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i wrecked a filet mignon!!!

BBQchef33

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Phil
Arghhhhhh!!!

Had a small dinner party lastnight.

Entree was Filet Mignon.

Got 2 whole tenderloins, first one I butterflied, made a stuffing of shrimp and shell crabmeat(raw), some croutons and herbs(tarragon based). Layed the stuffing in the tenderloin and foled it back together and tied it up.

Second one, SRubebd with some southerflavor Black and Southern Flavor Garlic and a little tarragon.

Fired up the Klose firebox with a little lump coals and a load of red oak chunks that I cut from logs richie sent me, and a few chunks of mesquite.

After I had a real nice red coalbed, with no flames going, I put a firegrate just over the coals and heated up a griddle, used that to sear the roasts, then tossed the griddle, moved the rack to way up top(10-12 inchs) put the roasts up there and closed the top. Left it cracked open bout an inch or 2. Temps by the roasts stayed in the 350-375 range. I kept turning them and they reached 136-140 in about 45 minutes. Goal was med-rare to medium. Figured the thinner tail portion of the loin would give me the medium stuff :? and i'd have some rare steaks for those who know how to eat filet mignon. :D I pulled them off brought them in and was letting them rest while I made some shrimp scampi and some bernaise sauce.

15 minutes... went to get the roasts...FARK!!!!!!!!!! internal temps rose to 165 on the stuffed one, 160 in the unstuffed one...

yup, walk round the kitchen mumblin and cursing... try to figure out a way to reverse overcookin? anyone know??? Damn.... Slice them up.... GRAY!!!!! ARgggggggggggggggggg Well done, across the board.... A tinge of pink on the thickets pieces... By the time they hit the table they'll be gray also.... YUK!!!!!! DEAD MEAT!. Juicy thank got.. but still not what i had in mind.

Yes they we edible, yes they tasted fine, guests all grumble and moan with full mouths, but of course in the cooks mind the liittle guy on the shoulder is saying "they're full of POOPIE. Its overcooked and they are trying to be nice."

But at the end of dinner, 2 whole filet mignons were GONE!!! 6 of us.. and all the steaks is gone and 3 lbs(?) of shrimp.(whatever those costco bags are)... all gone, so I guess it wasnt all that bad..
 
I sympathize with you man.
My greatest fear is everybody saying
“Oh this is great” and then there’s a pile left over because
everybody headed for desert & drinks.
You think that people (your friends) are being kind or
trying not to hurt the cooks feelings.
You are your own worst critic.
You want every thing perfect all the time!!
That’s not always attainable, but most people don’t notice the
things that you do. There were no leftovers (DAMN).
Somebody did something right!!!
If they don’t come back, they weren’t worth inviting anyway!!
Keep striving for perfection. That’s the name of the game, and
the (one of) purpose of this Brotherhood.
 
Shoulda threw it on the grill and added sauce. IT worked for the shrimp bombs.
 
neighbor saved the 12lb prime rib at our house--he called wondring why there were flames rising out of the wsm. Seems when some unamed drunkard(who was serving BM's by 10am Xmas morn) forgot about taking the access door of to Add a hunk of pecan--wanting the emp to get just a little hotter.
Weeellll it got alot hotter---flames were literally coming from everywhere--even the roast was burning.--got it all undedr control-replace melted temp probe and continued cooking.
Final report---ya kinda had to cut away the outside a tiny bit(creosote) but 10 adults made that hunk of meat disappear

Buzz
 
I was wondering the same thing. I thought I knew what a BM was, but did not want to picture buzz serving them up on christmas morning.
 
My advise would be to never try something new on guests, and never try to get grill results from a smoker. To get a rare cut of meat from a smoker you need to use smoker meat. I personally would have gone with a nice prime rib, smoker meat at its best. Beef tenderloins are grill meat to me. Not that your filet mignon was not good. It must have been good because it dissapeared in one meal. And you know what........I bet your guests will ask you to fix that great filet Mignon recipe again.

One good way to use beef tenderloin in the smoker is to cook it with a chili powder rub. Then cube it and use it to make steak chili. It will knock your socks off.
 
hey wayne... i used the firebox only. Was grilling it.. Started out close to the hot coalbed to sear it, then moved it about a foot over the coals and closed the top. The Klose firebox is 1/2 inch steel, so it makes a good oven. Started out grilling, then went to grill/roasting over coals. I made a filet mignon twice in the smokers. Fist time low and slow to 140, was good, but changed the flavor of the tenderloin to smokey and for my taste, the smoke was to much, even though slight. I guess I just like the roast asis. So the second time, i cooked it right in the hot spot of the horizontal. kloser to the fire and in the 350-400 range. THAT was good. Not to much smoke, alot of wood flavor though, but not throughtout the meat, just on the outside. Thats why i did it in the firebox this time. I think it would have been perfect if i would have pulled it off around 120-125 and let it rest covered. It probably would have climberd to 140 or so, and besides, if it comes off too rare, a quick shot over the coals for those who want it a little more well done would have been easy. But going from well to rare I havent figured out how to do yet. :)
 
Ah... BM was a bowel movement. Makes sense... a few morning bowel movemebts makes sense.
 
That makes sence Phil. The Klose must be a little hotter than my Bandera or the Weber Kettle. Since you grilled it all the way then too much time on the grill is the problem. You can always tell the guests that you are just following the USDA guidelines for cooking beef. What really happened is what would be called a kink in the learning curve or a loss of learning. That means when you change something in the process it backs you up a little bit along the learning curve till you get the new process figured out. I bet your next batch will be more like you want, and the one after that will be perfection.
 
heres waht next time is gonna be.
I would never have expected a 15-20-25 degree climb during the rest period. I think the roast was way to hot when I took it off. I did give it a quick roll on the low grate just before taking it off. no more than 5 seconds or so.. just kinda rolled it. This definately didnt help. I think next time around, when the roast reaches maybe 110 degrees, Im going to either put a foil pan of water over the lower grate to baffle the heat and less direct heat hitting the roast. Or maybe put the heat shield from the bandera on a center level grate, just to eliminate that direct heat effect. The firebox will stay hot but the roast will come off a little cooler and the climb in resting temp may stay at the 5-8 degree range like I expected.
 
Wayne--you are so smart, I'm really impressed with your posts. Serious.

You wouldn't consider running for President would you?
 
Phil's experience here with over cooking is important to remember when doing both grilling and smoking. They are very different ways of cooking and produce different results. Temp. control is important with both, but critical with grilling. You have to watch your temps and know how to adjust with both types. Smoking has a larger window of doneness, while a few minutes or even seconds of cooking while grilling will ruin many things, especially when the heat is high. That is why I always reduce the heat after I turn my meat-it gives me a much longer fudge factor.

The other observation that I made reading Phil's post is his use of thermos. I never use one while grilling. I do it using all my senses instead. A thermo. can be deceiving-just ask my wife after ruining several batches of toffee this Christmas. Her thermo. was off. She read somewhere that a small puff of smoke is a better indication of when the candy is ready. I also find that my senses are a better indicator of doneness when cooking. But I realize that a thermo. is important when smoking. I ordered a Nu Temp 701 as a present to myself this year (Thanks for the discount Phil).

Steve[/code]
 
It is all BS that I just make up at the time.............Hay, maybe I would make a pretty good president. Then again I am not sure I qualify. I am not a Fortunate Son or a 4F. I am one of those wacko, unstable, agent orange tainted Vietnam Vets that cannot be trusted. ( And yes, I know that I spell "hey" as "hay" but what do you expect from a hayseed, wacko, unstable, agent orange tainted Vietnam Vet from Kansas.)
 
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