Why You Should Avoid Using Beef Tenderloin When Making Roast Beef

Joining the ranks of macaroni and cheese and fried chicken as popular American comfort food, roast beef is a popular and delicious meal prepared in the kitchens of homes all across the nation. Whether it's cooked in the oven on a bed of carrots, potatoes, and onions or slow-simmered in its own juices, a roast beef dinner is versatile, cheap, and easy. According to Meat & Poultry, roast beef's advantages don't just lie in its savory flavor or being good for cold cuts, but it's also "low in fat, rich in protein, and loaded with beneficial nutrients." 

But, as some may say chicken breasts and thighs are the best parts of the chicken to fry, it's the part of the beef that you cook with that will determine the roast beef you get. If you want a lean roast beef to slice and serve on sandwiches, American Foods Group recommends cuts like eye round or sirloin tip roasts. Beef. It's What for Dinner suggests using a rib eye or a shoulder petite tender roast if you want a particularly flavorful and savory type of roast beef for large family dinners. It all depends on the type of beef you use for your roast.

Why, then, are you being told to avoid using beef tenderloin when you're making roast beef? Is there something wrong with this cut of meat that makes it unsuitable for serving up for Sunday dinner?

Now, before we get started, it's entirely possible to make a pretty good roast beef dinner with beef tenderloin. You could toss the tenderloin in a slow cooker, let it simmer, and enjoy it with mashed potatoes and beef gravy the same as you would any other piece of meat. It makes for a good roast beef dinner, so why should you consider other cuts of meat over it?

According to Steak School, beef tenderloin has very little "intramuscular" fat, making it an incredibly tender piece of beef. While a tender roast beef isn't something to complain about, the lack of fat means that beef tenderloin doesn't have as much flavor as other cuts of meat. This means that, if you were to just put beef tenderloin in the oven or slow-cooker, you won't get as flavorful a roast as you would a cut of ribeye. You'd have to add your own flavorings beforehand or else get a relatively flavorless, but tender, roast.

Another slight drawback to using beef tenderloin is that it must be cooked to a specific doneness to fully be enjoyed. As Kansas City Steak Company explains, beef tenderloin must be cooked until it is medium-rare, any higher and the meat will begin to dry out and become tough and chewy. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially if you're a fan of medium-rare meat, you may want meat that can withstand a bit more heat.

If you have a cut of beef tenderloin and you've got some family swinging by for dinner, you don't have to run to the nearest store and drop a few bills to get a really fatty cut of meat to make roast beef (unless you really want to). Just because beef tenderloin doesn't have the same benefits of rib eye or sirloin doesn't mean that it can't make for a good roast beef dinner.

According to a recipe from The Pioneer Woman, the main focus of a beef tenderloin beef roast involves plenty of flavorings and seasonings to compensate for the lack of fat in the meat. This particular recipe calls for whole peppercorns, seasoning salt, melted butter, and lemon pepper seasonings to be absorbed into the meat as it cooks. The relatively short cooking time of the meat, with this recipe giving the roast 25 minutes in the oven, also makes this a pretty quick roast compared to other roasts that may take a few hours to fully cook.

Another recipe from The New York Times Cooking suggests that you give the beef tenderloin a brine of Worcestershire sauce, sugar, soy sauce, and butter to give the roast a caramelized crust without searing it. The beef tenderloin may also require you to trim and tie it, although you can order a pre-tied and pre-trimmed tenderloin from your butcher if you don't have the time for it.