Recipe: Tamarind Tenderloin (Guest Post from Fearless Grill)

Recipe Source: Jamison, Cheryl Alters and Bill.  Sublime Smoke.  The Harvard Common Press, Boston, 1996 pp. 144 - 5

The weather in our area has been typical New England December – cold, wet, and generally lousy, so we hadn’t had a chance to cook outside in a while.  When we heard the weather last Sunday was supposed to be warm, we decided to look for something to cook on our Big Green Egg smoker.  After looking through a couple of cookbooks, we settled on this recipe, mostly for its use of Pickapeppa Sauce, a Jamaican blend of spices.  We had seen this sauce referenced in several BBQ cookbooks, though we hadn’t ever tried it, and we had recently purchased some to give it a shot.  Seemed like a good choice. 

I used the recipe pretty much as written.  However, I was unable to find 1.5 pounds of tenderloin as one piece.  The local butcher shop only had 4-5 pound pieces, so I bought 1.5 pounds of filet mignon instead.  It is the same thing – just cut into steaks, and the butcher shop sells them for just $6.99/lb.  This shortened the overall cooking time, since I was cooking smaller pieces of meat.  I also doubled the amount of the rub called for in the book, since the steaks provided additional surface area, and I wanted to be sure I had enough.  This turned out to be a good call, as I ended up using all of the rub.  We were a bit hesitant on the sauce, since it contained cream cheese and half and half.  We aren’t really that fond of cream sauces, and thought it might be a bit heavy, but it ended up being really good.  I even put the leftover on some rice that we served on the side.  (Note from Fearless Kitchen: the rice was the "Perfect" Rice that we posted a while ago.)

We really liked this meal.  The Pickapeppa Sauce smelled a lot like Worcestershire Sauce, but had a thicker consistency and just a bit of a kick.  Not really sure why this recipe is called Tamarind Tenderloins, since tamarind wasn't listed as an ingredient on the bottle, but it still provided a really nice flavor for the meat, especially combined with the rub.  I ended up overcooking the steaks a bit – they ended up medium, when we usually like rare to medium rare, but they were very juicy and flavorful, and we didn’t really care. 

Tamarind Tenderloin (serves 6; approx. $4.11/serving)

1 1/2 lb filet mignon

2 tablespoons Pickapeppa sauce

2 teaspoons garlic powder

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon ground dried ginger

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon brown sugar

3 ounces cream cheese

6 tablespoons Pickapeppa sauce

3 tablespoons half and half

3 tablespoons minced jarred garlic

Equipment:

• Big Green Egg or other grill
• Zip-top plastic bag
• Small saucepan
• Whisk

1. 2 hours before you plan to grill the filets, rub the meat with 2 tablespoons of Pickapeppa sauce. 
2. Put the meat in a plastic bag and refrigerate about 1 1/2 hours.
3. Prepare your grill for direct heat.
4. Mix the next 5 ingredients together to make a rub.
5. Remove the meat from the plastic bag.  Coat with the rub and let sit at room temperature about 1/2 hour.
6. Quickly sear the outside of the steaks, then reduce the temperature on your grill to medium.  Cook about 5 - 10 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 140 - 145. 
7. While the meat is cooking, prepare the sauce.  In the small saucepan, combine the next 4 ingredients over low heat.
8. Stir with the whisk until the cheese is melted. 
9. Serve the sauce alongside the beef. 

Comments

[Peter]

The Fearless Grillman has struck again. The ingredient mix here is unique (tamarind) and I'd love to sink into this steak.

[Jessica Voloudakis]

Thanks, Peter! This was a really tasty steak, and it wasn't too much trouble to prepapre. We usually don't bother with sauces for steak, but I'm glad we did this one. The sauce would be good in other applications too, I think.