Sounds about right but if I were you I wouldn't leave it to chance because tenderloins vary in thickness.
So I would get a nice remote thermometer and put it right in the middle of the tenderloin, making sure the tip is right in the center and pull it at about 125-127 degrees then wrap it in foil and let it set for about 15 minutes and it should continue to cook to about 132-134 degrees which should be about a perfect medium rare.

That way you don't have to guess at the time, because you will know right down to the minute when its time to pull it out. Which could be anywhere from less than an 1 hour to 1 hour and 30+ minutes.
If you do convection it will take less time.

I usually use Walkerswood Jamaican Jerk Seasoning which is a thick hot spicy paste and I coat the meat liberally with it, seems to keep the moisture in and a nice flavor IF you like spicy.

Unless beef filets differ greatly from ours, I would worry that it would be cooked to death after such a long cooking time. We would cook a filet for 20 to 30 minutes in a hot oven. I'll be interested to read other opinions.

I have cooked a prime rib that way with excellent results. It came out medium rare and was very tender and juicy. The cook time was much longer but that would be expected prime rib vs tenderloin.

I have never had a bad recipe from Ina Garten if that helps.....

This post was edited by chase on Sat, Jan 5, 13 at 9:38

I'm wondering if anyone has made this recipe in exactly the same oven as the OP will be using, whichever one that is. I would think the cooking time would vary.

Thanks so much for these responses.

Nunayabiz--you've sent me on a mission to find the temperature probe that came with my oven. Have no idea where it is. Thanks for the great advice.

Chase, so true! Ina's recipes are amazing.

Kitchendetective--the oven is a 36" Wolf DF range, so it's an electric oven.

I usually brown a tenderloin in a hot pan on the stovetop, rolling it around to get a good sear, then pop it in the oven, and watch it carefully with a meat thermometer. I also fold under and tie up the "tail" (thinner portion) so tht the meat is somewhat uniform in thickness. When I brown the meat first, it only takes another 30 minutes or so to get it to 20, which is where we like it.

Madeline....there is no way I would cook that meat without a meat thermometer. It is essential to getting it right. I use a Thermopen Instant Read, it's fabulous and incredibly accurate.

Great! Just located and figured out how to work the temp probe that came with the range. I'll most definitely be putting it to use during this tenderloin project.

I would not use the temp probe from the range. Many of them are not accurate.

If you use the convection, go much lower in the temperature setting.

dcarch

Personally I'm not crazy about oven probes. I don't like the probe stuck in the meat for the entire cooking time....but that is likely a phobia more than a real concern.

Do test it for accuracy before you use it though.

Oh boy. Okay, maybe I'll use the oven probe and also check with my trusty Rosle instant read, or just stick with the Rosle instant read alone.

I do most of my cooking on the stovetop. When I use the oven, it's usually for something like baking fish in parchment. The Rosle works great when I'm measuring the temp of the fish, so maybe I'll just stick with that for the meat.

The oven probe works better if you are roasting large pieces of meat, like a turkey or fresh ham. For small pieces you can be off by 40F.

The metal body of the probe conducts heat into the meat and can distort the readings completely.

dcarch

Wow! Okay, that's very helpful. Thanks dcarch.

Rather than "folding" the tail under, eyeball it and cut it off so that when you place it on the thinner end, it roughly balances out and gives you a more uniform thickness throughout. I also find tieing the entire roast to be very helpful a far as even cooking. Season generously with salt and pepper, sear all sides and lay a few strips of bacon on top before you roast. Check periodically with an instant read thermometer until it registers the doneness you want.

Steve

Islay, the idea behind cooking at a low temp for a long time is that it maximizes the amount of medium rare beef. If you cook it at a higher heat, sometimes what happens is that you get a nice brown crust--that's good--then an inch of gray overcooked meat, with a pink medium rare center. The slow/low temp approach, especially if done with a remote thermometer, will yield a nice crust, only 1/4 inch or so of gray meat, then the rest nicely medium rare--'a point', if my memory of French culinary terms serves me correctly.

I did a huge standing rib roast last year for Christmas this way, and it turned out fabulous. Well worth spending $20 or so for a remote thermometer like one at the link.

Here is a link that might be useful: remote thermometer

Thanks for the link, arley.

Forgive my ignorance-- I'm a newbie when it comes to these probes--but does the wire that connects the probe to the timer just get shut in the oven door?

From the looks of the pic, the wire remains connected to the plastic timer unit by a long wire...is this the case, or is it somehow wireless?

The one linked may not be able to go into the oven.

You need to find one that the connecting cable can be heat reisitant.

dcarch

I have recently made 4 beef tenderloins, beginning at a November birthday party, another time, and then for Christmas.

I learned this along the way. In lieu of tying the roast, lay the meat out in it's full length. Cut it into three pieces. EACH piece should be about the same thickness from IT's top and bottom. Not to say that each of the three should be equal to each other but that each piece should be even and will require different cooking times.

The recipe I used for the 3-4 lb roasts I had, said 425 degree oven. It took from 25 minutes to a max of 45 mins. I tried to sear it the first time. Searing took longer than I expected and threw the roasting times off. As I got to be an old pro, I found searing wasn't necessary as roasting at that high temp created somewhat of a crust.

Season it to your preference. When I do it again, I will try putting some oil on the outside as they were very lean, good, but very lean.

I am uncomfortable giving my opinion about cooking altho I am an experienced cook. This is an expensive piece of meat. Don't forget to use timers!

And check out foodnetwork.com for Ina's recipe. Read the reviews posted there.

Thanks, Arley but my thinking is that a rib has fat to keep it moist. A filet has no fat.

