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Started By
Message
Meat Fabrication: Beef Tenderloin
Posted on 2/20/21 at 7:42 pm
Posted on 2/20/21 at 7:42 pm
Special occasion tonight called for a trip to the market for a whole beef tenderloin. Thought this would be a good opportunity to share my process. This one weighed 6.62 pounds, pre-trim.
Fist let's identify the three muscles that make up a whole beef tenderloin. They are the psoas major(tenderloin), psoas minor(chain), and iliacus(butt).
Tenderloin with chain running along the entire length and butt just below. Small pile of trim. Tail squared off.
The first task when breaking down a whole beef tenderloin is to remove all of the fascia and excess fat from the entire loin. I also trim part of the chain (psoas minor). There is a good bit of palatable lean from the chain near the head of the tenderloin that is usable product.
Peeled tenderloin with usable portion of chain in tact and unusable chain removed.
Tenderloin with butt laid out and knife pointing towards usable portion of chain.
Next I like to square up the head and butt. You may notice my pile of trim is growing. Save all of your lean trimmings for stir fry, steak sandwiches, or another use.
Squared up to create even steaks.
I can usually get two steaks from the head portion of the tenderloin using butcher twine.
Tied off steak portion
Repeat the process. The knife tip is pointing towards a portion of the chain that needs to be removed because it is too small to tie up. You can also see the first steak near the blade edge of the knife.
Typically I get 8 x 8oz steaks out of a tenderloin. I am a bit out of practice so the second steak was closer to 10oz. Now it is just a matter of cutting cross sections of beef tenderloin.
The tenderloin tapers off a bit as you work from the head towards the tail. The last steak I cut requires a little bit of finesse and manipulation. Here is the tail section I am referring to, squared off.
After squaring every thing up, I make an incision almost all the way thought the meat, stopping about 1/8" before cutting it in half.
Now double it up and tie it off. Another 8oz steak for service.
The finished product. Seven steaks in total and 16oz of trim. Like I said, I'm a bit rusty and ended up with one less steak than normal due to inaccurate cutting. I ended up with one 12oz, two 10oz, one 9oz, two 8oz, and one 7oz steak.
Cheers!
Fist let's identify the three muscles that make up a whole beef tenderloin. They are the psoas major(tenderloin), psoas minor(chain), and iliacus(butt).
Tenderloin with chain running along the entire length and butt just below. Small pile of trim. Tail squared off.
The first task when breaking down a whole beef tenderloin is to remove all of the fascia and excess fat from the entire loin. I also trim part of the chain (psoas minor). There is a good bit of palatable lean from the chain near the head of the tenderloin that is usable product.
Peeled tenderloin with usable portion of chain in tact and unusable chain removed.
Tenderloin with butt laid out and knife pointing towards usable portion of chain.
Next I like to square up the head and butt. You may notice my pile of trim is growing. Save all of your lean trimmings for stir fry, steak sandwiches, or another use.
Squared up to create even steaks.
I can usually get two steaks from the head portion of the tenderloin using butcher twine.
Tied off steak portion
Repeat the process. The knife tip is pointing towards a portion of the chain that needs to be removed because it is too small to tie up. You can also see the first steak near the blade edge of the knife.
Typically I get 8 x 8oz steaks out of a tenderloin. I am a bit out of practice so the second steak was closer to 10oz. Now it is just a matter of cutting cross sections of beef tenderloin.
The tenderloin tapers off a bit as you work from the head towards the tail. The last steak I cut requires a little bit of finesse and manipulation. Here is the tail section I am referring to, squared off.
After squaring every thing up, I make an incision almost all the way thought the meat, stopping about 1/8" before cutting it in half.
Now double it up and tie it off. Another 8oz steak for service.
The finished product. Seven steaks in total and 16oz of trim. Like I said, I'm a bit rusty and ended up with one less steak than normal due to inaccurate cutting. I ended up with one 12oz, two 10oz, one 9oz, two 8oz, and one 7oz steak.
Cheers!
Posted on 2/20/21 at 7:46 pm to BigDropper
Well done. Looks great
Also, penis
Also, penis
Posted on 2/20/21 at 7:55 pm to Sun God
quote:
penis
Automatic upvote
Posted on 2/20/21 at 7:59 pm to BigDropper
Well done! Where do you buy your tenderloins?
Posted on 2/20/21 at 9:58 pm to psimmo1
Kroger, Sam's, Corner's Edge Butcher Shoppe, The Meat House...
Posted on 2/20/21 at 10:37 pm to BigDropper
No disrespect but your total steaks ended up being 4 pounds. You had a 6+ lb filet. You butchered it and took out every ounce of marble on it. Even the best filet is left with a flight bit of marble for flavor. I hope they were great because you just paid $40-50 a lb for steak. It was actually sad to watch.
Posted on 2/20/21 at 10:39 pm to Lsudx256
You need to read up on marbling.
This post was edited on 2/21/21 at 12:02 pm
Posted on 2/20/21 at 10:42 pm to Lsudx256
You just wasted 6 lines of copy to inform everyone that you don’t know what marbling is, and it was all done to be an internet dick. Gratz!
Posted on 2/21/21 at 8:03 am to Lsudx256
quote:
No disrespect
None taken, but allow me to educate you on something you said that was completely misinformed.
quote:
You had a 6+ lb filet. You butchered it and took out every ounce of marble on it
When it comes to beef grading, there are two types of fat, intermuscular fat (fat between muscle groups, seam fat) and intramuscular fat (fat within the meat, marbling). Beef tenderloin is one of the leanest cuts on the cow & has very little (if any) intramuscular fat. I'm not exactly sure how you perceived that I removed the marbling. This is by far the most egregious error of your post. Look closely, see those white lines? That's marbling. I didn't remove it.
quote:
I hope they were great because you just paid $40-50 a lb for steak.
I would love to see your calculations regarding how this figure considering the price per pound was $9.99/# or about $70 total.
quote:
It was actually sad to watch
Care to share your expert process with us, lil' fella?
This post was edited on 2/21/21 at 8:08 am
Posted on 2/21/21 at 8:20 am to BigDropper
Good looking steaks, I'll take mine Pittsburgh rare!
Posted on 2/21/21 at 8:56 am to BigDropper
I watched a buddy of mine use those trimmings to make filets, he wrapped them in bacon and stuck a skewer through them.
Posted on 2/21/21 at 8:58 am to BigDropper
Thanks for the tutorial, looks great!
Posted on 2/21/21 at 11:14 am to BigDropper
I will admit when I was wrong. I appreciate the education.
Posted on 2/21/21 at 11:38 am to BigDropper
Never frick with a butcher. You won't be recognizable as a human when they are done with you.
Posted on 2/21/21 at 3:57 pm to Lsudx256
quote:
You butchered it and took out every ounce of marble on it.
Posted on 2/21/21 at 4:14 pm to BigDropper
Great tips, thanks for that. I never end up using the chain meat, I need to fix that. Steak sandwiches sound good. I have never cut one into steaks always have just grilled whole seasoned with very course salt and pepper, then sliced. Appreciate the time you took to explain and especially the pictures.
This post was edited on 2/21/21 at 4:15 pm
Posted on 2/21/21 at 4:19 pm to BigDropper
I butchered a 7.6# one from Rouses last week. Got 12 1-1/2" steaks that ranged from 4-7oz each plus at least a pound of trimmings for $61. I trimmed off 22oz of fat and silver skin.
Posted on 2/22/21 at 6:34 pm to Trout Bandit
What do you do with the extra trimmings? Could you grind it up chain and all and make burgers?
This post was edited on 2/22/21 at 6:46 pm
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