is a Tenderloin in a cow?
The tenderloin is a long, tapered muscle that runs along the spine of the cow. It sits inside the loin primal cut between the ribs and sirloin. This muscle doesn’t get much use, so it stays very tender. When the tenderloin is removed from the loin primal, it is sometimes called the “short loin”.