Beef Loin Top Sirloin Smoked Done Temperature

For a repast that is celebratory, you just tin't beat tenderloin. Its tenderness and luxuriousness practically scream important dinner, and its price backs that claim up. Nigh people don't only toss a tenderloin in the oven considering—I don't know?—it'due south Wednesday. This is meat for special occasions. And the great thing about tenderloin is that it doesn't demand a lot of piece of work to make information technology fantastic. Simple seasoning, proper temperature control, and you're at that place.

But have you tried smoking a beef tenderloin? Oh, yous should! Have all the ease, all the deliciousness, all the tender goodness and add together a nice, low-cal layer of smoke to it? Please! This dish is a killer combination of fun fume season and total beefiness tenderness, and information technology'southward but going to take about an hour. But hold tight, let's look at what'south going on.

Tenderloin Techniques

As you may accept seen on our blog before, tenderloin comes from one of the most under-used musculus areas on a moo-cow, significant information technology is exceedingly tender. Just this tenderness is accompanied by an extreme leanness, pregnant the meat can be piece of cake to overcook and dry out.

We ran tests to discover out whether a traditional high-heat cook in the oven was the best method of cooking this cut, and we establish that lower and slower heat yielded a more evenly cooked tenderloin than did the rut-blast method, without taking too long to cook.

The advantages of this lower-temp cooking method include edge-to-border pinkness without almost whatsoever grayness band, and a decreased risk of overcooking an expensive cut of meat. Just this method too means that tenderloin is an platonic cutting for smoking! Low, slow cooking is, of class, the mantra of the pitmaster, and the tenderloin plays very well by those rules.

The lack of connective tissue separates the tenderloin from the traditional smoking meats like brisket, pork shoulder, and ribs, but that actually plays to our advantage. Tenderloin will be done at around 125°F (52°C), meaning you won't have to get by the dreaded 'stall,' and you don't have to wait for collagen to break downwardly into gelatin. You just go the meat warm plenty to become palatable to you, and it'due south done. In that location's no force per unit area on the muscle fibrils to miscarry their water, no extreme denaturing of the proteins, but a perfect medium rare (or medium, depending on your sense of taste) tenderloin.

For the exact degree of doneness that y'all like, utilise the Smoke X2™ to monitor the meat temperature. The two probe channels and the long-range receiver make it super like shooting fish in a barrel to track your melt, which is important so that you don't overcook your tenderloin past fifty-fifty a few degrees.

How to Smoke the Tenderloin

For this cook, we followed Steven Raichlen's recipe for whole smoked tenderloin, which is equally basic a recipe as you tin can get just is wonderful for how it showcases the tenderness and succulence of this mild cutting of beef. Strongly flavored rubs volition hide the flavour of a tenderloin, so a simple rub with table salt—and/or smoked salt— and pepper is all that is needed. The meat is put on the smoker without an initial sear and is cooked at a mere 300°F (149°C). If y'all wanted to drop that temp even lower, to a smoker temp of ~220°F (104°C), you admittedly could. It will take longer, just even more smoke season will imbue itself into the meat. Either way, be certain to verify the doneness temperature with a fast and authentic thermometer like Thermapen^® ONE so you tin exist sure everything is just right.

Y'all will also want to trim and tie the tenderloin (or have a butcher trim and tie it for yous). Tying the tenderloin creates a more uniform shape forth the length of the meat, which ways more even cooking. If the tail is flopping around in the smoker, it will be well overcooked by the time the heart is done. A cylindrical shape is very effective for fifty-fifty heat transfer, so that'due south what we're shooting for.

A tenderloin is a great way to gloat, and celebrate big, not simply considering it's easy, it's fast, but also—specially—because it's incredibly delicious. And with your Fume X2, yous can monitor this expensive cut to a perfect doneness that will be the delight of yous and all your guests. Give it a endeavor, I think yous'll like it.

Impress

Description

1 whole tenderloin, trimmed (4–5 pounds)
Coarse kosher and/or smoked salt
Coarse ground black pepper
1–2 Tbsp olive oil

Preheat your smoker to 300°F (149°C)—you can get downwards lower if you like, simply know that information technology will accept longer to cook
Fold and tie the tail under the tenderloin

Tie the tenderloin e'er 2 inches or and then, to create a compatible thickness forth its length.
Rub the beef tenderloin all over with pepper and salt. (We used a combination of kosher and cerise-smoked common salt.)
Rub the meat all over with the olive oil.

Place the meat in the smoker, and insert the probe into the heart of the loin.

probing the tenderloin

Gear up upwards the air-temperature probe too.
Close the chapeau on the smoker.
Set the high-alarm on the Smoke X2 for the meat to 125°F (52°C) for medium-rare (or 130°F [54°C] for medium).
Set the air probe'southward loftier alarm to325°F (163°C) and the low warning to275°F (153°C).

Teh tenderloin ready to smoke with thermometers at hand

Allow the meat to cook until your alarm sounds (about 1 hour).
Check the temperature with your Thermapen I, making sure that the lowest temperature you see is your target pull temperature of 125°F (52°C).

Verifying the tenderloin temp

Remove the tenderloin from the smoker, and let it rest for ten minutes before carving. This will give the meat fourth dimension for the ~five°F (iii°C)carryover cooking that will occur, resulting in a perfect 130°–135°F (54°–57°C) for medium-rare or 135°–145°F (57°–63°C) for medium.
If you lot like, leave the probe in the meat while it rests. The Smoke X2 meter will register the highest temperature reached before cooling as the Max temperature on the Min/Max display.
Slice the smoked beef tenderloin and serve information technology up.

Beef tenderloin sliced on a board