Beef Tenderloin with Red Wine Sauce

I would have paid to eat this, it was really good!

I could not get the wine to reduce and thicken for the life of me. It did taste rather good anyways though!

Did you vary the recipe at all? For example, did you use bought stock, omit the butter, not reduce the wine to syrupy consistency, etc.

Let's get to the bottom of this. It will work. Just missing something.

I did use bought stock, but I couldn't get it to become syrupy before adding it. Perhaps more time would have yielded the correct results, but the steaks were getting past the point of resting and into the point of dying. I am thinking the problem might be in the amount of grape seed oil used for the steaks. I just eye-balled it and might have used too much. I've only started cooking in the last month so I don't really know how this would affect it.

Never thought i would cook steak.. as i thought its hard... Ive tried it yesterday.. and it was good.. just a bit salty... But overall.. its delecious and it was easy to prepare. two thumbs up!

This was...awesome.I have tried several recipes close to this,made from my own imagination.But this...well,if I'll know when I'll die,I want this to be my last meal,do die proud and full of joy

I have been cooking for quite some time and I tried this last week. It was absolutely the best steak I had ever prepared. I paired it with a good cabernet. We are repeating it tonight for some guests.

A few simple lessons in the Rouxbe Cooking School and you'll learn what chefs do every day (Premium Steaks, Stocks, Pan Frying, Pan Sauces). Best part is that this is all pretty easy stuff. Glad you're having success everyone.

Here's some more practice:
http://rouxbe.com/recipes/1544/preview, or
http://rouxbe.com/recipes/47/preview

Hi Joe, love your recipes! I'm wondering what type of wine to have with this dish? I'm planning on making it soon for friends and wondered what you would suggest would compliment the dish? I think I read in another section that you would add some ideas re: pairing wine and dishes... or was I dreaming?! Thanks again for this site - love it!

for a Bourdeaux blend or a Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa,California or McLaren Vale in Australia. Also a spicy Shiraz from Barossa Valley Australia would do nicely. A rich full bodied wine for a rich full flavoured recipe. Look to spend $25 to $50 for this type of wine. Good Luck!

Sangiovese works very well.Unfortunately,I don't know what are the preferences in the U.S.A. I don't know if I'm allowed to recommend a wine producer (form Italy,that sells in U.S.A-unfortunately just the east coast),so I'll keep my advice,although the quality/price report is way good

Thanks for the wine recommendations....and Vasile...go for it, we don't censor comments, so go ahead and recommend the wine producer :-)

here goes nothing: www.giordanowines.com ...the offer on the original website,from Italy is much more diverse,but on the U.S. site the Autumn Selection is quite a success.I repeat myself...these are not top-shelf wines, but they're more than a hit referring to their price.

First off, I would like to echo John G's recommendations, they are spot on! Personally, a left bank Bordeaux or Napa Cabernet Sauvignon would be my first choices as I’m not a big fan of Auzzie wines as they’re a little over-extracted for my liking. This of course is just a personal preference. Another often overlooked wine that works well with this dish is a Malbec or Malbec blend from Argentina, the land of beef. With that said, here is a list of a few producers I follow:
Left Bank Bordeaux:
With recent demand, this is now a fairly pricy proposition but with a little research, one can find excellent values (relatively) and extremely delicious wine from this region. Names I look for are Kirwan, Barton, Cantelys, Cos Labory, Beau-Site, and Picard. Most of these are available for under $50. Keep in mind that even though these prices may seem a little steep, many of these vineyards are next door to the Great First Growth producers that sell their wines for hundreds, if not thousands of dollars a bottle. Best value vintages would be 2003 and 2004. Collectors covet the 2000’s and 2005’s keeping prices high.
California:
Napa is home to some of the finest Cabernet and Bordeaux style blends in the new world.
Some wines to look out for are the “second labels” from some of the bigger names. These wines are typically a great value and made for earlier consumption. Napanook which is made by Dominus is outstanding as is Innisfree by Joseph Phelps. Other favorites include Robert Mondavi’s Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley, Sterling Napa Cab, Clos Du Val, and Beringer. As with Bordeaux, 2005 is an outstanding vintage but they’re all pretty decent after 2000.
Argentina:
Malbec and Malbec blends are my favorites from this region. Very seldom do I spend over $25 for excellent quality. Names to look for include Catena, Luigi Bosca, and Clos De Los Siete. In this region vintage years don’t seem to be as important as other areas. However, big wines like this do benefit from at least a few years of bottle age. With that in mind, if you can find some of these from 2005 or earlier, grab them!

