GREAT GRILL-ROASTED BEEF TENDERLOIN

To deliver great grill flavor to beef tenderloin, we had to upend the most commonly held notion about the source of that flavor.

Grilled to a perfect medium-rare, a rosy-pink, ultratender beef tenderloin is a great centerpiece for summer entertaining. The only trouble is, this cut’s flavor is fairly mild. To amp things up, many recipes call for smoking the tenderloin over wood chips, wrapping it with cured meats like pancetta or bacon, or rubbing it with an abundance of spices.

The result? The meat’s delicate flavor is overwhelmed. I wanted a grilled beef tenderloin that tasted beefy—not smoky or porky or spicy—with just enough flavor from the grill to complement and amplify the roast’s natural flavor. And of course, I wanted the roast to be perfectly cooked.

Inner Perfection

I settled on a ready-to-go center-cut tenderloin (also known as Châteaubriand) rather than a larger whole tenderloin. The center-cut option comes cleaned of fat and silverskin by the butcher and makes enough to serve a small group. All I had to do was tie the roast at 1½-inch intervals to keep it uniform in shape, ensuring even cooking and an attractive presentation.

After seasoning my roast with salt and pepper and giving it a thin coating of oil to encourage browning, I fired up the grill. I decided I’d start my testing on a gas grill since it would be more challenging to produce grill flavor; once I’d perfected the cooking method, I would translate the recipe for a charcoal grill.

Many recipes call for grilling tenderloin over medium heat, but this necessitates constantly turning the roast to ensure even cooking, and inevitably some of the meat just beneath the surface overcooks. I knew I’d rely on indirect, low-and-slow heat to cook my roast through since it would be the most gentle and even. The higher the heat the meat is exposed to, the more its proteins contract, and thus squeeze out juices, so by keeping the roast away from intense direct heat, I would also be minimizing the juices lost. After the grill was preheated, I turned off all but the primary burner and placed the roast on the cooler side of the grill. With a little experimentation, I found that keeping the grill at 300 degrees and placing the tenderloin about 7 inches from the primary burner yielded a roast with an interior that was rosy and juicy from edge to edge.

Dripping with Flavor

With the inside of the roast looking good, I turned my focus to improving its flavor and exterior appearance — it needed some browning, and it didn’t taste grilled. The two attributes are related. Part of grill flavor is attributed to browning—both the deep color the roast develops where it comes in contact with the bars of the grill’s cooking grate and the overall browning the exterior develops through indirect heat. That much is pretty well known. Less widely known is the fact that grill flavor also comes from the meat’s drippings hitting the heat diffusers on a gas grill (also known as flavorizer bars) or the hot coals on a charcoal grill. These drippings break down into new flavorful compounds and then vaporize, waft up, and condense when they hit the food, sticking to it and adding that grill flavor.

The drippings are generally a combination of fat and juices, but a conversation with our science editor informed me that the fats have a much bigger role in creating grilled flavor. Problem: Châteaubriand is a very lean cut, so I didn’t have much to work with. But I had an outside-the-box thought: What if I put something else on the grill alongside the tenderloin that could provide the fat that translates into great grill flavor? Whatever I chose, though, would have to be cheap and readily available. I came up with a short list of options: bacon and salt pork. I made two tenderloins, using a different potential grill “flavorizer” for each. In both cases, I put the flavorizer directly over the lit burner to maximize the rendered fat it exuded.

Bacon won out. It was easier to work with, and it boosted the grilled flavor of my roast without producing a hard-tocontrol fire as the salt pork did. That is, as long as I didn’t lay the strips out flat on the grill. The key was shaping a few strips of bacon into a compact block by stacking three slices and then threading them accordion-style onto a metal skewer. Positioned over the heat diffusers, the bacon heated through slowly, rendering its fat at a measured pace.

Over the hour-long (give or take) cooking time, the bacon definitely boosted the grill flavor of the tenderloin, but my tasters agreed that it still wasn’t as good as they thought it could be. My roast looked burnished, but it wasn’t really browned. I needed the savory flavors that occur when meat browns via a process called the Maillard reaction for the best, most rounded grill flavor.

Browning Basics

I headed back outside to try again. This time, I cooked the tenderloin quickly over high heat until it was lightly browned, keeping in mind that too much time spent over direct heat would lead to overcooking. I then moved it to the cooler part of the grill to cook through. The results were promising—the roast tasted grilled—but I wanted even more flavor.

