Grill-Roasted Beef Tenderloin for a Crowd on a Charcoal Grill
By America's Test KitchenPublished on August 21, 2007
Time
1½ hours, plus 1 hour salting and 1 hour soaking
Yield
Serves 10 to 12
Ingredients
Before You Begin
Once trimmed, and with the butt tenderloin (the lobe at the large end of the roast) still attached, the roast should weigh 4 1/2 to 5 pounds. If you purchase an already-trimmed tenderloin without the butt tenderloin attached, begin checking for doneness about 5 minutes early. If you prefer your tenderloin without a smoky flavor, you may opt not to use wood chips or chunks. Serve as is or with either of the related sauces.
Instructions
- About 1 hour before grilling, set tenderloin on rimmed baking sheet and rub with salt. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature. Cover two 2-inch wood chunks with cold water and soak 1 hour; drain.
- About 15 minutes before grilling, open bottom grill vents. Using large chimney starter, ignite about 6 quarts (1 large chimney, or 2 1/2 pounds) charcoal briquettes and burn until covered with layer of light gray ash, about 15 minutes. Empty coals into grill; build modified two-level fire by arranging coals to cover one half of grill, piling them about 3 briquettes high. Set wood chunks on coals. Position grill grate over coals, cover grill, and heat grate until hot, about 10 minutes; scrape grill grate clean with grill brush.
- Coat tenderloin with oil and sprinkle all sides with pepper. Grill tenderloin on hot side of grill directly over coals; cook until well browned, about 2 minutes, then rotate one quarter turn and repeat until all sides are well browned, total of 8 minutes. Move tenderloin to cooler side of grill and cover, positioning lid vents over tenderloin. Cook until instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of tenderloin registers 120 degrees for rare, 16 to 20 minutes, or 125 degrees for medium-rare, 20 to 25 minutes.
- Transfer tenderloin to cutting board and tent loosely with foil; let rest 10 to 15 minutes. Cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices and serve.
Time
1½ hours, plus 1 hour salting and 1 hour soakingYield
Serves 10 to 12Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Why This Recipe Works
When developing our grilled beef tenderloin recipe, we went to the wholesale clubs, where we found affordable beef that, while not ideally trimmed, was far more wallet-friendly than the meat at butcher shops and, with 20 minutes of home-butchering, was well worth the extra effort. Flavor-enhancement came next in our grilled beef tenderloin recipe, through just an hour of salting the meat, wrapping it in plastic, and letting it rest on the countertop before it hit the hot coals. Direct fire was too hot for the roast to endure throughout the cooking stages, so after briefly searing the meat, we moved it away from the fire for grill-roasting via indirect heat.
Before You Begin
Once trimmed, and with the butt tenderloin (the lobe at the large end of the roast) still attached, the roast should weigh 4 1/2 to 5 pounds. If you purchase an already-trimmed tenderloin without the butt tenderloin attached, begin checking for doneness about 5 minutes early. If you prefer your tenderloin without a smoky flavor, you may opt not to use wood chips or chunks. Serve as is or with either of the related sauces.
Instructions
- About 1 hour before grilling, set tenderloin on rimmed baking sheet and rub with salt. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature. Cover two 2-inch wood chunks with cold water and soak 1 hour; drain.
- About 15 minutes before grilling, open bottom grill vents. Using large chimney starter, ignite about 6 quarts (1 large chimney, or 2 1/2 pounds) charcoal briquettes and burn until covered with layer of light gray ash, about 15 minutes. Empty coals into grill; build modified two-level fire by arranging coals to cover one half of grill, piling them about 3 briquettes high. Set wood chunks on coals. Position grill grate over coals, cover grill, and heat grate until hot, about 10 minutes; scrape grill grate clean with grill brush.
- Coat tenderloin with oil and sprinkle all sides with pepper. Grill tenderloin on hot side of grill directly over coals; cook until well browned, about 2 minutes, then rotate one quarter turn and repeat until all sides are well browned, total of 8 minutes. Move tenderloin to cooler side of grill and cover, positioning lid vents over tenderloin. Cook until instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of tenderloin registers 120 degrees for rare, 16 to 20 minutes, or 125 degrees for medium-rare, 20 to 25 minutes.
- Transfer tenderloin to cutting board and tent loosely with foil; let rest 10 to 15 minutes. Cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices and serve.
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