Hi, great way to cook the steak. It was delicious.
my only problem was that my sauce was quite oily. I put oil on the steaks before cooking and also on the pan. I then used the juices from the steaks, the red wine, the shallots and the butter and stock.
However there was a distinct trace of oil even after the sauce reduced.
should i have put less oil in the pan or on the steaks ?

Sorry for the delay in responding. The amount of oil you put on the steak and in the pan shouldn't really matter. But after the steaks are cooked, you could pour off any excess fat for sure. For the next step (sweating the shallots), we've added butter but you could also use a bit of the fat from the steak to cook the shallots - but you do need a bit of fat for this step.

The other thing that could have happened is that you could have turned on the heat when finishing the sauce with butter. The final butter should be added off the heat or it will split the sauce.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the response. In hindsight i think i may have kept the heat on while adding the butter at the end which, as you say, seems to have split the sauce. thanks for the tip

quick question. a lot of the recipes call for a "cup" of certain liquids. how much in ML's is in a standard "cup" ?

The standard cup is 250 mls.

I made this recipe last night and I am proud to say that this was so much better than the leftover steak my husband took home from the Chop House Restaurant here in Pasadena! Whereas that one was oily and beefy, mine was a burst of flavors! I used filet mignon and got the sauce to reduce perfectly.

The only thing I had to change was use regular chicken stock instead of dark stock, which I didn't have time to make. As a result the sauce was a lot lighter, but it still tasted good. I wonder, could I use beef stock instead of dark chicken stock to achieve the dark sauce color?

The butter, shallots, red wine combo is to die for. We had this dish with mashed potatoes which were great in soaking up the sauce from the plate. Yum!!!

Thanks for the great recipe.

By the way, the flip-often method rocks and I'm so happy to finally get a sense for when the steak is ready just from feel. My steaks came out perfectly medium rare!

So glad to hear that you had great success. As for your question about using beef stock...absolutely you could use beef stock for this. Just keep in mind though, if you use canned beef stock you may not get the same consistency with the sauce. This is because the canned stuff doesn't have the same gelatin in it.

You could even just use red wine if you like and omit the stock all together...this is also very delicious.

Again so happy to hear that you are feeling confident and happy with your steak cooking skills.

Greetings from sweden, everyone!

I made this recipe a couple of days ago and I noticed that we didn't have any red wine at home (I'm not a big wine-drinker). Instead I had to use white wine for the sauce and it worked beautifully. Just a little tips that it works with both red and white wine...

\Henrik Anderot

I ended up using more shallots than called for, and absolutely loved the sauce! What a great compliment to the one inch thick tenderloin steak. Next time, I think thicker steaks.

I am cooking this for the second time as I write. We were truly blown away with the flavor of these steaks the first time. Very easy and wonderful. I have a Green Egg which I always prepared my steaks with great success. These surpassed... We became lifetime members because of this recipe! Fantastic!

Realmente es deliciosa esta receta, sobre todo si se prepara como ustedes la recomiendan, con ese delicioso concentrado de pollo, lo serví con papas al romero y todos se sintieron en un restaurante frances de alta categoría, GRACIAS, estoy feliz con sus recetas y tips.

