Filet Mignon

Know this

Cut from the tenderloin, a muscle that does almost no work, which is why it slices like butter and tastes of less than a ribeye. One animal gives up only a few pounds of it, so the price is scarcity and texture, not flavour. Chef secret: buy it thick. A filet cut under an inch and a half has no margin for error, because the outside has to brown before the inside climbs past where you want it, and a thin one loses that race every time.

Cook

Sear it hard and pull it early, around 125°F, then let carryover take it the rest of the way. Give it the fat it does not have, which means butter in the pan and a spoon, or a sauce with some richness in it. The FDA guideline for whole cuts is 145°F, which is well past where this one is worth eating.

Season

Year-round, though it sells hardest between Thanksgiving and New Year.

Best pairings

butter · black pepper · shallot · thyme · mushroom · red wine

Also worth trying: bacon, blue cheese, bearnaise, horseradish, potato, watercress, brandy, bone marrow.

Recommended wine

Where to buy it

One product, three pack sizes, all grass fed and grass finished. Pick by what the steak has to do that night.

If you are cooking the steak as the meal

Grass Fed, Grass Finished Filet Mignons, the 16 oz pack. Two filets at eight ounces each. This is the one the advice on this card is actually written for

Tall enough that you can get a hard brown on the outside before the middle gets away from you.

See it at Certified Piedmontese

If you want the sensible middle

Grass Fed, Grass Finished Filet Mignons, the 12 oz pack. Two at six ounces, and the one most people should buy

Still thick enough to behave itself, and nobody is dividing a steak.

See it at Certified Piedmontese

If the steak is not the whole plate

Grass Fed, Grass Finished Filet Mignons, the 8 oz pack. Two at four ounces, which is surf and turf territory, or a smaller plate with something else doing the heavy lifting

Watch these ones. A filet this size does not stop cooking when it leaves the pan, it just stops asking permission. Pull them earlier than feels right and let the board finish the job.

See it at Certified Piedmontese