Meat Fabrication: Beef Tenderloin

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!