Whole Beef Tenderloins

[Loquitur]

Here is a picture of the three whole beef tenderloins just taken off the KK which my sister asked me to cook for a holiday party she held yesterday. This was the first time for me cooking this cut of meat and I was a little nervous about it but the KK did the lion's share of the work and it came out beautifully. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a picture of the roasts sliced and plated, which I did at my sister's house, but it was the hit of the party. I trimmed them, cut each one into 2 roasts, a larger one and a smaller one, tied them, seasoned them simply with salt and pepper and a slathering of olive oil and seared them at 500 on the sear grill for 90 secs per side on each of four sides doing three of the six at a time. Then I stabilized the KK at 400 and roasted the three smaller roasts on the inverted sear grill near the dome with the three larger roasts on the main grill under them. Since I fried my 4 Stoker probes cooking my Thanksgiving turkey, I used my ET-732 but the temps were way off. I set the temp probe on the upper grill, so it was near the Tru Tel, and the food probe in the smallest roast on the upper grill. The grill temp was reading about 60 deg higher than the Tru Tel and the food probe was reading 20 deg higher than both my Thermapens, which were measuring exactly the same. The ET 732 was telling me the roast was at 120 deg after being on for only five minutes and it was actually 98 deg at the time!! But I sat with the KK during the whole cook and starting checking after 15 minutes. The smaller roasts took about 20 min and the larger ones about 25 min. I'll have to check if the ET 732 probes can be calibrated. They weren't reading crazy high like mine have in the past when they are fried but they definitely weren't right. This is a highly recommended cook - easy, quick and impressive!!!

[primeats]

Re: Whole Beef Tenderloin

I cook many of these, on the grill and in the oven at 450 degrees, you not only nailed it, but your tying job looks first rate! Need a job for the holidays? We sell about 500 of these now through New Years!

[mguerra]

Re: Whole Beef Tenderloin

I really wanted to like my ET-732.

But I think my probes are way off, too.

I'll test them in a boiling water bath.

[Loquitur]

Re: Whole Beef Tenderloin

Thank you, David - that's high praise indeed! You wouldn't want me after I told you it took me two hours to trim and tie those three roasts!! But it was fun and I really enjoyed doing it.

Doc - don't waste your time. I did some online research and apparently it is a common problem for the ET-732 to work a couple of times and then the probes short out and start reading read way too high. Maverick says its from exposure to excessive heat or moisture but I don't think anything like that happened to my probes. Maverick sells replacement probes for $12.00 each but I'm not going to bother if I'm only going to be able to use them a couple of times. I sent an email this AM to Thermoworks to ask whether they have plans for a similar product. Some of the single probe remote wireless thermometers are pretty inexpensive these days, like from Oregon Scientific and Taylor, and I'm considering buying two of them, one to use in the food and one in the grill for the pit temp. Do you still like the one you have from Oregon Scientific?

Susan

[quedog]

Re: Whole Beef Tenderloin

I have an Oregon Scientific AW131 wireless thermometer that the misses gave me for father's day. It's a single probe unit that talks to you. I have been real happy with it. I can roam all over the house and the receiver doesn't lose signal. I would prefer one with dual probes, but this one is easy to use and it has worked well so far. They are about $40 from Amazon.

If you guys are like me you know you have the perfect cooker in the KK, but you are still searching for the perfect probe thermometer. Most of them don't perform don't perform all that well and seem to have a short life cycle.

[slu]

Re: Whole Beef Tenderloin

Does the new Oregon Scientific fit through the silicone probe hole? They redesigned the probe; I believe it now uncouples from the cord. Just wondering if it fits. My AW 129 has been very consistent, about 3 degrees variance from the Thermapen.

Loquitur, those filets look magnificent!!

[quedog]

Re: Whole Beef Tenderloin

Mine fits through the KK probe port fine. The silicon plug that came with my KK has a slit in it so the thick part of the probe doesn't actually have to fit through the plug. You can slide the plug onto the cable after the probe has already been run through the port.

[mguerra]

Re: Whole Beef Tenderloin

A while back I was in contact w Thermoworks about making a high quality version of a two probe thermometer like the ET-73

We even had a poll going here about the price point people would accept. I kinda dropped the ball on that and we never came to a conclusion. Maybe I will reopen that conversation with them.

I'm a proponent of the AW-131, even though it is a single probe unit. Although I often use a Guru or Stoker with their two probes, it's not necessary on shorter cooks. It's easy enough to just monitor your meat with the AW and set your fire with your vents and your TruTel. One thing I have found is that for roasting almost any meat, accurate fire temp control is just not necessary for an indirect cook. Any temp between 300 and 500 will roast almost anything. I do prefer the pork butts to go between 200 and 300. I laugh now when I think of my first pork butt cook! I got the KK that day, put on a Boston Butt, and absolutely freaked when my temps climbed to 240 from 225!!!! I was out there nudging the vents a millimeter or two for hours, trying to keep the temp down. Only later experience would teach me that was completely unnecessary. Same thing for grilling, there is no need for accurate fire temperature control. And in fact it would be almost impossible to measure. You would want the temp at the grate, not up in the dome, but most probes can't survive grilling temps at the grate. Grilling just needs a good hot fire. And you can see that with your eyes. Of course your meat probe will be subject to that same hot fire, but you can insert it from the top and be creative in routing it from the probe hole in a way to avoid direct, hot, flame exposure. You can grill up high on the main grill, as well, and that limits your meat probe exposure compared to grilling down close to the fire. Grilling up high takes more time and fuel but works beautifully.

