The best way to trim a beef tenderloin: A Step-by-Step Information
8 min read
For those who’re planning to serve a tenderloin roast or filet steaks for an important day or wish to study a brand new culinary ability, you’ve come to the appropriate place. We’ll stroll you thru the steps and supply some tips about easy methods to trim beef tenderloin completely each time. So, seize your knife, and let’s get began!

With regards to our favourite money-saving hack for the vacations, there’s nothing higher than shopping for a complete minimize of beef and trimming it your self. As one of the vital standard cuts for particular events and the vacations, together with being essentially the most tender muscle, a tenderloin roast can also be constantly one of the vital costly cuts of beef. And we’re breaking down easy methods to trim a beef tenderloin from begin to end.
Trimming a beef tenderloin could appear intimidating at first, however with a little bit of observe and the appropriate instruments, it’s fairly simple. Not solely does trimming your personal tenderloin lower your expenses on costly cuts like filet mignon and chateaubriand, however it’s additionally a good way to ensure an exquisite look and even cooking.

Lower Information: beef tenderloin
The tenderloin is an unimaginable lean minimize of meat that advantages from mild dealing with, professional cooking, and being paired with a scrumptious sauce. It has minimal marbling no matter grade. And as a consequence of its place on the highest portion of the again of the cow, it’s the least labored muscle on the animal, leading to it being essentially the most tender minimize.
The place to purchase a complete beef tenderloin
We are able to discover prime-grade complete beef tenderloin at Costco all 12 months lengthy however typically solely discover it across the holidays at our native grocery shops within the refrigerated meat case. It’s wet-aged and packed in plastic, known as Cryovac, which extends the shelf life.
Nonetheless, if we wish an exquisite total tenderloin every other time of the 12 months or desire a completely different grade, we order it instantly from an area butcher store or on-line from varied on-line purveyors. Need assistance figuring out the place to purchase meat on-line? Take a look at our information for our favourite locations to order meat on-line.
How a lot does a complete beef tenderloin value?
Costs are inclined to vary from $14.98 for Option to over $20 per pound for Prime and costs exceeding XX for beef labeled natural on the time of publication. For particular person filet mignon steaks, we noticed costs from $11.99 to $30 per pound relying on grade, with particular person steaks coming in round 1/2 a pound every.
The tenderloin within the step-by-step photographs under was a selection complete beef tenderloin from WildForkFoods that we had been capable of trim into 11 steaks.

Lively Time
35 minutes
Complete Time
35 minutes
Supplies
- 1 Complete Beef Tenderloin, round 6 kilos
Instruments
- Versatile sharp filet knife
- slicing board
- Lower resistant gloves
- Paper towels
- Butchers Twine
Directions
Collect the mandatory instruments
- Step one is to rearrange a clear work floor with a big slicing board and a really sharp knife. We love this flexible boning knife for trimming meat.
- We additionally advocate butcher’s twine and a pair of cut-resistant gloves—this helps to attenuate any likelihood of scrapes when dealing with meat and slicing it.
Pat it dry
- Begin by eradicating the total beef tenderloin from the packing and patting the meat dry with paper towels. This may assist you to deal with it higher.
- Prepare it on the slicing board so you’ll be able to simply maneuver it.
Take away the chain
- The primary minimize shall be to drag again the lengthy piece of meat working alongside the aspect muscle of the tenderloin, referred to as the ‘chain.’ It pulls again simply, exposing a pure seam to comply with.
- Then, working in mild brief, swift cuts along with your filet knife, separate this from the entire tenderloin and set it apart.
Take away the connective tissue, arduous fats, and silver pores and skin
- Subsequent, trim extra arduous fats over the roast with out slicing deep into the meat.
- Then, rigorously take away the lengthy strip of silver pores and skin that runs alongside your complete size. Do that by gently sliding the knife tip below the silver pores and skin and pulling up gently whereas additionally sliding alongside the silver pores and skin. This helps it to come back off simply with out eradicating any extra meat.
- Take the time to trim off any extra fats rigorously.
- With a paper towel, run your hand the size of the tenderloin to scrub off extra bits and clean out the uncovered floor, leaving a pleasant, even, clear floor of the meat.
Trim the butt finish and tail finish
- At this level, you could possibly cease and fold the small finish, referred to as the tail, up and safe it with butcher’s twine each one or so inches alongside the tenderloin to the thick finish, creating a good thickness for the entire beef tenderloin roast, good for grilling or roasting.
- Or, you’ll be able to proceed to divide the entire tenderloin for extra number of cuts, as described in our subsequent step. Carve into beef tenderloin center-cut beef tenderloin roast or filets
Carve into beef tenderloin center-cut beef tenderloin roast or filets
- Carve into beef tenderloin center-cut beef tenderloin roast or filets.
- Merely minimize off the bigger butt finish and tapered finish for a good roast, referred to as the center-cut beef tenderloin roast or the chateaubriand. It’s the prized, most tender, and best minimize for roasting as a consequence of its form and dimension and normally weighs between 2 to three kilos.
- Alternatively, it can be sliced into 1 1/2 to 2″ thick steaks, referred to as tournedos.
- Each the butt finish and tail finish may be minimize into even thicknesses and tied to create particular person tenderloin steaks. We intention for steaks about 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick.
- The tail finish of the tenderloin, essentially the most tender finish, may be minimize into particular person filet mignon steaks or smaller tenderloin ideas and tied off with kitchen twine to safe them.
- Earlier than discarding the chain, look to take away any giant items of meat. These scraps are good for different quick-cooking beef recipes. We label and vacuum seal our trimmings for different makes use of later.
Prepare dinner the Tenderloin:
- Now that you’ve got expertly trimmed the entire tenderloin, you’re able to prepare dinner it along with your most popular technique, like sous vide, grilling, smoking, oven roasting, or pan searing. See our listing of really helpful recipes within the full publish.
- To completely prepare dinner your beef tenderloin, use a digital meat thermometer to make sure that the meat has been cooked to your required inner temperature. We advocate medium uncommon 135 levels F for the tenderloin to assist retain its well-known ‘minimize’s with a fork‘ texture.
Notes
We instantly place something we aren’t going to prepare dinner in baggage and vacuum seal them to take away the air. We then date the baggage, label them, and retailer them within the freezer for as much as 3 months. We use these later for stew meat or different fast dinner recipes.
Lady Carnivore Professional Tip
When working with smaller items, tie them collectively to type one steak of uniform thickness. Merely form them along with your hand to appear to be a complete filet, rolling the perimeters as wanted. Then safe the meat alongside the perimeter with a size of twine.
It’s a good way to get much more bang on your buck with this costly minimize of meat.