More time on the heat wasn’t an option; I needed a way to speed up the browning. I knew from test kitchen experience that the Maillard reaction occurs more readily as pH increases. And the easiest way to raise the pH in this situation would be to apply some baking soda. I made a paste by combining baking soda with the salt, pepper, and oil I was already rubbing on the tenderloin’s exterior and carefully applied this mixture. This time, the tenderloin browned more readily, and the difference in flavor between this roast and my previous attempts was obvious. Each bite of juicy, pink meat offered up all the flavor that grilled meat should have.

Translating this recipe for a charcoal grill was fairly simple. I used just 4 quarts of charcoal (enough to fill a large chimney starter two-thirds full) and spread the coals evenly over half the grill. Instead of centering the bacon skewer over the coals, where the fire is hottest, I kept it near the center of the grill where the heat is gentler so that it wouldn’t render too quickly.

While the roast cooked, I put together a couple of no-cook sauces to serve with the tenderloin. Both chimichurri and a chermoula worked well, lending fresh, bright flavor with plenty of herbs. They were the ideal summery match for my savory, meaty grilled tenderloin.

Recipe

GRILL-ROASTED BEEF TENDERLOIN (SERVES 4 TO 6)

Center-cut beef tenderloin roasts are sometimes sold as Châteaubriand. You will need one metal skewer for this recipe. The bacon will render slowly during cooking, creating a steady stream of smoke that flavors the beef. Serve the roast as is or with Chermoula Sauce.

2¼ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 (3-pound) center-cut beef tenderloin roast, trimmed and tied at 1½-inch intervals
3 slices bacon

1. Combine salt, pepper, oil, and baking soda in small bowl. Rub mixture evenly over roast and let stand while preparing grill.

2. Stack bacon slices. Keeping slices stacked, thread metal skewer through bacon 6 or 7 times to create accordion shape. Push stack together to compact into about 2-inch length.

3A. FOR A CHARCOAL GRILL:

Open bottom vent halfway. Light large chimney starter two-thirds filled with charcoal briquettes (4 quarts). When top coals are partially covered with ash, pour evenly over half of grill. Set cooking grate in place, cover, and open lid vent halfway. Heat grill until hot, about 5 minutes.

3B. FOR A GAS GRILL:

Turn all burners to high, cover, and heat grill until hot, about 15 minutes. Turn primary burner to medium and turn off other burner(s). (Adjust primary burner as necessary to maintain grill temperature of 300 degrees.)

4. Clean and oil cooking grate. Place roast on hotter side of grill and cook until lightly browned on all sides, about 12 minutes. Slide roast to cooler side of grill, arranging so roast is about 7 inches from heat source. Place skewered bacon on hotter side of grill. (For charcoal, place near center of grill, above edge of coals. For gas, place above heat diffuser of primary burner. Bacon should be 4 to 6 inches from roast and drippings should fall on coals or heat diffuser and produce steady stream of smoke and minimal flare-ups. If flare-ups are large or frequent, slide bacon skewer 1 inch toward roast.)

5. Cover and cook until beef registers 125 degrees, 50 minutes to 1¼ hours. Transfer roast to carving board, tent with aluminum foil, and let rest for 20 minutes. Discard twine and slice roast ½ inch thick. Serve.

CHERMOULA SAUCE (MAKES ABOUT 1 CUP)

To keep the sauce from becoming bitter, whisk in the olive oil by hand.

¾ cup fresh cilantro leaves
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
¼ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons lemon juice
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

Pulse cilantro, garlic, cumin, paprika, cayenne, and salt in food processor until coarsely chopped, about 10 pulses. Add lemon juice and pulse briefly to combine. Transfer mixture to medium bowl and slowly whisk in oil until incorporated and mixture is emulsified. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for at least 1 hour. (Sauce can be refrigerated for up to 2 days; bring to room temperature and rewhisk before serving.)

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When Fat Sizzles, Grill Flavor Builds

A common assumption about grill flavor is that it comes from burning coals. While the compounds rising up from burning charcoal may deliver some flavor, far more significant is the flavor imparted when fatty drippings hit the coals (or the heat diffusers of a gas grill). As these drippings sizzle and pop, new complex compounds are created that waft up and get deposited back on the food. These compounds (along with the browning and char the food develops on its exterior) are responsible for characteristic grill flavor.

So what does this mean for beef tenderloin? Since this lean cut doesn’t have much to offer in the way of fatty drippings, we needed to find a different source. The answer: bacon.

By Lan Lam in "Cook's Illustrated", USA, number 140, May/June 2016, excerpts p. 6-7. Adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.