What is a Good Beef Tenderloin Dinner? A Guide to Cooking the Perfect Tenderloin Roast

You’ve Got to Dry to Get Brown: Using Salt, Time, and High Heat to Get That Perfect Brown Crust

The first step to better browning is to realize that wet things dont brown. Because water evaporates at 212°F (100°C), until youve fully desiccated the surface of a piece of meat, its very difficult to get it to rise beyond that temperature. On the other hand, browning reactions dont really take place in earnest until temperatures reach into the 350°F+ range (177°C and up).

Knowing this, I decided to pretreat my meat in two different ways: salting heavily and a lengthy rest.

Salting a piece of meat does more than give it flavor. It intrinsically alters its muscle structure. As salt dissolves in meat juices and works its way slowly into the meat, it dissolves a protein called myosin—one of the proteins responsible for the shrinkage that occurs when meat is heated. Visually, this change is quite apparent when you compare a piece of salted meat to a piece of fresh meat. Denatured proteins scatter light in a different way from intact ones, giving salted meat a deeper red, slightly translucent appearance, kind of like ham.

A piece of meat that is salted for a prolonged period of time will shrink less and expel less moisture as it cooks. Less moisture expelled means less moisture to evaporate, which means more efficient browning. Since a thick roast cant really be seasoned internally until its sliced and served, I like to salt my meat quite heavily around the edges.

Resting the meat after salting offers its own obvious advantage: partial dehydration of the exterior. As I talked about in this piece on dry-aging (or not, as the case may be), a steak thats been left to sit uncovered for a night or two on a rack in the fridge will develop a nice dry pellicle that will brown very fast.

Combining the salting step with an overnight rest led to a roast that was extremely dry on the exterior after its initial slow roast:

For the record, this is one of the few advantages that the oven-based reverse-sear method has over bag-and-water-based sous vide methods. While sous vide cooking allows for more precise temperature control, it also leaves the exterior of the meat very wet.

This can make it harder to sear, which in turn can end up giving you more of an overcooked gray band than youd like.

Once the whole tenderloin had been slow-cooked, I decided to try to bring some of the flavor and richness of the pan-seared version to the oven-roasted version, figuring that some browned butter might also help it brown faster while providing a lubricating and insulating layer of fat on the exterior.

To do it, I started by browning butter in a skillet, then added some sliced shallots and thyme.

Next, I dumped that browned butter and the aromatics over my tenderloin, using a spoon to make sure every surface was coated, and pushing the shallots to the side so that the top of the meat was exposed.

Finally, I parked the tenderloin under a preheated broiler. Because of the moisture-free surface and the already-hot browned butter, the roast started sizzling and crackling under the heat of the broiler almost immediately. Those sizzling sounds are good news.

A couple minutes and a few turns with the tongs later, and this beauty emerged from the oven:

Would you look at that crust? Normally, Id let a roast of this size rest for about 15 minutes in order to prevent it from leaking too many juices, but with slow-cooked meat, you really dont need to rest more than a couple of minutes before slicing and serving.

Ready for the moment of truth? I find myself holding my breath every single time I cut into a steak or a roast, even when my thermometer tells me that all is going to be well.

Phew! It worked! Nicely browned crust, an ultra-tender center, and perfectly pink meat from edge to edge. You couldnt really ask for much more in a tenderloin.

Okay, I suppose you could ask for a sprinkle of really nice, coarse sea salt and some minced chives. And perhaps a nice steak knife would be fitting. And if you really want to deck it out, some horseradish cream sauce, but we dont want to get too greedy, now do we?

Or maybe we do. Tis the season, after all, am I right?

Slow-Roasted Beef Tenderloin Recipe

• 1 center-cut trimmed beef tenderloin, 2 to 3 pounds (900 g to 1.4 kg; see note)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 tablespoons (57 g) unsalted butter
• 4 sprigs thyme
• 1 shallot, roughly sliced
• Finely minced chives, for serving
• Coarse sea salt, such as fleur de sel or Maldon, for serving
• 1 recipe Horseradish Cream Sauce, for serving

• The Day Before: Using butchers twine, tie tenderloin at 1-inch intervals using butchers knots. Season generously with salt and pepper. Transfer to a wire rack set in a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet and refrigerate uncovered at least overnight and up to 2 nights. Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt
• When Ready to Cook: Adjust oven rack to center position and preheat oven to 225°F (107°C). Place baking sheet with rack and tenderloin in oven and roast until internal temperature registers 120 to 125°F (49 to 52°C) on an instant-read thermometer, 2 to 3 hours. Remove from oven and set aside at room temperature for 10 minutes. Cut and remove twine. Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt
• To Finish Under the Broiler: Adjust rack to 6 inches from broiler element and preheat broiler to high. Heat butter, swirling, in a medium skillet over high heat until foaming subsides and butter turns a light nutty brown. Add thyme and shallots and stir until crackling stops. Pour butter mixture over tenderloin and spread with a spoon until all surfaces are coated. Remove shallots from top surface of meat. Place pan with tenderloin under broiler and broil, turning every 30 seconds, until meat is well browned on all sides and internal temperature registers 125°F (52°C) for rare or 130°F (54°C) for medium-rare, about 2 minutes total. Proceed to step 5. Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt
• To Finish on the Stovetop: Heat butter, swirling, in a medium skillet over high heat until foaming subsides and butter turns a light nutty brown. Add tenderloin, shallots, and thyme and cook, turning occasionally and spooning hot butter and aromatics over roast, until meat is well browned on all sides and internal temperature registers 125°F (52°C) for rare or 130°F (54°C) for medium-rare, about 1 1/2 minutes.
• Transfer tenderloin to a cutting board and allow to rest for 5 minutes. Slice into 1/2-inch slices, sprinkle with chives and coarse sea salt, and serve with Horseradish Cream Sauce.

BEEF TENDERLOIN ROAST | easy, foolproof recipe for Christmas dinner

FAQ

What are good sides to serve with beef tenderloin?

• mashed potatoes, twice baked potatoes, scalloped potatoes or cheesy potatoes
• brussel sprouts
• asparagus
• dinner rolls
• salad

What should I do with a beef tenderloin?

Relatively quick-cooking and arguably the most tender cut of beef, tenderloin makes for a magnificent roast, succulent stir-fry, or tasty grilled skewers. It’s also especially lean and free of connective tissue, lending itself to raw and ultra-rare applications like steak tartare and beef poke.

How is tenderloin best cooked?

The food ‘web and a great many cookbooks (very many of them highly reputable) recommend blasting a tenderloin in a hot oven, 450–500°F (232–260°C), for a relatively short time to cook it, followed by a counter rest.

What is the best way to cook a beef tenderloin to preserve its tenderness?

Slow roast 40 to 50 minutes – Transfer the beef into the skillet then roast for 15 minutes in a low 120°C/250°F oven (both fan and standard ovens). Then slather the remaining butter on and roast for a further 25 – 35 minutes (40 – 50 minutes total) or until the internal temperature is 53°C/127°F for medium rare.