Submitted by: Richard Hammond
Servings: Serves 8 as an Entree
Ingredients: 5 lbs. (trimmed weight) GF beef tenderloin roast
6 lbs. meaty GF beef soup bones
1 lb. GF beef fat and trim
4 large stalks organic celery, washed
4 large organic carrots
2 large Spanish onions
1 small pkg. fresh bay leaves (0.25 oz.)
3 tbsp. tomato paste (optional)
1 lb. fresh cherries
1 lb. dried prunes
1 bunch fresh marjoram
1 bunch fresh thyme, reserve 8 small sprigs
8 oz. shallots
Sea salt and fresh black pepper
Instructions: SEVERAL DAYS BEFORE (making the beef broth):
Because this broth takes a few days to prepare I suggest you purchase the soup bones, beef trim, onions, celery, carrots and bay leaves first, then ask the butcher to prepare the tenderloin roast later and pick it up with the other ingredients a day or two before this dinner party…
Pre-heat the oven to 400° F
Place the soup bones in a 13” x 16” roasting pan and place on the middle rack of the pre-heated oven. Roast the bones for about an hour until they are caramelized and dark brown but not black, so keep a close eye on them during the last 10 to 15 minutes.
When they’re done, take out the pan and remove the bones to a large tray or platter. Pour off any fat into a heat proof container. When it cools, cover and store this tallow in the freezer for later.
Place the roasting pan on the stovetop over medium-low heat (straddling two burners if necessary). Use a heat-proof silicone, wooden or metal spatula to scrape the fond left on the bottom of the pan and, of course you will also need a deglazing liquid for this process.
Traditionally a heavy red wine could be used but to be strictly Paleo I suggest about a cup of hot water to deglaze the pan. However, if you are OK with red wine and you will serve red wine with this dish anyway, go ahead and deglaze with about a cup of the same wine you will serve. Be aware that most cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc or merlot blends are oaked and some guests may be allergic to this, so consider a pure merlot possibly or definitely a pinot noir to be sure.
When the pan is deglazed, tilt the pan and carefully scrape all this hot liquid into a Pyrex measuring cup and reserve. You are done with this roasting pan for now so wash and put it away.
All beef broth requires some additional color from caramelized vegetables, typically 2 parts onion and 1 part each carrot and celery aka mirepoix which is often roasted with the bones; however I prefer the following method:
First peel the carrots and trim the celery of any leaves and discard as both these are bitter. Slice off the top of the onions to make a flat base. Lay each onion on this flat side, split in half cutting through the root end first. Peel the onions and reserve all these onion trimmings for use later.
Simply rough chop all the vegetables into about 1” chunks and no need to trim off any root ends. Put the carrot and onion into one prep bowl but keep the celery in a separate bowl.
Next put a heavy stockpot (stainless not aluminum) over medium low heat and add the beef trimmings and fat. Slowly cook this down stirring occasionally until the trimmings are lightly browned and some tallow has rendered out.
Raise the heat to medium-high and add the carrots and onions. Stir fry the vegetables using the silicone or wooden spatula until they are very dark brown. Push all the vegetables to the outside edge of the pot and place the tomato paste in the middle. Stir fry the paste for 2 minutes or so until the paste turns reddish brown and is fragrant. Lower the heat to medium, add the celery and stir fry another 2 to 3 minutes mixing everything all together including the tomato paste.
Add the reserved deglazing liquid and the roasted bones. Add enough cold tap or filtered water to cover the bones by an inch or two. Cover the stockpot and check the progress every 15 minutes as you want to catch it shortly after it has reached boiling then turn the heat to low or move the stockpot to a special simmer burner (or use a flame-tamer for conventional gas burners). The point being is that you want the stock to simmer very gently for one whole day so adjust the burner to maintain this low temp (approximately 185 – 195 degrees) as best as you can.
