"national filet mignon day" news and stories

Happy National Filet Mignon Day!

Taking the French phrasing for a dainty or small fillet of boneless meat, filet mignon is one of the pricier, more tender cuts of beef and is sliced from the tenderloin muscle in the short loin. Typically 1-2 inches high and 2-3 inches wide, filet mignon is remarkably tender but lacks the stronger beef flavor apparent in cuts with the bone attached.

Prized for its melt-in-mouth tenderness, filet mignon is most often cooked by grilling, broiling or sauteeing. In fact, many argue that it's a guaranteed success no matter what the preparation. Chef Thomas Keller wrote in his French Laundry book, "It's easy to cook a filet mignon or to sauté a piece of trout, serve it with browned butter à la meunière, and call yourself a chef. But that's not really cooking. That's heating." If you want to elevate the already extraordinary dish to the next level, we suggest accompanying it with some compound butter or a sauce like Bobby Flay's tarragon pepper sauce.

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Wow, this seems like a rather expensive holiday to celebrate.

It's National Filet Mignon Day, the day when you go all out and buy some steaks. I'm not a big steak eater (haven't had one in years, now that I think of it), and I doubt this day will make me break my streak, but Ask The Meatman has some recipes for Steak Diane, Beef Filet Mignon Salad, Sauteed Filet Mignon, and a couple of others.

Today also happens to be the day that Julia Child passed away, in 2004. She probably would have liked a nice steak and a few glasses of wine.