APL Whole Beef Tenderloin

drdeal

My wife signed me up for the entree portion of a progressive dinner for 26 people. With that said, I’m doing 3 tenderloins via APL’s whole beef tenderloin recipe. Plan is to sear on one Egg and smoke them around 275° after. Each one is roughly 4.5 pounds. Any idea how long this should take to reach around 125° internal? I’m trying to map out the cook and having a hard time guesstimating the length of the cook. Thanks!

Legume

@JohnInCarolina probably has the most experience with this.  I’ve made it 3x, can’t recall the timing, but it’s a great recipe.

JohnInCarolina

All I remember is that it tends to take a bit longer than the recipe in APL’s book calls for.  I want to say you should plan on about an hour to 90 minutes.  

It’s a crowd pleaser for sure.  I recommend doing the board sauce with the herbs and everything if you can.  When you get the crust just right on this one it’s as good as it gets.  Smoke with post oak too.  

SonVolt

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Lowcountrygamecock

I love the recipes in the APL cook book but am I the only one that finds them a little hard to read?  I can’t remember which recipe off the top of my head but it read like it was missing a page but it wasn’t. Several recipes have ingredients in the list that are never mentioned in the instructions. Great recipes though and as far as timing I think 60-90 minutes sounds about right too but it’s been a year since we cooked one. 

slick_rick

Just did a little research on this recipe and I think I'm committing to giving this a go for Christmas day.

Looks like some really good comments here:

https://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1210685/serious-barbecue-adam-perry-lang-whole-beef-tenderloin-with-worcestershire-sauce

Lowcountrygamecock

slick_rick said:

Just did a little research on this recipe and I think I'm committing to giving this a go for Christmas day.

Looks like some really good comments here:

https://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1210685/serious-barbecue-adam-perry-lang-whole-beef-tenderloin-with-worcestershire-sauce

It’s a really good recipe. 

GrateEggspectations

Great recipe. 

Whenever I’m cooking for a crowd and timing is crucial, I tend to sous vide. If you have a unit, it’s a great way to keep the meat at the ready for a quick sear and then serve. 

SonVolt

Lowcountrygamecock said:

I love the recipes in the APL cook book but am I the only one that finds them a little hard to read?  I can’t remember which recipe off the top of my head but it read like it was missing a page but it wasn’t. Several recipes have ingredients in the list that are never mentioned in the instructions. Great recipes though and as far as timing I think 60-90 minutes sounds about right too but it’s been a year since we cooked one. 

I use his books more as a general guide book for outdoor coking. I don't make the unique/fussy rubs called for in each recipe, I just use my generic homemade seasoning (salt/pepper/onion/garlic/paprika) on everything.  Now, the herb-brush glazes, marinades and board sauces I will follow more closely. 

GrateEggspectations

Like I’ve said before, the first unofficial and unlisted step of many APL recipes I’ve consulted is taking the week off work to prep. I joke, but he is no doubt an incredible cook with a lot of phenomenal recipes. I just don’t like to have to make ribs, herb brushes and board dressings for all of my cooks. 

GrateEggspectations

Above should read “rubs”, not “ribs”.

NDG

Not to confuse things, but this tenderloin recipe is amazing - I posted it here a few times as I have used BGE I believe, but link to take a glance is here https://youtu.be/gVgq_bSOH2U 

JohnInCarolina

NDG said:

Not to confuse things, but this tenderloin recipe is amazing - I posted it here a few times as I have used BGE I believe, but link to take a glance is here https://youtu.be/gVgq_bSOH2U 

That does look good.  I bet you could do the roasting phase on the BGE and add a bit of smoke to it to put it over the top.

abpgwolf

I think this will be my fourth year making this recipe for Christmas. I like doing a reverse sear on the egg, mostly because it's easier to raise the temp of an egg than lower it. Low and slow until it reaches an internal temp of 118 to 119 and then crank up the egg and give it a good sear on all sides. This is always a crowd pleasing recipe! Good Luck and Merry Christmas!

SonVolt

GrateEggspectations said:

 I just don’t like to have to make herb brushes and board dressings for all of my cooks. 

Herb brush is easy, I just snip a few branches of Rosemary and tie it up with butcher's twine. The board dressing it just the herb brush minced up and mixed with the resting meat juices, and maybe a squeeze of lemon. 

Mark_B_Good

Here is my tenderloin thread:

Tenderloin — Big Green Egg - EGGhead Forum - The Ultimate Cooking Experience...

In short, high temp direct 500F to 600F, 3 min per side x 4 sides = 12 min. Then go indirect ... but not 275F, more around 375F ... takes less than 1h to get to 125F internal. My last few cooks were 50 minutes all in (excluding rest period) ... including rest 1h.

Note ... tenderloin is tender, but it lacks fat, so I find taste can be somewhat bland. It is super critical to build a nice crust ... which is why the initial high temp direct sear is necessary. You want a nicely seasoned outer crust. 

On my recent cooks, I have also injected my tenderloins with flavoring, to just enhance the taste of that inner meat. I have been mostly using honey, which I warm in the microwave to get liquid, then use my syringe to inject ... probably about 1/3rd cup to a 6 to 7 lb tenderloin. I normally pat dry the tenderloin, inject flavoring, then apply binder and seasoning. Let that sit overnight in the fridge ... it tastes amazing!

Legume

@Mark_B_Good How do you inject a tenderloin - lots of small injections all over? No real pockets or space for an injection to travel.

Have you flavored the honey at all?  This made me immediately think of infusing honey with rosemary.

Langner91

I cut them into steaks, wrap them in par-cooked bacon, and slap them on a screaming hot grill to get some good crust on both sides.  I can, using this method, insure each person gets a piece that is done to their desired level of done-ness.

Oh, a little S&P and a spritz of EVOO to help the crust.

Never a complaint.

Edit to add, the APL deal looks good, but I don't know that I am patient enough.  I like to eat!

Mark_B_Good

Legume said:

@Mark_B_Good How do you inject a tenderloin - lots of small injections all over? No real pockets or space for an injection to travel.

Have you flavored the honey at all?  This made me immediately think of infusing honey with rosemary.

Yeah, I probably put 1/5th ounce into each point (I'm assuming my needle is about 2 ounces ... and I make 8 to 10 injections with that full needle.  Probably 30 to 40 injections in total ... to get that honey spread through the meat. I do it really fast ... injection only takes me like 5 minutes to finish.

I haven't tried to infuse the honey ... that could be a great idea! You'd probably need to strain the rosemary out though, before injecting, as I imagine that would block the needle. The other idea is something in a powder form, like garlic powder ... or finely crushed herbs? Jeeze ... now you have me thinking ... Imagine chilli powder in there to give it a bit of bite!

Coincidentally, I am doing this exact meal tonight ... it's already prepped, so I will have to save the infused honey idea for the next one.  Cooking a 7.7 lb tenderloin ... can't wait.

slick_rick

Did this on Xmas day and it was a big hit! The flavor was great and overall not really too difficult. It was a tad spicy for some people, but my sister's Cajun mother-in-law loved it. 

mehsrea

Just did this for Christmas and it was awesome by all accounts. Just followed the recipe in the book (with a few of my own spice tweaks). Thought about injecting but didn’t. It didn’t need it.