After the initial boil, impurities (foam) should rise to the top so use a ladle to skim this off and discard. Also beef fat will rise to the surface so in the first hour of simmering keep skimming off as much fat as you can remove and ladle this into a fat separator pitcher periodically.
Return the liquid from the fat separator back into the stock and stop pouring before you reach the layer of fat. Reserve and refrigerate about a quarter cup of fat for browning the tenderloin later and strain the remainder when it cools, into the other container of tallow and put back in the freezer. You may store it for up to 6 months and use this tallow for high temperature frying etc.
Once the stock is fairly clear of fat and impurities, add the onion trimmings, bay leaves and some whole black peppercorns if desired. Cover the stockpot and simmer slowly for at least 24 hours, or maybe even longer depending on your schedule.
Check it often at the beginning to make sure the temp is set for the slowest simmer with the pot covered; this may require some trial and error. You will not need to add water to replenish the level of the liquid since the pot is covered. Reducing the stock to the glâce de viande will be accomplished later and because this concentrates the stock you must NOT add any salt.
When the stock is finished, turn off the heat and pour it through a colander suspended over another stockpot. Let the bones drain well then press on the bones and vegetables to squeeze out all the flavors. Remove the colander and discard the contents. Pour the stock from this pot into a large mixing bowl and repeat the pouring back and forth to hasten the cooling process.
When the stock cools down to room temp leave it in the stockpot, cover and refrigerate. After any remaining fat has solidified you may skim it off the top of the refrigerated stock at any time. Add this fat to the reserved tallow to be used for browning the tenderloin.
ONE DAY BEFORE THE PARTY (final prep of remaining ingredients):
Trim the tops and bottoms off the shallots and peel them. Save these trimmings in a prep bowl wrapped with saran and leave out on the countertop. Place the whole peeled shallots in a food processor fitted with the metal blade.
Pulse the shallots until they’re finely chopped, stopping a couple times to scrape down the sides of the processor bowl with a rubber spatula to eliminate any huge chunks. Scrape the chopped shallots into a prep bowl, cover and refrigerate.
Check the prunes for any pit fragments and give them a rough chop. Place them in a large container with a tight-fitting lid. Pit the cherries and split them in half, then add them to the same container, cover and refrigerate.
Use a very sharp knife to clean up any large pieces of fat and silverskin left on the tenderloin. Truss the tenderloin with butcher’s twine and wrap the beef tightly with a couple layers of saran and return to the refrigerator. If the butcher did all this already, simply skip this step.
Take the stockpot from the refrigerator and place on the stove to warm up. When the stock is warmed, pour the beef stock through a fine strainer suspended over another stockpot. Place this stockpot on the stove over low heat, add the shallot trimmings and simmer uncovered until reduced by half. Transfer the stock to a smaller saucepan and simmer to reduce by half again.
Strain out the shallot trimmings with a slotted spoon and pour the stock into a large stainless mixing bowl to cool it down. When it is room temp ladle the stock through a tea strainer or very fine sieve lined with cheesecloth into about a quart sized container, cover and refrigerate.
THE DAY OF THE PARTY:
You may roast the tenderloin by any method you desire but I will describe my favorite method to ensure a very tender roast beef. However, you must have an electric oven with electronic oven control (digital control panel). Check your stove instruction book and if possible trim the oven thermostat to minus 35 degrees so that when the oven is set to “170” it will really be 135 degrees.
The roast can only reach an internal temp of 135 even at long roasting times beyond 8 hours, so if you remove it at about 6 ½ to 7 hours it will be pretty close to 125 F or rare, which is what I am suggesting. Remember to account for 15 to 20 minutes of resting before the beef is served also.
About 8 hours before you plan to serve the entrée, pre-heat the oven to 170° F. Remove the tenderloin from the refrigerator and allow it to warm up at room temp for 30 minutes.
Place 3 tablespoons of black peppercorns in an electric spice mill or coffee grinder and pulse several times to crack all the peppercorns. Add the cracked pepper to a small prep bowl and stir in 2 tablespoons of sea salt.
