The Beauty of Filet Beef: A Guide to Carving and Serving

Ah, filet beef - it's a dish that never fails to impress. Its tender texture and rich flavor make it a perfect choice for special occasions. And, as Ina Garten notes, "It's really elegant and really simple." But, just like any other cut of meat, filet beef can be intimidating to cook and serve. That's why we're here to guide you through the process of carving and serving this beautiful dish.

First things first, let's talk about the importance of string removal. Ina stresses that "Nobody wants to eat strings" when it comes to filet beef. And, trust us, she's right. Those pesky little strands can ruin an otherwise perfect piece of meat. So, take a moment to remove them before serving.

Now, let's talk about the origin of filet beef. Ina shares her own story of how she first fell in love with this dish. "I was at a friend's house in Washington in the 70s," she recalls. "He had roasted an entire filet of beef, which I thought was so elegant." From that moment on, Ina decided to simplify her cooking and focus on making it easier for herself. And, boy, is she glad she did! Filet beef is now a staple in her repertoire.

One of the things that makes filet beef so versatile is its ability to be paired with different sauces. "You can always make it with lots of different sauces," Ina notes. She shares her favorite blue cheese sauce recipe, which involves boiling heavy cream and adding blue cheese to it. It's a game-changer! And, of course, there are plenty of other options, like mustard and horseradish sauce or basil parmesan mayonnaise.

Now that we've covered the basics, let's talk about how to actually carve filet beef. Ina makes this process sound easy peasy: "It's just takes a second." But, trust us, it's worth taking your time. Start by removing any strings (because, remember, nobody wants to eat those). Then, slice the meat into thin pieces, making sure each person gets two slices.

But here's the thing: you don't need to carve every piece of filet beef. Ina likes to leave some of it intact, using the big piece as a centerpiece on the platter. And, let's be real, who doesn't love a little presentation? Simply arrange the sliced meat around the center piece, and voila! You've got a stunning dish.

Finally, no filet beef is complete without a few garnishes. Ina uses parsley to add a pop of color and freshness to the plate. And, of course, there's the obligatory condiment - in this case, mustard and horseradish sauce. But don't be afraid to get creative! After all, that's what cooking is all about.

