smoking beef tenderloin? Any suggestions?

With beef tenderloin being so lean, I would rather fire roast them indirect over a higher temp.

When I do them, this is one of my favorite recipes.



I adapted it from Southern Living for cooking on an outdoor grill. SEAR the roast at 600f for 60-90 seconds a side. Then cut the temp to 400-425f and ROAST the meat indirect until it hits your target temp. I'd estimate the roasting time at about 40 minutes, but I was watching the thermometer, not the clock.

The recipe calls for 140f internal which will be medium by the time it rests, because even after taking it off the grill, it will cook to at least 145f. I pulled ours at 130-135f and let it rest where it rose to 140f. This gave us some medium rare in the middle and the ends were more on the medium side of medium rare.



Portobello Marsala Sauce
8 ounce Baby portobello mushrooms sliced
3 tablespoon Butter divided
3 cloves Garlic minced
2 ea Shallot diced
2 cups Marsala wine
1 cup Chicken broth

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a medium skillet over high heat; add mushrooms, and sauté 10 minutes or until mushrooms are browned and liquid is evaporated. Add 1 tablespoon butter, garlic, and shallots to skillet; sauté 5 minutes.

Stir in Marsala and chicken broth, stirring to loosen browned bits from bottom of skillet. Bring to a boil, and cook 20 minutes or until reduced by two-thirds. Remove from heat, and stir in remaining 1 tablespoon butter.

*1 (8-ounce) package sliced button mushrooms may be substituted.

Yield: Makes 1 1/2 cups

Peppered Beef Tenderloin with Portobello Marsala Sauce
2 teaspoon Pepper fresh ground
1 teaspoon Salt kosher
1 teaspoon Lemon pepper
1/4 teaspoon Granulated garlic
1/4 teaspoon Thyme dried
4 pounds Beef tenderloin trimmed
Portobello-Marsala Sauce see recipe above

Ask your butcher to trim the tenderloin, or do it yourself. Use a sharp, thin knife to cut away the top layer of fat and the thin (about 2-inch-wide) membrane called silver skin.

Garnishes: fresh thyme sprigs, roasted garlic bulbs

Combine first 5 ingredients; pat mixture evenly over beef. Cover and stand at room temperature 30 minutes.

Broil 6 inches from heat 15 minutes on a lightly greased rack in a roasting pan; reduce oven temperature to 375°, and bake 30 to 35 minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted into thickest portion registers 140° or to desired degree of doneness.

Remove from oven; let stand 10 minutes before slicing.

Serve with Portobello-Marsala Sauce (BigOven recipe 163395). Garnish, if desired.

Yield: Makes 6 to 8 servings

Cybil Brown Talley, Atlanta, Georgia
Southern Living, NOVEMBER 2005

Beef tenderloins don't need much. They are yummy. Just make sure you get it the proper temperature.

Like swibirun, I prefer higher cooking temps for beef tenderloin, but I ain't picky so long as it's cooked to a nice rare/med-rare temp.

One of my favorite recipes is to slather em with brown mustard and fresh herbs (pretty much whatever ya got) dust with salt n pepper.