Smoked Bacon Wrapped Filet Mignon Steak with Vanilla Bean Gastrique

Smoked bacon wrapped filet mignon with a very nice tasting vanilla gastrique!

     

     Many cooks do not know what a true filet mignon is.  A filet mignon section is only one fourth of an entire trimmed beef tenderloin.  A beef tenderloin has four sections.  The very thin end of the filet is called the tip.  That section is used for beef tips recipes and for quick saute entrees.  The short section that is slightly larger in circumference is the medallion section.  This section is used for medaillon recipes.  Because the medallion section is uniformly round, it is one of the pricier cuts of beef tenderloin.
     Towards the upper thick middle of the whole tenderloin is the section that is called the chateaubriand or filet mignon section.  This section can be sold whole as a chateaubriand.  A filet mignon steak that is cut from this section is considered by many to be the finest cut of beef.  The filet section is very uniform in thickness and there is no tornados flap attached.
     The thickest section of the tenderloin is called the tornados section.  The grain of the meat starts to become looser in this section.  The tornados section is partially separated into two sections.  Tornados cuts of irregular size medallions are what most of this section is used for.  Tornados are often used for quick saute recipes.
     Many American chefs over simplify the sections of a tenderloin.  They divide a beef tenderloin into only three sections.  The head (tornados), the middle (the filet mignon and medallion) and the tips.  Many American chefs flatten a long medallion cut to make it look like a filet mignon.  That makes for an ugly looking steak!  Even worse is when a low budget chef pins two medallions together to make them appear to be the same size as a filet mignon steak.  Most often, a bacon wrapping is used to cover up the medallions that are patched together.  Two medallions pinned together do not make one filet mignon steak!     

     The entire tenderloin should have all the fat and silver floss removed before it is cut into sections and steaks.  I have butchered hundreds of pounds of tenderloin per day in a few restaurants and yacht clubs during my career.
     The best advice I can give to someone who wants to butcher any kind of meat is to be sure that your boning knife is razor sharp before you start.  If you are butchering one tenderloin after another for several hours straight like I used to do, then be sure to have several razor sharp boning knives ready, so you do not have to stop working to sharpen a knife.  As soon as a knife begins to drag, then you switch to a sharp knife that is in reserve.  In any restaurant or club, you only have limited time to prepare all of the food.  It is best to learn fast efficient ways of getting things done.

     Filet mignon has almost no fat content.  There are a few good methods to cooking a filet mignon so the steak does not become dried out.  Coating the steak with a fat like bacon does keep a filet mignon moist and tender.  The bacon does impart some flavor to the filet mignon steak.  It is wise to choose a good quality cured smoked bacon for wrapping a filet mignon steak.  The top and bottom of the filet steak must be seared to seal the juices in, before roasting. 

     The vanilla gastrique was a menu item at the last star rated French restaurant that I worked in.  The chef who made the gastrique always added several extra ingredients and some beef demi glace.  His sauce was not a true gastrique.  I thought his gastrique interpretation that he learned at a culinary school of was rather muddy looking and out of character.  A good classic gastrique really needs no extra additives like demi glace.  If a beef flavor is to be added, then a reduced glace viande is a better choice and it should be a secondary sauce on the plate.

     I must admit that vanilla beans are very overpriced these days.  Four vanilla beans costs almost as much as a filet mignon steak!  Pure unsweetened vanilla bean extract is a good substitute for vanilla beans at a fraction of the price.

  
     Vanilla Bean Gastrique Recipe:
     This vanilla gastrique recipe make 2 to 4 portions, depending on the serving size.  I posted a smoked bacon wrapped shrimp recipe that calls for this same vanilla bean gastrique, so save a little bit for that recipe!
     Place 2 cups of water in a sauce pot over high heat.

     Add 3/4 cup of sugar.  

     Bring the liquid to a boil.

     Boil and reduce the liquid, till the water evaporates and the sugar begins to rapidly bubble and cook like a syrup.  (Use caution, boiling sugar can cause very severe burns!)

     Watch the sugar as it cooks.  When the sugar starts to turn an amber color, then have the scraped vanilla bean pod flesh or the vanilla extract ready at hand.

     When the sugar turns from a yellow amber color to an amber brown color, immediately add the vanilla bean scrapings from 2 vanilla beans or 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract.

     Let the amber brown sugar "seize" the vanilla for a few seconds.

     Add 1 1/2 ounces of rice vinegar.

     Add 1/2 cup of dry white wine.
     Add 1/4 cup of water.

     Add sea salt.

     Add 1 small pinch of thyme.
     Add 1 pinch of white pepper.
     Reduce the temperature to low heat.

     Simmer and reduce the gastrique, till it becomes a thin syrup like consistency.
     The gastrique should be able to lightly glaze the back of a spoon.

     Pour the gastrique through a fine mesh strainer into a cup or bowl.

     Keep the vanilla gastrique warm on a stove top.

     Crouton:

     Trim the crust off of a thin slice of French baguette bread.

     Brush the bread slice with melted unsalted butter.

     Place the crouton on a small baking pan.

     Bake in a 350º oven, till the crouton becomes crispy and golden brown.

  
     Smoked Bacon Wrapped Filet Mignon Steak:
     A bacon that is smoked with white oak and hickory is best for this recipe.  Hickory smoked bacon adds a nice hearty flavor.

     Season a trimmed 6 to 8 ounce filet mignon steak with sea salt and black pepper.

     Wrap the filet sides with 1 thin slice of smoked bacon.

     Use as many small toothpicks as necessary to hold the bacon in place or truss the bacon in place with butcher's string.

     Heat a saute pan over medium/medium high heat.

     Add 1/2 tablespoon of vegetable oil.
     Add 1 pat of unsalted butter.

     Add the bacon wrapped filet mignon steak.

     Quickly sear the top and bottom of the filet steak, till the meat becomes a light brown color.

     Remove the filet from the pan.

     Pour off all the excess grease from the hot pan.

     Return the filet steak to the hot pan.

     Place the saute pan with the filet mignon steak into a 400º oven.

     Flip the filet a few times as it roasts, so it cooks evenly.

     Note:  The bacon wrapping should get some caramelized highlights while roasting.  Do not expect the bacon to become cooked crisp, if the steak is cooked rare to medium rare!

     When the filet mignon is cooked to your desired temperature, remove the steak from the oven.

     Let the filet rest on a wire screen roasting rack for 2 minutes.

     Smoked Bacon Wrapped Filet Mignon Steak with Vanilla Bean Gastrique:  

     Place the crouton on a plate.
     Remove the toothpicks or butcher's string from the filet mignon steak.
     Place the bacon wrapped filet mignon steak on top of the crouton.
     Spoon a small portion of the vanilla bean gastrique on the plate around the filet.

     Serve with a vegetable and potato of your choice.
     The steak in the pictures was served with a roasted chateau style tourne half potato.  Mushroom caps, sauteed yellow squash and roasted brussel sprout were the choice of vegetables.

     Cheap bacon is usually removed and discarded, before serving a filet mignon in fine restaurants.  For this recipe, the nice smoked bacon is left on the steak.  Smoked bacon is cured and cooked to begin with, so it does not have to be crispy brown to be served.  Both the steak and the bacon flavors are very well matched to the flavor of the vanilla gastrique.
     It only takes a little dab of the vanilla gastrique to flavor a bite of the steak.  The filet is juicy, red and tender!
     The 2004 French Cabezac Domaine Zinfandel Merlot is a nice pairing for a good filet mignon steak, but a dry white wine may be better suited for a steak with a vanilla gastrique!  Deliciously decadent!  ...  Shawna