This recipe is really delicious, especially when prepared as you recommend it, with that delicious concentrate of chicken, served with rosemary potatoes and all were in a high-class French restaurant, THANK YOU, I am happy with their recipes and tips.

Could I make this sauce in advance and reheat it when I am ready to serve the steak?

Could I substitute red wine with either red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar? The red wine sauce is FANTASTIC but rather expensive to make.

Pan sauces are à la minute (at the moment) sauces made in the same pan in which ingredients (in this case the steak) have been sautéed, seared or pan-fried. The sucs from the pan lend great flavor to the sauce. Therefore if you were to do this ahead of time, you would not achieve the same flavor.

As for the red wine being expensive, it is not very much wine and it is not something you cook everyday. You can use other liquids, but again you will achieve different results.

For more information on all of this, I suggest you watch the How to Make a Pan Sauce video.

Hope this helps!

Thank you so much, Dawn, for the clear explanation! The pan sauce video is indeed a great help!

Happy new year and thanks for this awesome recipe. Seriously, it was easily the best steak I've eaten, and has given me a new standard. I did, however, have a couple of issues with the sauce - mostly, I think, because I used store bought (and not dark) stock. First of all, it took a long time to reduce, and even after I reduced it, it did not have a syrupy consistency. So, here is my first question: what is the best way to keep the steaks warm without drying them out while I wait for the sauce? Second, does the sauce get the syrupy consistency just from reducing the stock, or does it require the butter to get the right consistency? Also, I was hoping you could tell me what are typically considered dry reds, and is it a good idea to cook with the same wine that you drink, especially since the latter might/should be a little pricier? Thanks again.

Hi Robert. Glad you liked the steak.

If you have a good stock, making this sauce for two 2 to 4 people should only take about 5 to 10 mins (or less). The steaks should be fine if tented on a rack for this amount of time. If you need a bit more time, just pop them in an oven on the lowest setting (after the 10 min rest outside - not right away). You can also add them back to the completed sauce for a quick reheat (20 seconds a side just to get them hot again).

As for reducing the sauce, store bought stocks often do not contain enough gelatin to give the sauce the sauce-like consistency you are looking for. I'd strongly suggest you make a nice dark chicken stock and try this again. The butter will add a bit of thickness to the sauce but you should be almost there prior to finishing with butter.

Cheers, Joe.

I gave the recipe a try! The steak turned out great. I couldn't get the sauce to a syrupy state tho. I followed the water test to get the pan at the right temps...which on my gas range was actually at "low". The ball formed perfectly and was pretty cool to see! Do I need to increase the heat after adding in the wine? It would bubble a little and took a long time to even reduce. My steaks ended up getting cold as I struggled on the sauce. My sauce was runny but I was so hungry and ate as is, was still very good.

Hi David, glad you liked the steak...as for the sauce not reducing fast enough or enough for you? I think you are correct that perhaps the heat was not high enough.

I suggest watching the lesson on How to Make Pan Sauces in the Rouxbe Cooking School. This will shed some light on the whole sauce making process. Cheers!

Fantastic recipe! This recipe goes to show simplicity is the foundation of TRUE flavor.

I used rib-eye steaks (just happened that they looked particularly good and well aged in the Butcher's Showcase that day) and the dish presented itself beautifully with outstanding taste, the guests will definately be requesting this one again. I decided to add crispy lardons and toasted pine nuts with a subtle balsamic / olive oil vinigrette to personalise it from the original recipe....

The rib-eye never fails...Definately my favorite pick for full, robust beefy flavour!!!

WELL DONE (actually med. rare).

Danny

I used NY sirloin strips to make this dish tonight...with the red wine sauce, of course! I flipped the steak only once, cooking for one and a half minute for each side. And it turns out perfect! Love it! :)

I see from the previous recipes that Rib-Eye and NY Sirloin were used for this recipe. Are these cuts of meat OK or would you recommend another one?

