Tenderloin with Blue Cheese Butter

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"Age is not important unless you're a cheese."
-Helen Hayes, Actress

The refrigerator light goes on...

I love the combination of steak and blue cheese. You find it on a lot of restaurant menus but I don’t order it because I know that I am going to get simply a big slab of blue cheese on top of my filet and it’s always just TOO much. Good cooking is about subtle and simple flavors that don’t overpower each other. This blue cheese "butter" has a subtle hint of blue cheese -- just enough to enhance the beef and not smother it.

Special Diet Information

Coumadin® (Warfarin)
This recipe is NOT safe for Coumadin (warfarin) users.

Lactose
This recipe contains cheese and some of those who are lactose intolerant may be able to tolerate it.

Sodium
This is a low sodium recipe.

GERD / Acid Reflux
This recipe contains GERD triggers and those with GERD may wish to avoid it.

Butter

Butter is so wonderful.  It is such a simple thing – fresh cream is churned, breaking up the fat globules that are normally suspended in water until the fat binds together trapping the water.  

Butter in the U.S. must be at least 80% butter fat, with the remainder made up of water and milk solids.  The quality of butter is rated by the USDA based on flavor, aroma, quality of cream, texture and then given the  “Grade Shield” – either AA, A or B.  Quality butters start with the best cream and you should look for only Grade AA butter.   

There are now a number of butters in the market.  Familiar butter like Land o’ Lakes is certainly very good quality and is very consistent.  Both European and European style butters are now available in U.S. markets.  These contain a higher percentage of butterfat (at least 82% but as high as 86% - 88%).  This, combined with specialty cultures and churning methods, produces a smooth creamy, rich product.  

While I have found the flavor of European butters to be excellent in sauces, using them is not critical.  The recipes where using higher fat butters are more important are in baking, where the higher butterfat content makes better quality baked goods.  

All of the recipes in this book, and recipes in general, call for unsalted butter.  The amount of sodium in salted butter is minimal (a tablespoon has about 115 mg of sodium).  There is, however, a variation in the amount of salt added by different dairies, so using unsalted butter lends reliability to your recipes.  This is especially true in baking where it is important to control the amount of salt, since subtle changes in ingredients can make a major difference in the final product.  

In short, I don’t have any salted butter in my fridge.  Because I use butter sparingly in small amounts as a flavor enhancer, I do try to buy the highest quality European style butter.  

1 tsp. unsalted butter = 36 calories, 4g fat, 2.5g sat fat, 1g mono fat, 0g protein, 0g carbohydrates, 0mg sodium, 11mg cholesterol