"I am uncomfortable giving my opinion about cooking altho I am an experienced cook."

Westsider - you should not be hesitant about posting your questions here. Posts like yours are what keep this forum going.

Questions are meant to be asked. Opinions and recipes are meant to be passed on.

Westsider- thanks for taking the time to post that great advice, it really makes sense to cut it in 3, as each piece can be removed at te precise temperature for that particular piece.

I'll definitely rub olive oil (and some herbs) on the filet.

Dcarch- I'm thinking that any thermometer that involves a leave-in probe (wireless, the one that comes with the oven, or an in-oven digital model) can conduct heat in the way that you describe, resulting in potentially inaccurate readings. Do you agree, or is the kind that comes with the oven particularly bad when it comes to this?

I use a remote Thermometer that has a wireless transceiver so I can take it with me around the house and see exactly what the temp is.
The wires have no problem being closed in the oven door or BBQ lid.
The probes are rather accurate IMO.

I did a Prime Rib a bit ago using the low and slow method cooking it at 250 degrees, although I did it in my Kamado Smoker/BBQ rather the oven.
I prefer the Cherry and Hickory wood smoke flavor.
But as Arley states the reason the low and slow for either Tenderloin or Prime Rib is to get a nice rare/medium rare all the way from edge to edge, instead of using higher heat you get 1/2" or more all the way around that is usually over cooked.

Here is the Prime Rib I did in my smoker, note it is perfectly medium rare all the way from edge to edge.

Thanks for posting this luscious pic, Nunya, and for the explanation of the medium-rare all the way to edges the low-and-slow achieves. The pic illustrates it really well. Yum!

"Dcarch- I'm thinking that any thermometer that involves a leave-in probe (wireless, the one that comes with the oven, or an in-oven digital model) can conduct heat in the way that you describe, resulting in potentially inaccurate readings. Do you agree, or is the kind that comes with the oven particularly bad when it comes to this?"

For cooking temperature probe measurements, thermocouple based probe are typically used. Thermostat controls for the oven are typically capillary hydraulic devices. In order to achieve quick response and less thermal distortion, the probe needs to be as small as possible, this will make the probe and electronics more expensive (see Thermopen's probe size) to make. Thermostatic control for ovens, depending on whether they are electric, gas, or convection, are all very complicated and inherently inaccurate.

"---use a remote Thermometer that has a wireless transceiver so I can take it with me around the house and see exactly what the temp is.
The wires have no problem being closed in the oven door or BBQ lid.
The probes are rather accurate IMO. ---"

If your house has metal siding or stucco walls with metal lath, your wireless thermometer may not work.
If your thermometer cable is designed for high temperature (silicone or fiberglass jacketed cables) there should be no problem inside an oven. Also be careful in cleaning the probe, some may not be water resistant.

The probes may be accurate in the temperatures they sense, but they can introduce temperature distortions to the food you are measuring.

Beautiful prime rib, BTW.

dcarch

Madeline,
I also toyed with doing this recipe on Christmas but instead did my old, tried and true high heat for 30 minutes recipe (also an Ina recipe). I found an article on Cooks Illustrated when I was researching recipes that talks about what arley mentioned and have Inked it below.
I had two reasons for doing it my old way. 1) I was cooking a lot of stuff and only have one oven. Tying it up at a low temperature for that long wasn't going to work with my other recipes. 2) While my husband and I prefer our meat medium rare, many of my relatives do not. So I kind of felt like the reslults of the slow roasted would be wasted on them.
But I plan on trying this recipe in a couple of weeks and will definitely be doing it straight from Ina's Foolproof book, which I got for Christmas :)
One last thing that stood out to me in your post. if you can't test drive the recipe I wouldn't use the Convection mode. One less thing to worry about since you'll need to adjust the time for Convection. Good luck!!

Here is a link that might be useful: Cooks Illustrated Beef Tenderloin

Do you all put the roasting pan on a rack in the middle position regardless of roasting method (low/high heat) or oven type (gas/electric)?

What happened with the filet? Was it good? My daughter bought a filet from WF and cooked the Ina way and was really underwhelmed. Felt it needed more herbs and perhaps a sauce of some sort. My son in law also said they could have bought a whole filet from Costco and trimmed it out themselves for less. Learn by doing!

Posted by ovenbird "Do you all put the roasting pan on a rack in the middle position regardless of roasting method (low/high heat) or oven type (gas/electric)? "

Each oven is different, you really need to get to know your own oven's personality.

Gas and electric cook a little differently.

Gas cook by infrared (IR) initially from underneath, then convection and IR from underneath then conduction from hot air around, convection from air movement and IR from all around as the oven gets hot. Once the oven has been preheated, there is a tendence for the top to be hotter from hotter air rises to the top.

An electric oven when turned on, the heating elements from the top and the bottom both get maximum red hot and cooks from top and bottom by IR. After the temperature has reached set (pre-heat) temperature, then cooking is mostly by conduction and IR, again, hot air rises to the top and the top of the oven will always be hotter.

In any case, each oven cooks differently depending on the location of the thermostat, the kind of thermostat, and how the oven is insulated.

dcarch

Thanks so much, dcarch, Chris and everyone else
for all the helpful tips and info.

Dee, to answer your question...I decided to forego the filet for the party-- based on all of the different comments, I thought there was too much room for error or unpredictable cooking times. I almost never serve a dish for company until I've tried it at least once, and I decided this probably wasn't te best time to break that rule.

I'll most definitely review all the comment again before I try the recipe!

Btw, we ended up doing veal chops and filets on the grill :)

Based on my daughter's experience, and she made it for a dinner party, you made the right choice.