As we wrap up our guide to filet beef, Ina leaves us with a final thought: "It's really elegant and really simple." And, if you're anything like her, you'll want to make this dish again and again. So go ahead, give it a try - your friends will thank you!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthree things I love about filet beef with mustard horseradish sauce are fillet beef may be a little  expensive to buy but it's so easy to prep I don't mind the second thing is the sauce  is like five ingredients whisked together in a dish that's it and the third one is that I have  this great system so the filet beef comes out perfectly roasted every time let's go make itso let's roast a filet so I know this looks a little daunting but it's not trust me so I  asked the butcher to trim and tie it so trimming is taking off all the fat I know that little layer  of silver that's sometimes on it taking that off too and then tying it so it's nice and round and  sometimes there's like this little end help tie it under and the point of tying it like these little  strings is to make sure that it's very even so the beginning the middle and the end all cook at  exactly the same time so it's going to be perfect so that's the fillet and I'm gonna just dry the  outside and the point of this is so the butter that I'm going to put on the outside sticks to  it that's the drawing so two tablespoons of room temperature butter you want to be really soft  and then I just do it with my hands just slather it on the outside and the point of this is to keep  the meat really moist also then the salt and pepper that I'm going to add is going to stick  to it I actually did this with Jay Leno once a long time ago on TV I had him rubbing butter  on a filet of beef if you can't make a joke out of that he doesn't deserve to be a comic  it was really fun okay so I'm going to just rub this on the outside get better all evenly all  over it good and messy tablespoon of salt I know it's a lot but you really want you've got a whole  filet beef to season I want to make sure it's really well seasoned and a tablespoon of pepperslippery handsthis is such a great dish for a holiday it's not really Tuesday night dinner but it's for  a holiday or for a special event so easy to do and people are so impressed that you can make  a whole filet of beef okay I'm just gonna wash my hands into the oven 500 Degrees it's really  hot make sure your oven's very clean otherwise it'll smoke for 22 minutes for rare but I like it  medium rare so I'm going to do it for 25 minutes and it comes out perfectly every time   next mustard horseshire sauce say that 10 times fast okay so first I need one and a half cups of  mayonnaise mayonnaise is a great base for sauce the key is that it doesn't taste like mayonnaise  when I have the store I would make all these like chicken salad minutes but I'd add white wine or  mustard or something to take away that kind of distinctive mayonnaise flavor three tablespoons of  Dijon mustard and then because I want it to look like mustard and taste like mustard one and a half  tablespoons of coarse grain mustard and then you see the grains of mustard and that kind of little  bite of mustard which is great tablespoon of horseradish not too much because it's really  sharp and a third of a cup of sour cream so the mayonnaise and sour cream together kind of like  mess the fact that you started with mayonnaise should be about a third of a cup and saltand just whisk it all together so you've got a really great high low thing really  fancy filet beef and a sauce that you made from ingredients in your pantry  I almost didn't even have to shop for them I'm just gonna put this in a bowlmaybe a simple sauce but you put in a fancy Bowl looks fancy I actually collect these hotel Silver  bowls they're really great it's kind of not your mother's fancy silver it's like silver  that hotels used to use so it has that patina I love it and that's the sauce okay the beef's  almost done I'm going to take it out to rest and then we're going to go to the Garden so I'll take  the filet Out Boy does that look good I'll cover it in foil and let it rest while I head outside  so when it comes to the Garden I've just recently redone it   I mean the truth is I'm always redoing it but instead of adding things I seem  to be taking things away so make it simpler and simpler so I've got big box wood well  that used to be boxwood now ilex hedges big squares Willows and the four cornersaren't they crazy I love the Willows I think they're really fun and this is Nepeta no it's  not napita actually it's kalamintha it's Napa in the spring but Calumet the later  beautiful big white flowersand I love the geraniums aren't they crazy they just get bigger and bigger and bigger all purple  but it's really simple it's not complicated right and then over here I've got all kinds ofcutting flowers and vegetables got white zinniasa riot of zinnias of course I only use the white ones lots of butterflies  and this is the craziest thing is the biggest basil I've ever seen in my life  I think it's time to make pesto I would say so that's crazy it's almost as big as me but I need  parsley I think it'd be really nice on the platter so like big bunch of parsley with a filet beefthat'll be really great I've got celery here this  looks pretty good doesn't it celery okay let's go back to the filet beefI'm going to show you how to carve a fillet beef and trust me it's  so much easier than like a standing rib roast okay so I think it should be perfect  it's been resting how gorgeous is that so we'll put it on the board the first thing I need to do  still really hot it's amazing how hot it stays under that foil first thing I need to do is  get rid of all the strings nobody wants to eat string so I'm just going to take each string off  first time I ever had a whole filet of beef was at a friend's house in Washington in the  70s Jeffrey and I were invited to somebody's house for dinner it was a guy a single guy  was making dinner and I thought oh this is going to be really bad and the days when I  was making like Julia Child's recipes really fancy French things I was teaching myself how  to cook and I said to Jeffrey we should probably eat something before we go to this guy's house  because I thought it was going to be terrible and when we got there he had roasted an entire  filet of beef which I thought was so elegant I couldn't believe it he baked his own bread  and he made something like chocolate mousse for dessert it was just stunning absolutely  stunning and after that I actually decided that my cooking should be simpler that it shouldn't be  so sort of French and fancy it should be really elegant and really simple I wonder if he knows  how much of an influence he had on me all the way from the 70s and one thing about having a  filet beef in your repertoire is you can always make it with lots of different sauces and you've  got something totally different so this is with mustard and horseradish sauce but I make it with  a blue cheese sauce by just boiling heavy cream and adding blue cheese to it which is so good I  sometimes do it with a basil parmesan mayonnaise so it's like a summer dish or a winter dish  one filet beef lots of different ways okay so this is done just takes a second but it's really  important to take the string off and then I'll show you how you slice it and this is the moment  I always think I hope it's perfect and the good news is it always is so I like sort of thicker  slices and each person gets two slices so wow now tell me that isn't perfectly cooked filet beef  so when I put it on the platter I actually slice most of it but not the whole thing I  think it looks nicer to have a big piece at the end you can always slice more one filet  beef will serve like 10 people that's why it's great for parties or for holidays and if they're  leftovers you can make little sandwiches the next day very elegant sandwiches I'm just using  a small sharp slicing knife truly just make sure it's Sharp get nice slices okay so onto a platter  we've got a big long narrow platter perfect I'm going to put the big piece on the back  just like that and then try as much as I can to put this right next to ityeah I did it and then some parsleyjust to make it look better always looks better with something green on the plate  just right down here and mustard horseradish sauce it's great together and happily there's always a  little bit of filet beef left over for whoever carved it me it's so tender and so flavorful  it's really great and that's Rose for lay beef that's pretty easy right and  the mustard horseradish sauce even easier your friends are going to be completely knocked outthis recipe and more can be found in my book Barefoot Contessa parties\n"