Beef Fillet Piece:

A beef tenderloin (US English), known as an eye fillet in Australasia, filet in France, Filet Mignon in Brazil, and fillet in the United Kingdom and South Africa is cut from the loin of beef as with all quadrupeds, the tenderloin refers to the psoas major muscle ventral to the transverse processes of the lumbar vertebrae, near the kidneys.

The tenderloin is an oblong shape spanning two primal cuts: the short loin and the sirloin. The tenderloin sits beneath the ribs, next to the backbone. It has two ends: the butt and the “tail”. The smaller, pointed end—the “tail”—starts a little past the ribs, growing in thickness until it ends in the “sirloin” primal cut, which is closer to the butt of the cow. This muscle does truly little work, so it is the tenderest part of the beef.

The three main “cuts” of the tenderloin are the butt, the center-cut, and the tail. The butt end is usually suitable for carpaccio, as the eye can be quite large; cutting a whole tenderloin into steaks of equal weight will yield proportionally very thin steaks from the butt end. The center-cut is suitable for portion-controlled steaks, as the diameter of the eye remains relatively consistent. The center-cut can yield the traditional filet mignon or tenderloin steak, as well as the Chateaubriand steak and beef Wellington. The tail, which is generally unsuitable for steaks due to size inconsistency, can be used in recipes where small pieces of a tender cut are called for, such as beef Stroganoff.

Due to the small amount given by any one steer or heifer, no more than 500 grams, makes filet mignon generally the most expensive cut. Because the muscle is not weight-bearing, it contains less connective tissue than other cuts, and so is more tender.

Beef fillet is the leanest and most tender cut, it can be cut into steaks or cooked whole. Whichever way you choose to cook it, our recipes are guaranteed to impress. The reason why chefs like it red is because of the taste. The steak is moist, tender and with none of the flavour removed. Cook it until its grey and you take out the moistness, make it tougher and lose so much in taste. This is known to chefs because we know and love food.