Smoked Beef Tenderloin

This is another idea sparked by a meat sale at a local grocery. I found some whole beef tenderloins marked down 40%. I wanted to buy all 7 of them, but that would have been about $300.00, so I settled for one. I've been using my new smoker a lot lately and figured 'why not smoke it?'.

It was about 5.5 lbs, so I cut it in half (there are only 2 of us here now.) The seasoning that I placed on the outside of it was only freshly-cracked pepper and salt. Then into a low-heat, heavy smoke for a few hours.





Just for kicks and giggles I smoked some jalapeno peppers while I had the smoker going. I smoked those for a lot longer time, then finished drying those in the oven on a very low setting. Then I ran them through my food processor for smoked jalapeno powder.

After the tenderloin smoked for about 3 hours, I placed it on a very hot grill and charred it for about 5 minutes or so on each side



It came out a perfect medium-rare. It looked so good it seemed like a crime to eat it!



I risked imprisonment and ate it anyway. Oh my goodness gracious, it was one of the best pieces of meat I had ever eaten! It was so tender I could have cut it with a dull butter knife. The outside was charred perfectly and gave it a fantastic flavor.

I had some left over, so after it cooled in the fridge overnight I ran it through my meat slicer. I have plans to flash fry it quickly with some portabellas that I just bought, unless I come up with a better idea.

I am going to keep my eyes peeled for another whole beef tenderloin!

Smoked Beef Ribs

This is one of those things that turned out so good I wanted to serve it up to the whole neighborhood just to show it off! I saw some beef ribs at the store and thought that my babyback/sparerib recipe would be just the ticket for them. Luckily they turned out just the way my pork ribs do; juicy, tender, full of flavor.

The secret to great ribs

You probably know people that boil their pork ribs for tenderness. Yes, they are tender, but they might as well be unflavored pudding since all of the flavor is cooked out of them. About 7 or 8 years ago I got the idea of pressure cooking them, thinking that I can get the same tenderness without losing the flavor, and not having to slow smoke them all day. Then I follow that up with a few hours of smoking. It works great! And as you will see, it works great for beef ribs too.

First, into my pressure canner at 15 lbs for 20 minutes



As soon as the pressure is down to zero and it is safe to remove them, they go on the smoker for 4 hours




Here they are after being smoked



Now for a good sauce. I usually just 'wing-it' when I make bbq sauce and it always comes out the same (very well, if I may say so myself) but this time I actually wrote down the ingredients and measurements.

Marty's Kansas City Style Rib Sauce

3 cups catsup
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup prepared mustard, any mustard that you like, I used a plain yellow mustard this time
2 Tablespoons molasses
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder

Heat all this up in a pan on low to medium heat for about 15 minutes or so, to blend the flavors well. This is my quick sauce, when I have more time and ambition I sautee finely chopped onions and add some other things like lemon juice. The next time I make a really good sauce I will post that.

The pressure cooking makes these so juicy and tender, and the smoker gives them the best rib flavor you ever had.