Beef tenderloin - wikipedia Beef tenderloin Beef tenderloin American beef cuts Type Beef steak Cookbook : Beef tenderloin Media : Beef tenderloin A beef tenderloin, known as an eye fillet in Australasia, filet in France, and fillet in the United Kingdom and South Africa, is cut from the loin of beef. Contents 1 Description 2 Processing and preparation 3 Cuts 4 References Description Beef tenderloin As with all quadrupeds, the tenderloin refers to the psoas major muscle ventral to the transverse processes of the lumbar vertebrae, near the kidneys. The tenderloin is an oblong shape spanning two primal cuts : the short loin ( called the sirloin in Commonwealth countries ) and the sirloin ( called the rump in Commonwealth countries ). The tenderloin sits beneath the ribs, next to the backbone. It has two ends : the butt and the `` tail ''. The smaller, pointed end -- the `` tail '' -- starts a little past the ribs, growing in thickness until it ends in the `` sirloin '' primal cut, which is closer to the butt of the cow. This muscle does very little work, so it is the most tender part of the beef. Processing and preparation Roast beef tenderloin Whole tenderloins are sold as either `` unpeeled '' ( meaning the fat and silver skin remain ), `` peeled '' ( meaning that the fat is removed, but silver skin remains ), or as PSMOs ( `` pismos '' ), which is short for peeled, silver skin removed, and side muscle ( the `` chain '' ) left on. While the most expensive option pound - for - pound, PSMOs offer considerable savings over other tenderloin options as they require little handling by the chef, since the fat and trimmings have already been removed. Since it is the tenderest part of the animal, beef dishes requiring exceptionally tender meat, such as steak tartare, are ideally made from the tenderloin. Cuts The three main `` cuts '' of the tenderloin are the butt, the center - cut, and the tail. The butt end is usually suitable for carpaccio, as the eye can be quite large ; cutting a whole tenderloin into steaks of equal weight will yield proportionally very thin steaks from the butt end. The center - cut is suitable for portion - controlled steaks, as the diameter of the eye remains relatively consistent. The center - cut can yield the traditional filet mignon or tenderloin steak, as well as the Chateaubriand steak and beef Wellington. The tail, which is generally unsuitable for steaks due to size inconsistency, can be used in recipes where small pieces of a tender cut are called for, such as beef Stroganoff. References Jump up ^ `` Beef Cuts Chart ''. Beef Up - Beef South Africa ( Beef SA ). Archived from the original on 5 May 2014. Retrieved 4 May 2014. Jump up ^ `` Psoas major ''. Bovine Myology & Muscle Profiling. University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Archived from the original on 12 August 2011. Retrieved 4 April 2011. Jump up ^ John Torode ; Jason Lowe ( 2009 ). Beef : And Other Bovine Matters. Taunton Press. p. 18. ISBN 978 - 1 - 60085 - 126 - 1. Jump up ^ `` Chef 's Resources - Beef Tenderloin ''. Beef Tenderloin. Chefs Resources. Retrieved 14 August 2011. ^ Jump up to : Aliza Green ( 1 June 2012 ). The Butcher 's Apprentice : The Expert 's Guide to Selecting, Preparing, and Cooking a World of Meat. Quarry Books. p. 22. ISBN 978 - 1 - 59253 - 776 - 1. Jump up ^ Justin Warner ( 13 October 2015 ). The Laws of Cooking : And How to Break Them. Flatiron Books. pp. 88 --. ISBN 978 - 1 - 250 - 06514 - 8. Cuts of beef Upper Chuck Rib Short loin Sirloin Tenderloin Top sirloin Bottom sirloin Round Lower Brisket Plate Flank Shank Beef and veal Production Argentine beef Beef cattle Cow - calf operation Feeder cattle Kobe beef Organic beef Products Cuts Blade steak Brisket Chateaubriand steak Chuck steak Fajita Filet mignon Flank steak Flap steak Hanger steak Plate Ranch steak Restructured steak Rib eye Rib steak Round Rump Short loin Short ribs Shoulder tender Sirloin Top sirloin Skirt steak Spare ribs Standing rib roast Strip Shank T - bone Tenderloin Tri-tip Trotters Tail Processed Jerky Aged Bresaola Cabeza Corned beef Frankfurter Rindswurst Ground Montreal smoked Pastrami Meat extract Offal Brain Heart Tongue Tendon Tripas Tripe Testicles Dishes Steak / Beefsteak List of steak dishes Blanquette de veau Beef Wellington Beef bourguignon Beef bun Beef Manhattan Beef noodle soup Beef on weck Beef Stroganoff Boiled beef Bulgogi Calf 's liver and bacon Cheesesteak Chicken fried steak Cordon bleu Dendeng Feu French dip Ginger beef Galbi Gored gored Gyūdon Hamburg steak Hortobágyi palacsinta Iga penyet Italian beef Jellied veal Karađorđeva šnicla Kitfo Lanzhou beef lamian London broil Mongolian beef Neobiani Ossobuco Pot roast Pozharsky cutlet P'tcha Ragout fin Rawon Rendang Roast beef Roast beef sandwich Salisbury steak Saltimbocca Sha cha beef Shooter 's sandwich Steak and kidney pudding Steak Diane Steak and oyster pie Steak au poivre Tartare Tafelspitz Tongseng Veal Milanese Veal Orloff Veal Oscar Vitello tonnato Wallenbergare Related meats American bison Beefalo Water buffalo Żubroń Other Bovine spongiform encephalopathy Beef hormone controversy Beef ring Carcass grade Darkcutter Meat on the bone Ractopamine - Beef USA beef imports Japan Taiwan South Korea ( 2008 US beef protest in South Korea ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Beef_tenderloin&oldid=803095134 '' Categories : Cuts of beef Talk Contents About Wikipedia Čeština Dansk Deutsch فارسی Français 한국어 Bahasa Indonesia Italiano עברית Magyar Bahasa Melayu Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Polski Русский Suomi Svenska Tsetsêhestâhese 粵語 Edit links This page was last edited on 30 September 2017, at 12 : 12. 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Question: where does beef tenderloin come from on a cow
Answer: psoas major muscle ventral to the transverse processes of the lumbar vertebrae, near the kidneys