Why trim your personal complete tenderloin?
There are important advantages to purchasing a complete tenderloin and trimming it your self:
- It’s inexpensive per pound than shopping for particular person steaks. And in case you watch the advertisements across the holidays, it’s the most effective worth for cash to fill up and save rather a lot!
- As a result of you’ve gotten the entire tenderloin, you get extra choices; from carving your personal filet steaks to roasts, you’ll be able to normally get two to a few recipes (relying on how many individuals you’re serving) from one complete tenderloin.
- You recognize what you’re getting. There are not any surprises below the label, like steaks being uneven or one being extra petite than the others. As a result of you should have trimmed this your self, you’re assured even steaks, which suggests even cooking time.
- You are feeling like a star chef along with your newfound meat-trimming expertise (Okay, this can be a bonus, however take it).

Our favourite beef tenderloin recipes:
FAQs
Beef tenderloin has a really gentle beef taste, regardless of being very tender. It pairs nicely with wealthy sauces like peppercorn sauce, purple wine pan sauce, or horseradish sauce. And for aspect dishes to serve with beef tenderloin, go for wealthy dishes like steakhouse creamed spinach, smoked baked potatoes, or jalapeno mac and cheese.
As soon as trimmed, you’ll be able to seal every minimize in vacuum baggage, label them and retailer them within the freezer for as much as 3 months.
Except you wish to prepare dinner your tenderloin complete, we don’t advocate freezing your complete factor, as you’ll then should prepare dinner all of it as soon as thawed to not lose texture and high quality by refreezing leftover cuts.
Nonetheless, in case you aren’t able to trim your tenderloin simply but, examine the date on the Cryovac seal as they typically have an extended shelf life saved within the fridge.
As soon as cooked, beef tenderloin lasts 3 to 4 days within the fridge.
Within the freezer, particular person cuts, correctly vacuum sealed, with all air eliminated, can last as long as 3 months (however we’ve been identified to stretch it to five typically in a well-sealed freezer with out lack of high quality).
Beef tenderloin suffers from being overcooked. As a result of it’s naturally a lean minimize, there’s minimal fats to maintain it succulent if cooked previous medium uncommon.
We advocate cooking with plenty of butter and aromatics, in addition to utilizing an instant-read thermometer to verify it’s cooked completely.
What are some inventive methods to make use of leftover beef tenderloin?
Listed below are 5 scrumptious methods to make use of up leftover beef tenderloin:
1. Slice leftover beef tenderloin skinny for crostinis
2. Sear steak ideas for steak bites
3. Use skinny slices of leftover tenderloin for sandwiches or wraps
4. Finely chop leftovers up for tacky scrambled eggs
5. Cube it up for fast stir fry or tossed salads.

With regards to saving cash, shopping for a complete tenderloin and trimming it your self is a good way to have extra management over the tip product and revel in the most effective roast or steaks!
Trimming a complete beef tenderloin takes a little bit of observe the primary time, however the effort simply pays for itself. On the finish of the day, you should have an expertly cooked tender piece of meat on the heart of your plate. With a bit observe, it is possible for you to to trim a beef tenderloin like a professional!
Did you discover this information useful? Drop a remark under telling us what you cooked when you mastered trimming your personal tenderloin.