Whole beef tenderloin

[josht138]

I did a whole tenderloin last night.

Everyone was raving over it but I was a little disappointed because I didn't get a consistent doneness. I had parts that were good but parts that were borderline well done.

I cut the whole thing in half and tied it up to make each part about the same thickness. I made the olearys cow crust paste and coated it. I dry brined for 24 hours prior to doing that. Took it directly from the fridge to a 225 smoker. I cooked to 115 and then took the mid section off my WSM and reverse sear until it was 135 in the center.

I did get a nice little smoke ring on it though.

There were parts that were like butter and the cow crust was delicious but I'm not sure if I need to take it to 120 or 125 next time to prevent overcooking. Any thoughts?

[Huskee]

Sometimes what happens on thick roasts or even on thick steaks (2'' or so) when doing reverse sear is it takes so much longer for the sear part of the reverse sear to actually affect the IT way down in the center where the probe is, that once it starts rising it rises FAST due to all that energy you've hit it with, and you're way up there before you know it. Yeah, I'd say either go 125 (rare) to 130 (med-rare) next time and it should bump up a few degrees via carryover cooking, or start the reverse sear a little later, like say 120 and just do less searing. I view the sear on a thick hunk of meat like inertia on a train- it takes longer to get going but once it does it's harder to stop. For what it's worth it looks awesome!

[josht138]

Thanks! It was still very good. I think I can do better though.