Chateaubriand Sauce Béarnaise......The Ultimate Dinner For Two "Meat" Lovers

Courtesy of Wikipedia On Google.

Please Note: The following
paragraphs are for your general information. The recipe is a few paragraps down. Thank you. 





The tenderloin or better known, on this side of the Atlantic, as "Le Filet" in France, and "Il Filetto" in Italy is definitely the very best cut of meat. The size of the tenderloin depends, of course, on the type and size of the animal from which it comes from.
The best tenderloin known is the beef tenderloin, and in second place, the pork tenderloin and in third is the mutton which is really negligible because it is very small.
I really congratulate Wikipedia from where I obtained the picture on the right because it is the only picture I have ever seen which shows exactly where the tenderloin comes from.
Today I would like to share with you the Chateaubriand cut of the tenderloin or filet. The name of this cut was given in honor of François-René de Chateaubriand.  If you can imagine even the centre of Athens has a street called after him!!
The Chateaubriand is one of the two parts which consist the heart of the tenderloin. This part is for two portions/persons. The second part of the heart is the filet and is cut in individual pieces. If you  place the whole filet in front of you with the large end on your left and the pointed end on your right, and you mark it into 5 nearly equal pieces, and counting No.1 from the left going to the right, No.1 is what the French call beefsteack (Larousse Gastronomique 1971  1967 ). No.2 is the Chateaubriand, No.3 is the filet, No.4 is the Tournedos (Tournedos Rossini in one of my future postings) and No.5 is the Filet Mignon.  The filet mignon is small because it is the tip of the tenderloin.  Of course there are different recipes for each cut.
The Chateaubriand is usually charcoal grilled to medium rare or rare. It is sliced diagonally or perpandicularly and of different thicknesses according to your taste, and served with a special sauce for grilled meats, the Sauce Béarnaise. French fries or Rösti is served as a side dish.
If your partner is a meat lover as well, one of the best meals you could have is to share a Chateaubriand and the restaurant's home side dish for this cut and a very good red wine such as a Napa Cabernet Sauvignon. If you are in France, always ask them to cook it more than what you really want it.

The Recipe

You will need:
-  1 X 450 grm piece of chateaubriand completely cleaned from any veins, fat etc.
Method:
-  Pat olive oil all round the cut.
-  Sprinkle some Herbes de Provence or thyme.
-  Let stand in the fridge for about one to two hours before grilling.
-  In the meantime light your charcoal when it is grey, take meat out of fridge and let it reach room temperature then place over the hot charcoal to sear.
-  Push meat away from fire and grill each side long enough so that when you pearce it:
If you see nothing coming out then it is still raw inside.

• If you see blood coming out then it is medium rare.  
• If clear liquid coming out then you cooked it too long.

-   It is now ready. Let stand 5 minutes, and slice.  Serve with sauce béarnaise and french fries or rösti.

Courtesy Of Wikipedia On Goog

Sauce Béarnaise:

One of the more importatnt sauces in French Cuisine used primarily for grilled foods.

You will need for one batch of 250 ml.
-  3 shallots very finely chopped.
-  50 ml vinegar.
-  30 ml white wine.
-  3 Tbsp. finely chopped tarragon, estragon in French.
-  2 Tbsp. finely chopped chervil, cerfeuil in French.
-  2  pinches of white pepper.
-  Pinch of salt.
-  125 gms of unsulted butter.
-  3 egg yolks.
Method:
-  Combine shallots, vinegar, white wine, 2 of the 3 Tbsp. of tarragon, 1 of the 2 Tbsp. of chervil, the white pepper, and salt in a heavy based saucepan and heat on low heat for about 10 to 12 minutes until the quantity is reduced by two thirds.
-  Remove saucepan from heat and let cool.
-  In the meantime melt the butter (in the micro-wave oven if you wish) without cooking it...just melt it.
-  Add the egg yolks to the reduced mixture above,  a little bit of water, and wip energetically over soft heat.
-  Away from the fire, start adding extremely slowly the hot butter while wisking.  This is where you have to be careful.  Do not be in a hurry to pour the butter the slower the better so it does not curdle.
-  Once the sauce is made, add the rest of the tarragon and chervil before serving.
-  The success of this sauce is when a nice emulsion, similar to the texture of mayonaise is obtaied. If it curdles then something went wrong.
-  If it does curdle, start from scratch till it is time to add the butter at which time, instead,  you start adding the curdled sauce.
-  Normally the sauce should be put in a cheese cloth and two persons opposite each other twist the material in opposite directions to squeeze the clean sauce through the pores of the cloth.
-  However you can serve it as it is with all the herbs in it. It is equally good.
Serve with French fries or Rösti.
Bon Appétit,
Fully taste the beauty of this dish.
Stelio