Jorge

Either of these cuts would work well in place of tenderloin. Happy Cooking!

I used fillets for this recipe and they turned out to be excellent.

About the Flaming Recipe. I managed to burn the recipe (smoke and all) as I turned the wrong (electric) burner on. No damage to the house :)

Jorge.

PS if you need translations from Spanish to English please let me know. ...and the flag is the Cuban flag.

Now I have read from several people that the sauce didn't come out right. Either to thin, or split etc. The Rouxbe staff have said that it was the gelatin content that was the problem. What I did was use a the small container of More Than Gourmet Demi-glace Gold, 2.5 oz unit, and one cup of water. I went ahead and heated this up on the stove in a very small saucepan until it was mixed. That is all. I didn't reduce it or do anything else at this stage. If you use that in the sauce to replace stock...it will come out perfectly. The flavor was out of this world, and I am so glad I used this instead of Chicken Stock or anything else really. If you do not have the time or inclination to make your own veal stock for this recipe, use this instead. It is incredible.

I made this dish for company on the weekend, knowing that my sauce would be thinner because I didn't have the time to make stock. But even with the thinner sauce these were an absolute hit and not at all difficult to make.
Thank you

Hi,

This is a wonderful recipe, I love pan sauces that allow you to use the bids from the cooked meat, however, I was wondering what the best way is to cook for a larger crowd (say 10 people for instance).
- If I cook all the steaks in the pan before making the sauce, the bids are likely to burn
- If I cook a batch, deglaze the pan then start over, looks like it's going to take forever :-)
- I could probably use more pans, but that will hurt my budget
How do restaurants do it? and what is the best way for the home cook to do it?
Thank you!

Hi Daniel,

Couple of options for you.

1. You could sear a single larger piece of beef and slice it (e.g. a whole beef tenderloin). You'd sear it, then place it in a roasting pan and then make the sauce from he sucs in the pan that you seared.

2. You could sear off the ten steaks in a single pan in batches of 3 or 4 steaks. Sear at a bit higher heat so you get that nice crust relatively quickly, then place on a cooling rack over a baking tray. Once they are all seared, you can then place them into an oven and cook them all to desired doneness (this is how restaurants cook for larger groups). Just make sure you protect the sucs from burning between batches. If the sucs get too dark, deglaze, scrape the bottom and then reserve the deglazing liquid on the side. The clean and bring your pan back to temperature for the next batch and repeat. This likely won't be needed but as long as protect the sucs and save your pan juices from the deglazing step, you're all set. By the way, you can even sear the day before if you like and then just bring your steaks to room temperature before placing in the oven to finish cooking.

Hope this helps.
Joe

If I want my steak to be medium, how high should my oven temperature be and for how long should it be cooked?

I would cook this at about 300 / 325 degrees. As for how long, this is an answer I cannot provide. Every oven will be a different temperature, and how long you first cook it in the pan will also vary. If you want it medium, you will need to cook it until you see the first signs of blood escaping from the first piece of meat (no longer). Likely about 8 mins or so. Feel free to flip them once during the cooking as well (just like in the flip often method to redistribute the internal juices). Don't forget to let rest afterwards. Trust your instincts.

I'm still not sure how to decide when to reach for a cast iron pan and when to use a stainless steel one. In this recipe, for instance, the cast iron pan is heated over med-hi heat and the heat is turned down when the meat is added because it is a thick piece of meat and will take time to cook thru. Now if this recipe was the flip-once method I would explain this by saying the cast iron holds a lot of heat and that one side will be browned as the pan transfers heat to the steak, then the pan cools so it doesn't burn the side and cooking continues. However the recipe calls for flip-often. So if one side isn't going to rest on the hot pan for very long, why was cast iron chosen and not stainless steel? Or am I just over-thinking this :-)

Whether you reach for cast-iron or stainless-steel pan, you can perform the flip-once or flip-often method in either. Cast-iron is often better at producing even heat compared to many stainless-steel pans. The great thing about cooking is that there are many ways to do things and many different pans to cook with. By showing each, we want people to understand that there is flexibility in cooking. The most important thing is to learn the technique and to learn how to adapt cooking times, etc. no matter what the equipment. Focus on what is happening to the food IN the pan...not on the pan itself. Does that make sense? Cheers!

