Meat used to cook fillet mignon
The recipe for cooking a real steak requiresa product of elite livestock farming only - the meat of young specially raised bulls no older than two years. Preference is given to grain-fed bulls, since thin layers of fat form inside their muscle fibers, and the meat is much juicier and more tender than that of their grass-fed counterparts. Such beef is called "marbled". When slaughtering, steaks are prepared from parts of the animal's carcass that were not involved in muscle work. The meat is separated into thick, at least 3 cm, portioned pieces across the grain. With this cutting, the pieces are better suited to heat treatment during cooking. It is also necessary to take into account the fact that fresh, steamed meat is never included in the recipe for preparing a real steak. The meat must be aged, since it acquires the necessary tenderness during the fermentation process. Although it is believed that preparing a piece of fried meat - the process is quite simple, but not everyone can cook a real steak, since you need enough experience to choose the right piece of meat and fry it. The trick is that first the piece is placed on a hot frying surface, at least 250 degrees, where it is fried for 20-30 seconds until a hard crust forms on it. Then, to the required degree of readiness, it is brought to a temperature of 180 degrees. The ideal place to cook a steak is an oven or stove, where the heat coming evenly from all sides creates the conditions for proper cooking of the dish. After cooking, you need to let the piece lie down for even distribution of juice over it.
Recipe for fillet mignon
Wash the beef tenderloin and remove any film.tendons and lightly dry in a towel. Then it should be salted, peppered and wrapped in jamon (dry-cured pork ham). If there is no jamon, you can use bacon, for which it is laid out on a table or cutting board and the beef tenderloin is wrapped in it. The resulting roll is cut into portions 3-5 cm thick and tied with threads or pinned with toothpicks. The finished pieces are fried in a very hot frying pan on both sides until a crust forms. Fry in vegetable (olive) oil, leaving gaps of 1.5-2 cm between the pieces. If you pack the pieces more closely, the oil in the frying pan cools, a crust does not form on the meat and it has the appearance and taste of boiled meat. The crust is of key importance because it preserves the juiciness of the meat. After the crust has formed, the pieces are placed in an oven or stove preheated to 150-180 degrees and cooked for 10-15 minutes until the desired degree of readiness. During this time, the meat is periodically taken out and poured over with the juice that forms during frying. The recipe for preparing filet mignon, like the recipe for preparing any fried meat, implies cooking it immediately before serving. This is done so as not to reduce its taste in any way. As a side dish, you can serve zucchini noodles, green salad, potatoes or any vegetable puree with the meat. As a gravy, we recommend a recipe for mushroom sauce, for which we sauté onion cut into thin half rings with a few cloves of garlic in a separate frying pan. After lightly frying, combine them with chopped mushrooms, salt and pepper to taste. Shortly before readiness, add white wine and, stirring, wait until it evaporates. At the end, add sour cream, mix thoroughly, cover with a lid, and remove from heat. After the steak is ready, remove it from the oven, remove the threads, and let it sit for 5-10 minutes, covered with a lid. Then place on plates, combine with garnish, sprinkle with herbs, pour sauce over it, and serve.
