051/18 – Treacle Cured Beef Fillet:
I saw a post by Turner and George on twitter asking for ways to cook a beef fillet and someone replied with Treacle Cured Beef Fillet by Tom Kerridge – straight onto the list!
The Recipe:
Google sent me here
The Meat:
Turner and George 500g Barrel Fillet – £18
I have cooked this cut before in quite an interesting way, must do this again soon!
The Prep:
Simple prep the day before. In a bowl I added 200g black treacle with 100ml of water, mixed it then added the beef to the bowl making sure it was thoroughly covered then popped it in the fridge overnight.
The Charcoal:
Oxford Charcoal Hardwood Blend – Love this stuff, slow burning, burns hot and smells fantastic. My last bag so I will be placing an order soon!
The charcoal was banked on one side as I was aiming for a cooler side to cook the meat on. Both vents fully open for 20 minutes then closed down to 1/4 and the lid down. The recipe says to cook at 55c but I was up against the clock a bit so just aimed to keep it low and see how we got on.
The Cook:
The plan was to slowly cook the meat then sear it at the end so I set up a heat deflector over the cooler part, away from the lit charcoal and put the sear grate over the charcoal. With everything set up I put the meat over the cooler side with a drip tray underneath as the treacle was dripping! A couple of whisky oak lumps were added.
Forgot to add salt so added it later, bit clumped!
40 minutes in it was taking on a great colour. The treacle smelt good!
Asparagus added to the sear grates, just a few minutes cooking. 
The Rest:
The meat was cooking quite slowly but the crust was forming so I just left on the cooler side rather than sear it. Wanted to make sure it didn’t burn but kept the colour from the treacle. At 55c I took it off to rest.
It really did have a great colour to it!
Plenty of juice coming off.
Time to Plate Up:
Time to slice the meat, any pink? There was but not as much as I had hoped for, the meat had cooked more around the outside than I planned. I think the temperature of the grill was too high and I should have cooked it for longer at a lower temp and taken it off at a lower internal temperature. However, from a sneaky taste it was very soft and juicy!
The yorkshires and potatoes were done in the oven as I was trying to keep the grill at a low temp. Good recipe for the Yorkshires on the same page as the beef recipe, probably my favourite ones yet. The sauce was the leftover treacle marinade rendered down. It was quite strong tasting so I just had a little bit with the meat, was nice to dip the Yorkshire pudding in though!
Summary:
Loved the colour from the treacle cure and it added a great taste to the meat. The meat itself was very tender and really nice. Would be interesting to try the treacle cure on a cut with a bit more fat to it.
Yorkshires, Spuds and Asparagus all spot on, could have eaten the whole meal for days!
One thing to change for next time is to run the grill a lot lower for a lot longer, take it off at a lower internal temperature and aim for an even pinkness across the meat. It was late, we were in a rush and the usual excuses this time!
| Cook Difficulty: | 2/5 |
| Cook Duration: | Medium: 3/5 |
| Cook Equipment: | Kamado Joe |
| Cook Method: | Indirect / Griddle |
| Charcoal: | Oxford Charcoal Hardwood Blend |
| Smoking Wood: | Smokewood Shack Whisky Oak |
| Cook temperature: | 100c (ish) |
| Cook time: | 50 minutes |
| Internal temperature: | 55c |
| Notes: | 1: Cook lower for longer.
2: Take it off at a lower internal temperature |