Figure there's probably some Alton Brown/Good Eats fans here, I just wanted to relate my experience over the weekend with following his instructions in
this episode (actually two episodes) for butchering your own whole beef tenderloins. If you haven't seen these episodes, they discuss how you can enjoy
prime cuts of beef at a significant savings over supermarket prices if you have a membership club (Sam's, Costco, BJ's, etc.) nearby, and are willing
to cut the meat yourself.
My wife and I got another couple to go in on this, and we made an afternoon/evening of it. We hit Costco and picked up two whole loins (also called PSMOs) weighing about 6.5 pounds each, around $56-58 each. Got them home and started dressing them as described by AB. It was really quite easy, and between the two loins we got a total of 18 inch-and-a-half filets, two petite roasts and 4 portions of chain meat which should be enough for two steak sandwiches apiece. We vacuum-bagged everything for freezer storage, except for 4 filets we used to make the steak au poivre recipe also described in the show, which was truly superb. My wife, who does not like pepper and also does not like medium-rare beef, proclaimed it the best steak she'd ever eaten. Considering you could easily pay $19-29 per pound for quality filet mignon (depending where you shop) our net price of about $9/pound is a bargain for about 90 minutes' worth of work trimming the meat. I'll definitely be doing it again soon... why eat cheaper steaks at supermarket prices when I could eat filet for the same price?
One thing I'd point out is that in the second episode, where he talks about using the chain meat to make steak sandwiches, he's obviously trimmed a LOT of fat from the chain, but never discusses actually having done that step. The chain we got was very fatty, and I trimmed quite a bit of fat and gristle from it before it looked anything like the piece of meat he used on the show. Looking forward to trying the recipes from episode II for using the petite roast and the chain meat.
Highly recommend the experience, it was very fulfilling... and filling.
My wife and I got another couple to go in on this, and we made an afternoon/evening of it. We hit Costco and picked up two whole loins (also called PSMOs) weighing about 6.5 pounds each, around $56-58 each. Got them home and started dressing them as described by AB. It was really quite easy, and between the two loins we got a total of 18 inch-and-a-half filets, two petite roasts and 4 portions of chain meat which should be enough for two steak sandwiches apiece. We vacuum-bagged everything for freezer storage, except for 4 filets we used to make the steak au poivre recipe also described in the show, which was truly superb. My wife, who does not like pepper and also does not like medium-rare beef, proclaimed it the best steak she'd ever eaten. Considering you could easily pay $19-29 per pound for quality filet mignon (depending where you shop) our net price of about $9/pound is a bargain for about 90 minutes' worth of work trimming the meat. I'll definitely be doing it again soon... why eat cheaper steaks at supermarket prices when I could eat filet for the same price?
One thing I'd point out is that in the second episode, where he talks about using the chain meat to make steak sandwiches, he's obviously trimmed a LOT of fat from the chain, but never discusses actually having done that step. The chain we got was very fatty, and I trimmed quite a bit of fat and gristle from it before it looked anything like the piece of meat he used on the show. Looking forward to trying the recipes from episode II for using the petite roast and the chain meat.
Highly recommend the experience, it was very fulfilling... and filling.
