Grocery Store Rant: Tenderloin

Everyone wants to eat well especially for the New Year. Eating moderate amounts of lean protein is one of the best ways to accomplish this without feeling totally deprived which leads to a call to your local pizzeria. Tenderloin, when prepared properly, is an excellent source of relatively lean protein. You can't get around calories in beef of course, but tenderloin is a good alternative to fattier cuts. You'll want to remove all silver skin and side chain. Silver skin is the shiny membrane that becomes extremely tough when exposed to heat. The side chain is a bundle of fat and connective tissue interwoven in scraggly meat that runs along one side of a tenderloin.
If you purchase precut filet mignon from your local grocer, they will undoubtedly leave these two nasty pieces of the tenderloin in place -- which is extremely annoying and in my opinion dishonest. It's much easier to remove them when the tenderloin is whole. After the tenderloin has been cut into steaks it becomes more inconvenient and you are paying for garbage that you have no use for. If you've ever cooked a filet and had that little nugget of fat and gristle hanging onto the side, you've had side chain.
I had a conversation recently with a friend who is a meat manager at a prominent local grocery chain. I asked him why they left this refuse on their steaks. I knew the answer before I asked it, but wanted to confirm my suspicions. Sure enough, they leave it on because they feel it's too expensive to throw away. In addition, most people don't know they are paying for something that should never make it to the register much less their dinner table. They could remove it and grind it into hamburger but wouldn't be able to charge as much for it. It honestly makes me angry that these companies prey on the ignorance of their customers. They are charging an exorbitant amount for a cut of meat to begin with -- $17.99/lb and more in many cases. In good faith they should take better care of their loyal clientèle -- THEY know better.
Don't be surprised when that steak you pay so much for at your local grocer doesn't measure up to what you get from a skilled butcher or chef. Your local grocer is taking advantage of what you don't know.

You heard it here first.


***Note: All of ADAiRE's tenderloin and filet mignon are barrel cut and completely cleaned of silver skin. Additionally we remove fat from the underside which detracts from the quality and can hide bits of silver skin.