In North America, particularly the United States, filet mignon refers to a cut of meat taken from the smaller end of a beef tenderloin, or psoas major. This tenderloin runs along both sides of the spine and is often butchered as two long cuts, with filet mignon typically presented as a round portion from the thinner end. Known for being the most tender and lean cut, it has a milder flavor compared to other meats and is commonly garnished or wrapped with bacon. Due to the limited quantity of filet mignon that can be butchered from each animal, it is regarded as one of the most expensive beef cuts. In France, however, filet mignon usually refers to pork or veal tenderloin.
Usage
Europe
In France, the term filet mignon refers to pork. The cut of beef referred to as filet mignon in the United States has various names across the rest of Europe; e.g., filet de bœuf in French and filet pur in Belgium, fillet steak in the UK, Filetsteak in German, solomillo in Spanish (filet in Catalan), lombo in Portuguese, filee steik in Estonian, and filetbiff in Norwegian.
In the UK, pork fillet or pork medallion is the term used to describe a similar cut from a pig.
North America
Filet mignon refers to cuts from a beef tenderloin in North America. Elsewhere, this cut of beef is called:
- Filet de bœuf (French)
- Fillet steak (English: UK, Ireland, South Africa)
- Eye fillet (English: Australia, New Zealand).
In the U.S., both the central and large end of the tenderloin are often sold as filet mignon in supermarkets and restaurants. The French terms for these cuts are tournedos (the smaller central portion), châteaubriand (the larger central portion), and biftek (cut from the large end known as the tête de filet (lit. 'head of filet') in French).4
Porterhouse steaks and T-bone steaks are large cuts that include the filet. The small medallion on one side of the bone is the filet, and the long strip of meat on the other side of the bone is the strip steak.
See also
- Pork tenderloin
- Beef tenderloin
- Food portal
Sources
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Filet mignon.- Beck, Simone; Louisette Bertholle; Julia Child (2012) [1961]. Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume One. London: Particular. ISBN 978-0-241-95339-6.
References
"filet mignon". Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on August 2, 2013. Retrieved 2015-11-13. https://web.archive.org/web/20130802031948/http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/filet-mignon ↩
Hamlyn (2009). Larousse Gastronomique. UK: Hamlyn. p. 989. ISBN 978-0600620426. 978-0600620426 ↩
Jacobson, Derek (2018-01-02). "What Are the Most Expensive Steak Cuts?". Steak University. Retrieved 2022-11-03. https://www.mychicagosteak.com/steak-university/most-expensive-steak-cuts ↩
Beck et al, pp. 306–307 ↩