Filete de Res al Vino Tinto del Valle de Guadalupe

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 12-inch cast iron skillet
• •Tongs (long-handled, for spooning butter)
• •Sharp boning knife for trimming the tenderloin
• •Microplane or fine grater for the piloncillo
• •Warmed serving plates

Instructions

1. 1

   Temper the beef

   Take the steaks out of the refrigerator at least 45 minutes before cooking. Pat them completely dry with a clean towel. Season generously on both sides with one tablespoon of the kosher salt and the cracked black pepper. Cold meat into a hot pan steams instead of sears. Dry meat at room temperature gives you the crust. There is no shortcut here.

   Ask your butcher for the center cut of the tenderloin, the chateaubriand section, and have them tie each medallion with kitchen string. The string holds the round shape during searing and the meat cooks evenly.
2. 2

   Open the wine first

   Open the bottle of Valle de Guadalupe red and pour yourself a small glass before you start. Taste it. You need to know what is going into the pan. A wine you would not drink is a wine you should not cook with. The Valle has been making serious wine since the Jesuits planted vines in the 18th century, and the modern bottles from Casa Madero, Monte Xanic, or Adobe Guadalupe carry the salt of the Pacific and the heat of the inland valley. Use what speaks to you.

3. 3

   Sear the filete hard

   Heat a heavy cast iron skillet over high heat until a drop of water vaporizes on contact. Add the olive oil and one tablespoon of butter. The butter will brown almost immediately. Lay the steaks down without crowding the pan. Do not move them. Three minutes on the first side. Three minutes on the second. The crust should be deep mahogany, almost black at the edges. For the last minute, tilt the pan and spoon the foaming butter and oil over the top. This is how the parrilleros of Ensenada finish a steak even when they are working over wood coals.

4. 4

   Rest the meat, build the sauce

   Move the steaks to a warm plate, tent loosely with foil, and rest for at least eight minutes while you build the sauce. The juices need to settle back into the meat. Cut into a steak too soon and the plate fills with the flavor that should be in the bite. Pour off all but one tablespoon of the fat from the skillet.

5. 5

   Sweat the shallots

   Lower the heat to medium. Add the diced shallots to the same skillet, scraping up the dark fond from the searing. Cook for six to seven minutes, stirring often, until the shallots are soft and translucent and turning gold at the edges. Add the garlic, rosemary, thyme, and the crushed chile de arbol. Cook for one more minute. The kitchen should smell like a Baja parrilla on a Sunday afternoon. The chile de arbol is the only Mexican fingerprint in the sauce and it is small but necessary. This is a wine country dish with a Mexican accent, not a French dish in disguise.

6. 6

   Reduce the wine

   Pour in the red wine and raise the heat to medium-high. Let it bubble hard. Reduce by two-thirds, about eight to ten minutes. The alcohol cooks off and the sugars and tannins concentrate into something glossy and dark. Do not rush this. A wine sauce that has not reduced enough tastes thin and sour. A wine sauce that has reduced properly coats the back of a spoon.

7. 7

   Finish with stock and butter

   Add the beef stock, vinegar, and grated piloncillo. Reduce again until the sauce coats the back of a spoon, about five minutes. Pull the pan off the heat. Fish out the rosemary, thyme stems, and chile. Swirl in the remaining tablespoon of cold butter. The butter emulsifies into the sauce and gives it the shine that makes the plate look serious. Taste for salt. The reduction has concentrated everything, so adjust carefully.

   Piloncillo is not optional sweetener. A teaspoon balances the acid in the wine reduction the way a touch of sugar balances a salsa de tomate. Without it the sauce can taste sharp.
8. 8

   Plate and serve

   Place each filete on a warm plate. Pour the wine and shallot sauce over and around the meat, letting it pool at the edge. Finish with a pinch of flaky sea salt from Guerrero Negro, a few grilled spring onions on the side, and a small basket of warm flour tortillas from Tecate. The tortillas are how a Baja cook eats a steak: tear off a piece of meat, drag it through the sauce, fold it into a tortilla. Asi se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •The wine matters. Use a Valle de Guadalupe red or a serious Mexican red from another region (Parras in Coahuila is the next best thing). A cheap supermarket wine will give you a thin, sour sauce. Cooking wine is not a thing. If you would not drink it, do not pour it into your pan.
• •Buy the tenderloin whole if you can and cut your own medallions. The supermarket precut filete is often trimmed thin and irregular, and you cannot get a proper crust on a steak that is less than an inch thick. Ask the butcher for the chateaubriand section and cut from there.
• •Flour tortillas from Tecate are sold in border supermarkets and Mexican groceries across the southwest United States. La Burrita and Tortillas Don Antonio are the brands to look for. If you cannot find them, make your own with manteca, harina, salt, and warm water. The supermarket flour tortilla full of preservatives is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Do not skip the resting step. Eight minutes minimum. A filete cut too soon bleeds onto the plate and the meat goes gray and dry. Patience is the recipe.

Advance Preparation

• •The wine and shallot reduction can be made up to two days ahead through step seven, cooled, and refrigerated. Reheat gently and finish with the cold butter at serving time.
• •Trim and tie the tenderloin medallions the morning of, and let them sit uncovered on a rack in the refrigerator. The exposed surface dries out, which gives you a better crust at the sear.
• •This is not a dish to make hours ahead and reheat. The filete must be seared, rested, and served. A reheated tenderloin is a sad piece of meat. No me vengas con atajos.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 320g)