Beef tenderloin

A beef tenderloin, known as an eye fillet in Australasia, fillet in South Africa and the UK, filet in France and Germany, is cut from the loin of beef.

Description

As with all quadrupeds, the tenderloin refers to the psoas major muscle ventral to the transverse processes of the lumbar vertebrae, near the kidneys.

The tenderloin is an oblong shape spanning two primal cuts: the short loin (called the sirloin in Commonwealth countries) and the sirloin (called the rump in Commonwealth countries). The tenderloin sits beneath the ribs, next to the backbone. It has two ends: the butt and the "tail". The smaller, pointed end — the "tail" — starts a little past the ribs, growing in thickness until it ends in the "sirloin" primal cut, which is closer to the butt of the cow. This muscle does very little work, so it is the most tender part of the beef. The tenderloin can be cut for either roasts or steaks.

Processing and preparation

Whole tenderloins are sold as either "unpeeled" (meaning the fat and silver skin remain), "peeled" (meaning that the fat is removed, but silver skin remains), or as PSMOs ("pismos"), which is short for peeled, silver skin removed, and side muscle (the "chain") left on. While the most expensive option pound-for-pound, PSMOs offer considerable savings over other tenderloin options as they require little handling by the chef, since the fat and trimmings have already been removed. How to trim the silver skin can be learnt by home cooks quite easily, but trimming a tenderloin is a job best done by experts. Inexperienced meat cutters can damage the steaks by reducing the yield or worsening the visual presentation. Since it is the tenderest part of the animal, beef dishes requiring exceptionally tender meat, such as steak tartare, are ideally made from the tenderloin.

Tenderloin

Tenderloin may refer to:

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Pork tenderloin

The pork tenderloin, in some countries called pork fillet, is a cut of pork. It is often sold as prepackaged products by large grocery stores. They are available plain (not seasoned) and flavored with a marinade.

As with all quadrupeds, the tenderloin refers to the psoas major muscle along the central spine portion, ventral to the lumbar vertebrae. This is the most tender part of the animal, because these muscles are used for posture, rather than locomotion.

Uses

A pork tenderloin sandwich (also called simply a "tenderloin") is a very thinly sliced piece of pork, usually the larger, tougher loineye (longissimus) muscle, uniquely battered and breaded, which is deep fried and served on a hamburger bun. This is usually served with mustard, ketchup, pickle and onions. This sandwich is generally sold in the US Midwest, especially in the US state of Indiana. In the southern states of the US, tenderloin is often prepared as a breakfast biscuit, usually with egg or cheese. Pork tenderloin is often used as an alternative to beef tenderloin, as it is often just as tender but costs significantly less in most regions.

Beef

Beef is the culinary name for meat from bovines, especially cattle. Beef can be harvested from bulls, heifers or steers. Its acceptability as a food source varies in different parts of the world.

Beef muscle meat can be cut into roasts, short ribs or steak (filet mignon, sirloin steak, rump steak, rib steak, rib eye steak, hanger steak, etc.). Some cuts are processed (corned beef or beef jerky), and trimmings, usually mixed with meat from older, leaner cattle, are ground, minced or used in sausages. The blood is used in some varieties of blood sausage. Other parts that are eaten include the oxtail, liver, tongue, tripe from the reticulum or rumen, glands (particularly the pancreas and thymus, referred to as sweetbread), the heart, the brain (although forbidden where there is a danger of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, BSE), the kidneys, and the tender testicles of the bull (known in the United States as calf fries, prairie oysters, or Rocky Mountain oysters). Some intestines are cooked and eaten as-is, but are more often cleaned and used as natural sausage casings. The bones are used for making beef stock.

Filet mignon

Filet mignon (/ˌfiːleɪ ˈmiːnjɒ̃/;French for "tender fillet" or "dainty fillet") is a steak cut of beef taken from the smaller end of the tenderloin, or psoas major of the beef carcass, usually a steer or heifer. In French this cut can also be called filet de bœuf, which translates in English to beef fillet. When found on a menu in France, filet mignon generally refers to pork rather than beef.

The tenderloin (not to be confused with the short loin) runs along both sides of the spine, and is usually harvested as two long snake-shaped cuts of beef. The tenderloin is sometimes sold whole. When sliced along the short dimension, creating roughly round cuts, and tube cuts, the cuts (fillets) from the small forward end are considered to be filet mignon. Those from the center are tournedos; however, some butchers in the United States label all types of tenderloin steaks "filet mignon." In fact, the shape of the true filet mignon may be a hindrance when cooking, so most restaurants sell steaks from the wider end of the tenderloin - it is both cheaper and much more presentable.