Tender is the Loin II - Recap

Alton’s on board his new boat finishing his dinner. He has every luxury: the boat, the open ocean, a nice beverage and above all the most deluxe, meaty mac-daddy morsel known to man: beef tenderloin. For those who missed Alton’s first outing on this subject, he recaps his advice: buy a “pismo” (peeled, side meat on) intact and butcher it yourself. Remove all the silverskin, and use a long carver to cut this meat. High temperature dry heat brings out the best flavors, as demonstrated by Alton’s Steak au Poivre recipe. Suddenly a voice interrupts Alton’s discourse. It seems the boat he’s on doesn’t really belong to him and the salesperson’s going to call security! Ah, well – at least Alton has... Good Eats!

Back in the kitchen, Alton still has the head roast and the chain meat. He center cuts the roast to about a pound and a half, then prepares it with a rub of salt, pepper and cumin. Sometime around the beginning of the nineteenth century, Vicomte François-René Chateaubriand’s personal chef developed a recipe that came to be made from this cut of the tenderloin, wrapped in lesser cuts to keep it moist (these were fed to the dogs). That became the eponymous chateaubriand steak. Eventually, it changed still further, when bacon replaced to lesser steak cuts and it evolved to a single serving portion: the filet mignon.

Having rolled his roast in spices, Alton lets it rest until it reaches room temperature – a half-hour or even a full hour. For those concerned that this leaves it too long in the bacterial zone, Alton offers reassurance: the meat was packaged in tightly wrapped plastic and has just been salted. Both discourage bacterial growth. The salt also pulls water soluble proteins to the surface of the meet, enhancing browning.

While he waits for the meat Alton steps into his grill. Well, into a giant mockup anyway. With it he demonstrates the three kinds of heat. Direct heat occurs where the grill bars touch the meat and is responsible for the classic grill pattern. Radiant heat travels from the charcoal through the openings in the grill. And convection occurs when air heated by the coals rises and transfers heat to the food. Alton steps out of the grill.

As the show returns from commercial Alton plays with a tiny camera, inspecting his teeth. Quickly recovering, he shows how a grill pan can replace a grill. It has raised ridges for contact heat and spaces between them for radiant heat. Alton prefers a cast iron pan with sharply defined ridges and low sides (high sides make moving the food harder). He also prefers a square shape and a detachable handle. The cook can remove the handle when the grill goes in the oven to prevent it from getting hot, then reattach it later.

Alton starts by loading his pan with heat: five to seven minutes worth. Then he dusts it with kosher salt. The salt won’t burn (it’s a rock after all) and tends to collect drippings making the grill easier to clean. Alton next oils his roast and sets it at one edge of the pan (this is where the square shape is handy). He gently rolls it from one side of the pan to the other. It will sear completely on the outside. Then he takes the meat off the grill and cools it ten to fifteen minutes.

Cools it? Sure. The meat must finish in the oven but if it goes in there hot it will finish mostly medium and medium well, with only a tiny bit of medium rare in the middle. Letting it cool ensures that most of the roast will be medium rare, the right degree of doneness for this cut. Once the meat has cooled, Alton puts it back on the grill pan and slides the pan into the oven (removing its handle) to finish cooking. Alton pushes a probe thermometer into the center of the meat. The meat is done when the thermometer reads 135º. Alton removes it from the oven, wraps it in foil and allows it to cool for thirty minutes.

Cervantes once said that “hunger is the best sauce” and Alton agrees. But if one wants a sauce, then the best one might be one that’s actually inside the meat! Alton starts with a head roast and slices it like a book to create a pocket inside it. He coats it with salt, pepper and oil, and sears the outside. He lets that rest for fifteen minutes and then fills it with bleu cheese, rolls it up and ties it with kitchen twine (he prefers surgeon’s knots). Once it’s rolled, he puts it into a 450º oven until the center temperature reaches 125º, then removes it, covers it, and lets it roast for fifteen minutes before slicing it thinly to serve.

During the Italian Renaissance, painter Vitorre Carpaccio created a number of canvasses striking for their use of red. Centuries later these would inspire Giuseppi Cipriani to create a raw beef dish intended to capture that same red color. He called it beef carpaccio and Alton aims to recreate it here. But his legal team has other ideas. They force him to read a cumbersome disclaimer suggesting that consumption of raw beef can cause health problems and this dish should never be eaten or served... Alton rebels, telling people that if they buy beef from a reliable vendor it will be safe to serve... Suddenly, the lawyers tackle Alton and a test pattern appears briefly. When the picture returns one lawyer holds a pen to Alton’s throat as Alton, battered and bleeding, recants his own opinion and returns to the official legal one. (At the bottom of the screen, a crawler advises that this was a “Professional stunt cook in closed kitchen. No real cooks were harmed during the making of this scene.”) For those concerned about the bacteria, Alton offers this alternative to the traditional recipe: sear the meat all around for just a little while, and then immediately pop it back into the freezer to halt the cooking process. That will kill any bacteria on the outside of the beef.

Alton stands and viewers can see his crossed fingers. He intends to make carpaccio the traditional way. He starts with a half pound or so from the tip end of the tenderloin and wraps this in plastic. That goes in the freezer for just about two hours. This is long enough to firm it up without freezing it solid. With the meat this firm, Alton easily slices it wafer thin and arranges five slices in a kind of rosette on plastic. He puts plastic on top, spritzing every surface with water, then lays a pie plate over the meat and pounds it paper thin with a meat mallet. That can be eaten as is or refrigerated for later. Alton slides his plate in the chill chest and dusts it with kosher salt, pepper, sprinkles it with lemon juice and a little shaved parmesan cheese. He’s just about to enjoy his treat when the lawyers find him, haul him off, and take his carpaccio into custody.

Finally, Alton’s on a beach in the early hours. There he relates a story from 1930 Philadelphia and a sandwich shop whose proprietor wanted a sandwich. He didn’t want to eat what he planned to sell, so he chopped some bits he had lying around and threw them on the grill. Then he put that on a hoagie roll. Supposedly a cabbie came by and asked to try the new sandwich. He found it tastier than the regular fare and told the owner so. That event marked the birth of the Philly steak sandwich (it wouldn’t be until 1948 that cheese was added).

Alton starts with his chain meat (remember that?) and pounds it until it evenly thick. Then he tosses that with some olive oil, salt, and pepper and grills it on a very hot grill pan, giving it a good sear. When it’s seared he flips it and sears the other side – about eight minutes. He wraps that up tightly and lets it rest to trap juices and soften connective tissue. While that’s going on, Alton throws a little more oil and a chopped onion onto the heat, grilling until the onion is soft and barely brown. Then Alton takes the meat out and chops it finely (he uses a pair of cleavers). Meat, onions and cheese (if you like) all go onto a hoagie roll until the roll is packed full.

Alton says that while tenderloin is expensive, if one buys smart and eats every bite it’s a delicacy one just can’t afford to live without. Then he grabs a fishing pole and heads off to catch a sturgeon for the show on caviar...

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