This is my long winded explanation as to why a single probe can work for a lot of, but not all, cooks. If you need two probes, you can use two AW-131's, or a Guru, or a Stoker, or various others like the ET-73.

For a long cook when you will be away for a while, I really rely on the Stoker or Guru to keep the fire regulated.

[slu]

Re: Whole Beef Tenderloin

Damn Doc, I hope you don't use all those probes at once; it would be way too much to monitor! Have you ever had a guru or stoker alert at the office? On a serious note, it would be nice to have a high quality unit with two probes. I don't use a stoker or guru since I monitor the KK visually. My AW 129 has worked superbly, but I do have to change the probe annually.

[Loquitur]

Re: Whole Beef Tenderloin

The wireless remote thermometers are really helpful to me because my KK is not conveniently located and its often a hassle for me to have to check on it. I have a rambling old house (two houses merged into one) on a small corner lot in a village with only one possible location for a patio. And, both my kitchens are located a lloonngg way from it. I love my Stoker but don't use it unless I'm doing a really big cook. I had high hopes for the ET-732 and it worked well the 2 or 3 times I used it until I did the tenderloins. I think I'll have Santa bring me an Oregon Scientific single probe and continue to use the pit probe of the ET-732, even if its reading 50 deg too high. What I really want to know with the pit probe for these cooks is whether there has been a change requiring me to attend to the KK, primarily before it gets heat soaked at my target temp. I just use my thermapen for grilling, which is the majority of my use of the KK.

Slu and quedog - what kind of plug do you guys have for the probe hole? Can somebody post a picture of it?

Susan

[slu]

Re: Whole Beef Tenderloin

It's a silicone plug with a small slit in it and comes with the KK; I'll shoot a photo later today.

[Loquitur]

Re: Whole Beef Tenderloins I was recruited by my sister to do tenderloins on the KK for her annual Christmas party again. It was a smaller group so I only had to do two of them and I had the good sense to do some research and have her buy "peeled" tenderloins. Last year she bought "trimmed" tenderloins and I had to spend about two hours I didn't expect trimming them. All I had to do with these was trim for a minute or two and tie them. I did them exactly the same as last year, described in the first post of this thread. They took a little less time since they were slightly smaller - about 18 min for the smaller ones and 22 for the larger at 400 after a 90 sec sear per side at 500 on the low handles of the sear grill. I pulled them off the KK at 120 to 122 and they were a perfect medium rare. After slicing them, I turned to get my camera but somebody grabbed the platter and once it was put on the table I couldn't get near it. So this is the only shot I have. It is such a easy yet spectacular cook - certainly one of the very best uses of the KK.

[teddysurf]

Re: Whole Beef Tenderloins

I've made these a couple of times and the really do come out fantastic. I add a little smoke wood and monitor with the Oregon Scientific single probe, shooting for rare (my wife has worked me from the high end of med-rare all the way to down-right RARE!) This is some of the best pure beef you'll cook ... and eat!

[Loquitur]

Re: Whole Beef Tenderloins

Teddysurf: What temp is your Oregon Scientific reading when you remove the tenderloin from the KK for rare? I would prefer it more rare if I were cooking just for myself and my husband but think medium rare is a better choice for a group. Since I'm usually only cooking for two I don't do many large beef cuts and don't have much experience with the carryover cooking time, which I assume is longer in a roast than it would be for steaks or burgers.

[dub]

Re: Whole Beef Tenderloins(Thermo

My experience with Mavericks was the ET7 back when.

Total POS,even with the extra heavy duty probes.

Any temp probe will benefit from a liberal schmear of

silicone at the probe-cable joint. Permatex Black works great.

Water down in there will cause funky readings.

dub(lovin my cheapy Taylors muchly)

[teddysurf]

Re: Whole Beef Tenderloins

Loquitur, I agree that med-rare is the preferred target with almost any group.

When I'm aiming for rare, I pull our beef tenderloin off at 125[sup:1lgg1jj8]o[/sup:1lgg1jj8]F, and after a short rest it ends up great. I don't think there's much carryover cooking given that it's pulled off the heat at such a low temp. Like you, I'm also generally cooking for 2 since my teenage daughter is an opportunistic vegetarian (I know ... quite embarrassing to admit on this forum ) so cooking such a large piece of prime beef is reserved for those occasions where we're confident that the leftovers will be enjoyed.