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Filet mignon is a tender but not very flavorful cut of meat from the cow’s lower back. Stuffed beef tenderloin can add flavor, and Rachel Ray suggests cutting the meat lengthwise to create folds for filling. Other recipes use ingredients such as blue cheese or shrimp. Chefs can also stuff already sliced filet mignon.
Fine filet mignon steaks are cut from a cut of meat known as a tenderloin, located in the prime loin and sirloin sections of a cow’s lower back. While it’s widely considered the most tender cut due to its location in an under-processed section of the upper ribs, it’s also not the most flavorful cut of meat due to its general lack of fat and connective tissue. Some counter this lack of juiciness by making a stuffed beef tenderloin chock full of a medley of complementary ingredients such as other meats, vegetables, stuffings, rice, herbs, and cheese.
When preparing a stuffed beef tenderloin or even the cheaper pork alternative, it can seem like a daunting task at first to create the necessary folds within the final product. According to celebrity chef Rachel Ray, a good technique is to cut the meat lengthwise, almost but not completely. This is done after a first sear in a hot, oiled pan. Then, after opening the two halves like a book, the chef cuts each side from the spine outward, again, cutting nearly but not all the way through each half.
These cuts create four connected strips of tenderloin, with three folds to hold the filling. Ray uses a simple mixture of fried bacon, breadcrumbs, thyme and parsley soaking stock made by stripping the pan where the tenderloin was seared and adding just a little butter and water to clean the pan of its drippings. After spreading the filling into the folds of the meat, the now-stuffed beef tenderloin is rewrapped, tied with twine, and cooked at 425°F (or 218°C) for about 25 minutes per pound. The internal temperature for a medium-rare stuffed beef tenderloin, Ray reports, is 120°F (about 50°C).
Some versions of stuffed beef tenderloin are not quite as standardized. A recipe on Betty Crocker’s website includes a filling of butter, breadcrumbs, mushrooms, wine, beef stock, parsley and blue cheese. Several other stuffed filets take on a surf and turf vibe, using shrimp or lobster in the filling.
Chefs don’t need a full tenderloin to stuff this meat full of extra goodness, though. Food Network Chef Robert Irvine’s Szechuan Tenderloin is stuffed with a signature blend of cooked duck meat, ginger soy sauce, hoisin sauce, and shallots. Instead of stuffing it into a tenderloin, however, Irvine advises cooks to make large slits in the already sliced filet mignon and cram as much stuffing in as the space will fit.
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