Use a filet mignon or a ribeye. I used a sirloin tip roast cut into steaks because that is what I had. Good flavor but does not lend itself well to pan frying. Way too chewy.

Also I could not get the sauce to thicken. I am attributing that to using store bought chicken stock because again that is what I had on hand.
The flavor was spot on though!
It would reduce down but never really thicken but I am assuming that is due to the lack of gelatins in the store bought variety as mentioned earlier.
I had it a good strong simmer but it was apparent it would have just simmered completely dry in the pan without getting any thicker.

Overall a fantastic learning experience!

I used scotch fillet in the turn often method even though i over cooked it a little it was still nice and juicy and i made the dark chicken stock for the first time the red wine sauce turned out perfect and it was beautiful loved it thanks guys.

I would like to know what one could substitute for wine in making the pan sauce for this recipe? Some people may be sensitive to the sulfites in wine (or just not like the flavor)
Thank You

Without the red wine, this will no longer be a red wine sauce. Other acids can definitely be used (apple juice, white wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, etc), but obviously the flavor will change. Please check out the lesson on How to Make Pan Sauce. This will be very helpful as we go into great detail about how to vary and build pan sauces from ingredients that have been pan fried. Cheers!

Hi! I bought my first Stainless Steel pan at Sur La Table and I wanted to try it out for this recipe tonight. But I see in the video you used cast iron. Should I use my cast iron pan instead? I don't want to ruin/stain my new pan on the wrong recipe...I heard that stainless is difficult to work with and clean. Please advise the best pan for this recipe? Thank you!

You can use your stainless steel pan. You may also want to check out the lesson on Pan Frying before you use you new pan. Cheers!

I have read other comments about sauce splitting or breaking - In this recipe I think I also added the butter when the pan was still on the heat.

Also, if the butter has come to room temperature does that make a difference?

What about other roux based sauces, why do they break?

The sauce still tasted very good!

Cindy, you may want to watch the lesson on "How to Make a Pan Sauce" in the cooking school as we do go into quite a bit of detail regarding this in that lesson (particularly topic 6 and 7). Many of the same principles would also apply to other roux-based sauces as well. For more on roux-based sauces, you may want to watch the "How to Make a Veloute Sauce" and/or "How to Make a Bechamel Sauce" as well. Cheers!

This is basically a bordelaise sauce, right? Try it by adding mushrooms. the trick to a bordelaise is to reduce the wine to such a point that it is highly concentrated, then add demi-glace, or very strong broth, veal or beef. Yum!

The main difference is that Bordelaise sauce typically contains bone marrow and the wine used is classically from the region of Bordeaux. Cheers!

Just finished eating and had to be one the best steaks I have ever eaten , let alone made all by myself. Very important to reduce wine to surypy consistency before stock is added. I love Rouxbe cooking school , the confidence I have in the Kitchen now is just awesome!!

Thank-you
Ken

I wanted to know if I can make the the red wine sauce ahead of time (like day before and chilled) . If so should I hold off adding butter until that day? I think it may split or separate if cooled and reheated again. I have a big group coming over and cooking space is limited.

No, this cannot be made ahead of time. This is a pan sauce and the sauce relies on the sucs that were formed from pan-frying the steaks (and it is definitely not recommended to cook the steaks the day before). If you have everything prepped in advance, it does not take much time to put the sauce together as the steaks are resting. One thing you can do ahead of time, is to reduce the amount of stock by about half. That way, you won't have to wait for that to reduce much once you add it to the pan. Cheers!