Manliest Meal Yet?

Every Wednesday in the summer is my golf night.  I have been playing with a fine group of gentlemen for around ten years now, and we usually end up going out for burgers and beers afterwards.  This week, however, I invited them over to grill out after golf.  Figuring that I should capitalize on this unique opportunity, I wanted to grill something worthy of such a great group of guys, using a recipe that would normally be overkill for just one or two people.  With that in mind, I went down to Findlay Market and picked up a nice beef tenderloin for the Holiday Beef Tenderloin on page 138.

I was going to be limited on time in that we would be arriving at my house after golf, and it would already be evening.  I had to work during the day and could not have any time to do any prep work, so there was a lengthy step that I needed to take care of last night because I didn't think the gentlemen would have the patience to sit around and wait for the garlic to roast before even beginning the rest of the grilling.  So last night I knocked out this extra hour, and added the roasted garlic cloves to some olive oil to make a paste.  Later, I would use the immersion blender to make this into a smooth, spreadable paste.

Here it is, in all its glory.  It was even fun ordering it.  I walked up to the butcher who inquired how he could help me.  I replied that I desired one beef tenderloin, trimmed.  He smiled appreciatively, acknowledged the awesomeness, and went immediately to work.  In the picture below, you can see the garlic oil paste after its encounter with the immersion blender.

I rubbed the paste all over the tenderloin, and then spread on the red peppercorn and rosemary blend.  This was done in secrecy, in an attempt to surprise the gentlemen later.

The recipe said that you needed to cook the tenderloin to 135 degrees Fahrenheit for medium rare.  I started checking the temperature at the half-hour mark.  The first time I checked, it was only at 110.  So I let it cook another ten minutes, and it was at 130 at that point.  Giving it another five minutes allowed it to reach 135, so I pulled it off the grill.

After the appropriate oohing and ahhing from the gentlemen, I began slicing this beautiful piece of cow into six approximately equal sections.  Upon the first slice, I was immediately disappointed.  It was far beyond medium rare, and most definitely medium well.  I guess I need to check my temperature probe.  Well, there wasn't more I could do, as you can't exactly uncook meat, so we each plated for ourselves and sat down for dinner together.

Weber also provided us with some other features in the final meal assembly.   The black eyed peas were seen earlier this summer.  In fact, I recently had a conversation with a friend who mentioned that she found it rather entertaining that during my write-up of that recipe that I kept talking about this salad instead of the main dish that entry and how I mentioned that it would show up again.  See?  It did!  In another entry I learned that the filet cut tastes so good with a Bearnaise sauce, so I modified the one that Weber gave me earlier by substituting rosemary for the tarragon, as I had rosemary in the rub for the filet this evening.  I figured that it might help tie the meal together.  The potatoes are my own recipe from a long time ago, and are baked instead of grilled.

To aid in the final review, I had the gentlemen give me some notes:

(1) "Lovely."

(2) "Peppery, but it didn't dominate the dish."

(3) "I was pleased that the peppercorns were easily flicked off."

(4) "For the first half of the dish I thought that it was awesome, but by the second half I was kind of done with them."  (in reference to the peppercorns)

(5) "The rosemary Bearnaise was a success!"

Overall, I was happy.  Again, I thought that the meat was overdone, but either the gentlemen were being polite, or they just didn't mind.   There are a couple of other tenderloin recipes left in The Guide, and I can't wait for another opportunity to use them!