Smoked Beef Tenderloin
This cut of meat is perfect for a fantastic Holiday meal with family and friends or a special occasion. It is quite expensive, so let's cook it right and savor every bite!
Beef Tenderloin is probably the most tender portion of the cow - this is where the Fillet Mignon steak is sliced from. If you pick up one of these pieces of meat you can slice it into the size steaks you want but one of my favorite things to do is smoke the entire cut at once. It's kind of like a really great piece of Prime Rib Roast - but better.
My favorite way to cook this cut of meat is on the smoker but you can easily do it in the oven too. You could cook it on a charcoal grill if you cook it in indirect heat and if your grill is large enough. I wouldn't recommend cooking on a gas grill unless the grill is extra large and you have good control over the temperature on the indirect side.
There are only two ingredients for this cook - beef tenderloin and thick cut bacon.
First step is to dry rub the meat down with your favorite dry rub. There are lots of techniques to get the rub to stick to the meat better - like slathering the meat with mustard or worchestire - but my favorite is to use olive oil. After the meat is rubbed down with one of your favorite binding agents, go ahead and get a heavy layer of your favorite dry rub. A simple suggestion is equal parts of black pepper, sea salt, and granulated garlic. Sometimes simple is better.
After the meat is dry rubbed, layer the thick cut bacon over the entire cut of meat. Why? Because everything is better wrapped in bacon! This piece of meat typically has enough marbling / fat to keep it moist during the cook - AND - we are going to pull this meat at as low of a temp you can handle but wrapping in bacon adds a little extra flavor.
Since this meat has to be pulled off at a very specific internal temp, make sure you use some type of meat probe so you can monitor the cook. I cooked this on the smoker at a grate temp of 225F. When the internal temp hits 135F, I pulled it off the cooker, removed the bacon, wrapped it in foil and then in a beach towel and placed in a clean, dry cooler to rest for 30 minutes. This temp will have your meat at a perfect medium rare 138 or so after resting. The resting will also allow the juices in the meat to re-distribute throughout the meat ensuring it is super juicy.
Since this cut of meat was wrapped in bacon during the cook, there isn't a really thick crust or bark on the outside but you can see the flavor wrapped around the outside from the dry rub. Let's slice this bad boy open!
Kind of like a really great prime rib, slice this cut in nice, thick slices. You can see the inside is pink and the pink extends all the way to the edge of the meat. You can also see how incredibly juicy the meat is. Combine this with your favorite meat sides like baked potatoes, some bacon wrapped asparagus, or some stuffed mushroom caps. Let's eat!
