seared hand - bad . . seared chateaubriand - good

mad max beyond eggdome

except for my seared fingers, excellent weekend of egging. . .[p]saturday night did the baked beans (that 'egg' pot of mine is developin a lovely golden patina) then italian sausages w/peppers and onions . . .threw the grill wok on the egg, initially threw the sausages right in the wok with the veggies for a leisurely cook at around 300 degrees. ..then pulled the sausages off and put them direct on the grill for about 15 - 20 minutes till they were just lovely in color. .. had some nice steak rolls for them. . ..yum . . .[p]yesterday, the safeway (actually for the last couple of weeks) had some whole cryo-packed tenderloins on sale for safeway club members. ..granted they were 'select' but man, the price was right. . .took it home, cut off the large end as a chateaubriand (probably about 2#), then cut the rest into nice 2 inch fillets for the future. . . have read a bunch of ways to cook that bad boy from the forum, then picked and choosed and tried it my way. . .[p]fired up the egg to 700+. . .put an old cast iron pizza pan directly on the grill in its normal position. . .let that get hot (funny though, temps refused to go any higher than about 600 at this point). . .took the meat (which had been generously bathed in olive oil, kosher salt and pepper) and put it on the red hot skillet, turning it over about every 30 seconds until it was browned on all sides . . .the skillet was so hot that the oil was flaming on contact w/ the skillet (here is where the seared and comes in, more on that later). . .once it was browned all around (no more than two total minutes. . .i removed the meat, put it on a plate, removed the skillet, and shut down the vents for 20 minutes to get the egg temp down (finally got it around 350). . .then put the skillet back on with the meat and let it cook for about 40 minutes, turned it over once, then with about 15 minutes to go, i took the skillet away and let the meat finish direct on the grill (by this time the coals had calmed way down) with one more turn halfway through. . . guys, it was to die for!!... served up with some baked spuds and a nice salad. . .[p]LESSONS LEARNED. . .use longer tongs and a glove next time. . .i was barehanded and using a standard short pair of kitchen tongs to turn it when it was searing. . got a couple of blistered finger tips as a result (hmmm, a little salt and pepper, and they might have made a nice appetizer). ..definitely will wear the asbestos fire suit next time i work in the egg at those temps. ...[p]if the flavor and tenderness was that good with a 'select' piece, can't imagine how much better it may be w/ choice or prime (although, i probably can't afford that for a whole tenderloin. . .however, now that i've bought one, i'll definitely buy them again when the price is so good. . .[p]all in all, another fine weekend of egging. ..[p]