Here’s a video demonstrating how to cut a Chateaubriand from a whole beef fillet, or beef tenderloin as the butcher in the video prefers to call it. Or ask your butcher to do it for you.

Ingredients

The chateaubriand cut of 1 whole beef fillet (the thickest part in the middle, trimmed of fat and sinew)

2 shallots or 1 medium red onion (where I live shallots are not available but use shallots if you can), chopped finely

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

6 Tbsp butter

1 glass dry red wine (an aged Bordeaux red, traditionally, but any full-bodied red will do)

1 cup beef stock (made with marrow bones if you’d like to push the boat out)

3 or 4 sprigs thyme

1 bay leaf

Coarse salt and black pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 200℃.

Follow the above video to trim a whole beef fillet down to a chateaubriand. As in the video, I also cut four fillet mignons from one end and kept the other offcuts for use in a later stew or stir fry.

Salt the chateaubriand well and refrigerate. Remove from the fridge two hours before cooking.

Melt 2 Tbsp butter in a skillet or grill pan with 2 Tbsp olive oil. On a relatively high heat (if it’s too low the meat will stew), brown the meat for three minute on all sides, which should require four browning sessions, 12 minutes in all.

Transfer to the preheated oven and roast for 15 minutes for medium rare, 20 for medium and 23 to 25 for medium-well done. The latter should retain at least a blush of pinkness at the centre.

Remove from the oven and cover with a “tent” foil. It should rest for 15 to 20 minutes.

Let’s step back a bit. While the beef is in the oven, make the red wine sauce. Sauté the chopped shallots (or red onion) gently in 2 Tbsp of the butter, with the thyme sprigs and bay leaf. After 15 minutes, add the red wine and reduce by half. Add the beef stock, salt and pepper and cook gently until its flavours have developed and it has reduced by half. Remove the bay leaf and thyme sprigs. Enrich the sauce by stirring in 2 Tbsp butter. Strain the sauce through a fine sieve, but you can skip this refinement if you prefer. 

For an added bit of luxury, deglaze the grill pan juices by adding some of the sauce to it, then return to the saucepan and serve. DM168/TGIFood

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