When you’re ready un-wrap the beef and pat it dry with paper towels and place it on a tray. Place the 13” x 16” roasting pan over two burners on medium high heat and add the reserved tallow.
Sprinkle the salt & pepper mix evenly all over the beef, rolling it on the tray back and forth to coat all sides and patting the seasoning into all surfaces.
When the pan is hot and the tallow melted, place the tenderloin in the roasting pan and sear it for 1 to 2 minutes on both ends and 2 minutes on each of four sides, making 90 degree turns with long tongs.
When the beef is completely browned, place the pan on the middle rack of the pre-heated oven and roast for up to 7 hours.
A few hours before dinnertime, return the beef stock to a saucepan over low heat and simmer, uncovered. Next, strip all the marjoram leaves off their stems, keep the leaves in a prep bowl and leave the stems on your cutting board. Pick out the 8 sprigs of thyme to be reserved as a garnish and place them on the cutting board as well.
When the meat glaze has reduced to about 2 cups transfer it to an ovenproof dish with a tight lid. Add the marjoram stems and all of the thyme (except for the 8 reserved sprigs) to this dish. Cover the dish and place it in the oven on the rack below the roasting pan to keep warm until service.
About this time, place the 8 dinner plates to be used for service in a warming drawer if possible.
I would suggest preparing two side dishes to serve with the beef, whipped celery root with roasted garlic and one green vegetable, grilled asparagus for example and of course you will be juggling these preparations with the final presentation of the beef, which should go something like this:
Check the temperature of the roast beef with an instant read thermometer after 6 ½ hours. It may need another 15 to 20 minutes but I would take the beef out at 125 to 128 degrees and place it on a grooved carving board to rest. Use kitchen shears to snip off the butcher’s twine and tent the beef with aluminum foil.
Place a fine strainer over a wide Pyrex measuring cup, take out the dish from the oven and pour the meat glaze through the strainer. Discard the herbs after they’ve drained for 10 minutes or so.
Pour off some but not all of the rendered fat from the roasting pan and discard. Place the roasting pan on the stovetop over medium heat. Add the chopped shallots and sauté for 7 to 8 minutes until they are wilted and lightly browned. Add the meat glaze, cherries and prunes next, stir to bring up the fond from the bottom of the pan and let this cook down for about 10 minutes or so.
Meanwhile use a meat slicer to trim off a thin slice from both ends (a snack for the chef) and cut the remaining beef filet into 16 equal slices. Pour off any accumulated juices back into the roasting pan and cover the sliced beef with foil again. Finely chop the marjoram leaves and leave them on the cutting board.
Raise both burners to high on the roasting pan and stir constantly until the sauce is thickened. Remove the pan from the heat, scoop up the chopped marjoram on your chef knife and brush the marjoram off the knife into the roasting pan. Stir in the chopped marjoram, check and adjust the seasoning with sea salt and a little fresh pepper if desired.
For each serving, place a couple spoonful’s of sauce on the warmed dinner plate, overlap two slices of beef on top of the sauce and arrange the already prepared and heated side dishes around the beef. Drizzle some more sauce and fruit down the middle of the beef slices lengthwise and garnish the plate with the sprig of thyme. Serve immediately.
delicious! can’t wait to eat this again. my favoritee
I know this is a really long preparation and you could certainly do this with store-bought beef broth (but it would have to be salt-free). So if you are willing try this home-made glace de viande, it is definitely worth the trouble for a special occasion dinner ;~}
Yummy and healthy and great for a holiday meal!
so tender and so many levels of flavor! absolutely worth the time to prepare!
WOW!!!So this is what it’s like to go ALL-OUT on a dinner prep. I can imagine the layers of taste that would make this plate worth the time only for true foodies.
Thank-you Matt, this really is the definitive festive Christmas dinner for me, “…and the grinch himself carved the roast beast!” Both our daughters are home this year so I’ve already started the broth, have a happy holiday season and a joyous New Year.