Beef Tenderloin Roast With Cracked Pepper

This elegant yet simple dish from The New Basics cookbook (1989) has become the traditional star of our Christmas dinner. If there’s one thing our family agrees on, it’s beef. This roast is really easy to prepare and can be assembled several hours ahead of time. The seasonings complement the meat perfectly, neither overpowering nor disappearing. I find I need to buy an extra half fillet if I want to have leftovers!

The only disagreement is over what to do with the meat juice that’s left on the serving platter when all the meat is gone. Willie, our Labrador, thinks it should be his. He thinks everything edible (and some non-edible things) should be his. My sister and I grew up sopping up the juice with a piece of bread as an extra treat. It’s so yummy! We called it “soppin’s,” which eventually was shortened to “soppy.” To my surprise, not everyone finds this a reasonable thing to do! We hope to someday convince certain people of the error of their ways. Or not. After all, if some folks don’t care for soppy, that leaves more for the rest of us!

A note about ingredients: You want cracked pepper, not ground. For years, I’d set my pepper mill to its coarsest setting and grind by hand. As the family grew, that became too tedious, time-consuming, and tiring. I switched to pounding the peppercorns in a heavy duty plastic bag with a meat mallet, which was never as successful. Now I cut myself a break and just buy already-cracked pepper from Penzeys.

Give this recipe a try for your next special occasion meal, and let me know in the comments what you think about soppy!

You’ll find a printer-friendly version of the recipe at the bottom of this page.

Ingredients:

1 Beef tenderloin roast (about 4 lbs), rolled and tied

2 cloves garlic

2 Tbsp cracked black pepper

½ tsp dried thyme

½ tsp kosher salt

Preparation:

1.) Preheat oven to 425°. Thinly slice the garlic. I use my gizmo, but a knife works just as well.

2.) Using the tip of a sharp knife, cut slits all over the meat, and insert the garlic slices into them.

3.) Scatter the pepper on a platter or right in the roasting pan. Roll the beef in the pepper, pressing gently to help all the pepper stick to the meat.

4.) Sprinkle with the thyme & salt.

5.) Place the meat in a shallow roasting pan, and cook for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350°, and roast an additional 20 minutes for rare*. Let rest 10 minutes before carving.

*Internal temperature of 125° – 130°F for rare, 135° – 140° for medium

Beef Tenderloin Roast With Cracked Pepper

Servings: 6
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Ingredients

1 Beef fillet roast (about 4 lbs), rolled and tied
2 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp cracked black pepper
½ tsp dried thyme
½ tsp kosher salt

Directions

1.) Preheat oven to 425°. Thinly slice the garlic.
2.) Using the tip of a sharp knife, cut slits all over the meat, and insert the garlic slices into them.
3.) Scatter the pepper on a platter or right in the roasting pan. Roll the beef in the pepper, pressing gently to help all the pepper stick to the meat.
4.) Sprinkle with the thyme & salt.
5.) Place fillet in a shallow roasting pan, and cook for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350°, and roast an additional 20 minutes for rare.
(internal temperature 125° – 130° rare, 135° – 140° medium)
Let rest 10 minutes before carving.