fridaynightdinnerbox: kitchen basics: cooking beef fillet

cook-a-cow continued...this week's cut: fillet

Tucked in around the loin #1 on the diagram, the fillet sits along the mid-lower back of the beast & is the choicest cut of beef on the animal. As a muscle which doesn't do a lot of actual work, in contrast to, say, the leg or shoulder muscles, the tougher cuts, the absence of connective tissue allows for a cut of meat which is quickly cooked & wonderfully tender. Popular dishes using fillet include Beef Wellington, which is sealed, coated with a duxelle or chicken liver pate, then wrapped in pastry, & of course Steak Diane which, like many dishes using the fillet, is a medallion of meat itself, cooked as an individual piece, garnished with a sauce, rub or marinade, perhaps wrapping the medallion in bacon or proscuitto, or even pig's caul, to allow the meat itself to remain hero on the plate..

January/February is a great time to be in Auckland. Summer is in full swing & the days are long & warm & humid. Being surrounded by water, it is not unusual for a gentle breeze to blow in over the city, taking the edge off the hot sun. It is the time for being outdoors.

This is also the time on Auckland's sporting calendar when for two weeks we play host to the annual international tennis opens, the ASB Women's Classic followed by the Heineken Men's Open. Of course for a chef, being involved in this is less about the sport of tennis & more about the prospect of feeding thousands of people through the course of the tournament's fourteen day duration, With so many things which can go wrong, there's a lot of pressure to get it right. Not simply the sourcing, delivery & storage of ingredients, but the prepping, transporting, storage, cooking & serving of finished dishes. Add to that the fact that there are players & their entourage to feed, all the staff behind the scenes as well, the general public in beer tents & fast food outlets, corporate boxes...that's a lot of people. Just think about all the work it takes to put together that dinner party you like to put on from time to time, multiplied by several hundred! It really is an exercise in logistics.

Working with Austins Catering at these events is my opportunity to be involved. Back at base, they prepare almost all of the food themselves. On a personal level, as a chef, the quality of the food is important to me. It's easy to buy in pre-prepared, per-packaged product & this happens elsewhere a lot, cutting down time & labour for logistical purposes. However, in doing so, something essential is lost. In the days before these big events at Austins, a lot of work goes into menu design & the preparation of dishes that are made from scratch & which we can call our own. I like that. The other side to this is that, depending on where in the operation I might fit in, I am exposed to ingredients on a scale that I would not normally be in a smaller scale operation.

This year, I was given the responsibility of working the Player's Lounge down at the Stanley Street ASB Stadium. With a hard working crew back at base sending in trays & trays of salads/veg/sauces & all sorts of other items on a daily basis, it was my role to finish off & present these dishes, as well as taking care of the cookery of cuts of meat, poultry & fish that the players would be served through the day's play. With time & all the right equipment on hand, I could explore my own cooking techniques & improve my handling of these ingredients in a way we chefs often don't get the opportunity to. One such cut was beef fillet, usually dropped off to me by the dozen, trimmed & sealed back at base, sometimes pre-portioned & sealed then vacuum packed for transporting across town.

Cooking whole beef fillet:

*set the oven to 180°C

*start by rubbing the uncooked fillet generously with oil & salt

*on a hot plate or cast iron pan, seal each side of the fillet, 30 seconds to a minute, then turn, & repeat

*place the fillet in an oven & set the timer to 20 minutes

*after 20 mins, remove & keep in a warm place, under foil, for another 20 minutes

(at work we use a piece of equipment called an auto-sham, which holds a constant 80° temperature)

(at home, place the fillet on another tray, warm not piping hot, & cover with foil, place back in the oven, lowering the temperature to 80-100° & leave the oven door slightly ajar)

*remove & carve steaks to the desired thickness before serving.

Cooking beef fillet medallions:

*set the oven to 200°C

cooking beef fillet in smaller sized steaks, or medallions, is much the same, scaled down:

*portion your fillet accordingly, from a single fillet, say 8-12 medallions from a fillet

*season/oil each piece then seal the sides, as with the whole fillet

*transfer to the oven for 5-7 minutes

*remove from the oven, transfer to another tray/pan & keep warm, under foil, for 5-7 minutes

a few tips:

*at home I'll make a paste of olive oil & salt with crushed garlic & cracked black peppercorns;

*at Ten Twenty-four we used to brush this paste on with a branch of rosemary during cooking;

*I prefer to cut on a wooden chopping board, with a repeatedly sharpened sharp knife;

*if possible, try to cut in a single clean action, rather than sawing back & forth through the meat;

*since you are cutting across the grain, take note of the texture: this is what to look for when cutting other joints of meat, such as the Sunday roast, & applies to all meat cuts, including chicken & poultry;

*a general rule of thumb is to allow 15-20 minutes of cooking time per 500g of meat;

*notice with both the whole joint & the medallions, they rest for as long as they cook. This is really important, as it allows the meat to relax & loosen after the intensity of high oven heat. One indicator is the amount of blood that is released when you carve the cooked meat. Too much means rest it longer.

Lastly, while the beef is resting in a warm place, make a gravy by using the juices from the tray

Method 1: Grandmother's version:

*in a cup or small bowl, mix a little cornflour with just enough hot water (you can mix in an oxo cube if thats all you have) to make a paste

*making sure there are no lumps, add a little more hot water to thin it down

*pour this into the roasting dish, & put the roasting dish on the element to heat

*stir with a wooden spoon as it comes to the boil, making sure to deglaze the pan (scrap off all the sticky crusty flavoursome bits) to combine with your sauce

*add more liquid if too thick, or allow to reduce a little more if too thin

*correct the seasoning before serving in a gravy boat

Method 2: My version:

*in a pan, quickly saute 1/2 an onion & a clove of garlic, finely diced, in a knob of butter

*add a squeeze of tomato paste & allow to caramelise for a moment, stirring

*add a splash of brandy, deglaze the pan, put a flame on it & let the alcohol burn off

*add some good beef stock & stir to combine

*add the juices from the roasting pan & stir

tip: the addition of a splash of cream at this point enriches nicely, this is known as Diane Sauce

tip: the addition of mushrooms deepens the colour & flavour, as with the pic below

Method 3: from an old Maori guy I met years ago in the bush:

*take a small jar of anchovies, a big handful of chopped mushrooms, 250ml cream

*put all together in a saucepan & bring to a simmer

*allow to cook slowly for 20 mins or so, stirring occasionally

tip: the addition of tomato paste, brandy, thyme, & a little experimenting to get it just right, is well worth it for this sauce, which sounds unusual but can be terrific, when you get it right

With such a big team, everyone on different schedules, sometimes your friends get to drop by, not that we have much time to chat..."What do you mean the oven tray is hot? Get a move on, Sonja!"