Serve Tenderloin This Holiday Season

Move over turkey and ham... Feed your family something they want to eat for the holidays!

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good turkey or holiday ham during Thanksgiving or Christmas. The holidays just don’t feel the same without those two staples on the table! But the truth of the matter is, most turkeys and most pigs aren’t the best for you unless you’re getting them from a place that does things the right way. This means that they should be corn and soy-free and spend their lives on pasture and foraging.

While it’s possible to find these animals at your local farmers market or artisan butcher like we did, it’s unfortunately not as common to find well-raised pork and turkey (we are hoping that newsletters like ours can start shifting a change in the market).

It’s MUCH easier to find 100% grass-finished beef now and let’s be honest with ourselves… Red meat just tastes better! So, if you are having people over for the holidays or are responsible for providing the protein for Christmas Dinner, feed your guests arguably the best cut of meat on the bovine - the tenderloin.

I’ve personally served up this recipe for Christmas Eve dinner the past 2 years at Maddie’s parent’s house and it’s always been a hit. Fortunately, in both those years, I was blessed enough to be serving up an elk tenderloin. Unfortunately this year, I was not able to get an elk on the ground, so this year I will be using this recipe with a 100% grass-fed beef tenderloin.

From a hunter’s perspective, I personally love serving this cut for special events. You see, you only get 2 tenderloins on a game animal and most people only kill 1-2 animals per year. If you regularly consume beef, you also know that tenderloin is usually the most expensive cut you can buy. So there’s something that just feels right about saving the best cut for a family gathering and sharing with your tribe.

If you follow it below, make sure you come back and leave a comment on how it turned out!

Ingredients

1-3.5 lb tenderloin (Elk/Deer/Moose/Caribou/Beef)

Olive oil

Redmond’s Sea Salt

Your favorite seasoning (I used an organic steak seasoning)

A cast iron skillet

Instructions

Step 1: Take the tenderloin out of the freezer and put it into the fridge for 1-2 days before you want to cook it. 4 hours before you intend to serve it, take it out of whatever you packaged it in, place it on a plate and pat it dry with a paper towel.

Step 2: Generously drizzle with high-quality olive oil or tallow and rub to cover the entire surface.

Step 3: Next, add a good amount of salt + your seasoning of choice and again cover the entire surface of the tenderloin.

Note: I like to use seasonings WITHOUT added salt and I recommend you do the same so that you can not only control the amount of salt you use but also add the best quality salt to your meals

Step 4: The final step before the cooking begins is to leave it out for 3-4 hours so that the meat can form a nice crust to add the perfect seared taste and texture

Step 5: When it’s almost eating time, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Once it’s at 400, turn your stove on HIGH to begin heating your the cast iron. Note: Do NOT add any fat onto your cast iron - You should have already coated your Tenderloin and the cast iron will be so hot that the meat shouldn’t stick anyway.

Step 6: Once your cast iron starts to smoke, use tongs to place the tenderloin on the cast iron for 1 to 1.5 minutes - Don’t get impatient here - You want a nice crust to form on your meat. Make sure you rotate throughout this time so each part of the meat is seared.

Step 7: Pop it in your preheated oven for 10 minutes, or until 135 degrees in the fattest part of the meat

Step 8: Once your meat reaches 135 degrees, remove it from the oven and let it rest on a cutting board, or preferably, a wire rack so that the juices can reabsorb for the ultimate juicy experience.

Step 9: Slice, share, and enjoy!

If you know someone who might enjoy this recipe, or if you want to give a certain someone a hint on what they should cook this holiday season, share this recipe with them!

What is your favorite dish to share around the holidays? Any links to recipes you love to follow? We’d love to hear below!

-Sebastian