Coffee-Crusted Beef TenderloinCoffee-Crusted Beef Tenderloin

Makes about 8 servings; more if sliced thinner

A whisper of smoke and charcoal flavor takes classic, buttery beef tenderloin to a new level. This is the perfect celebratory, feed-a-crowd food. Tenderloin also happens to be one of the easier cuts to master, so it’s an excellent choice if you’re still honing your smoking skills but want to throw a party. You can serve the tenderloin sliced, as an entrée, or cut very thin to make little sandwiches. Either way, accompany with a variety of barbecue sauces, chimichurri, horseradish cream, or mustard.

Note: There is hardly any fat in this cut of meat, so it’s best cooked to rare; after you take the tenderloin off the cooker, the internal temperature will rise while the meat rests—and the higher the cooking temperature has been, the longer it will continue to cook in its resting state. So you can be confident that the end pieces will be more done for folks who prefer their meat that way, while slices from the middle will have a perfectly rare center.

Prep the meat: Remove the outer membrane (silverskin) from the tenderloin. At least 30 minutes before cooking, sprinkle generously all over with dry rub. Set the tenderloin on a baking sheet, loosely cover it with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until you’re ready to put it on the cooker.

Note: You can dust the tenderloin with rub up to 1 hour prior to cooking, but if it sits much longer than that, the salt in the rub will begin to pull moisture from the meat.

Set up the cooker for indirect-heat smoking: Open the top and bottom vents. Pile 3 pounds of the charcoal in one half of the cooker, leaving the other half empty. Load a charcoal chimney one-quarter full of charcoal and light it. When the coals in the chimney are glowing, dump them on top of the pile of charcoal already in the cooker. Set half the wood on top of the coals, replace the grate, and put the tenderloin over the side with no coals (the indirect cooking area). Close the lid.

Don’t open the cooker for 1 hour, but keep a close eye on the temperature (see page 84 for how best to assess and monitor cooker temperature); when it reaches 200°, which might happen very quickly, close the vents about halfway so that less air comes in to feed the fire and the heat in the cooker rises slowly. Let the temperature climb to between 225° and 250° (see page 77 for how to determine your target temperature). Maintain your target temperature for the duration of the cook.

Throughout the entirety of the cook, be on the lookout for fluctuations in cooker temperature; whenever it dips more than 5° below target and opening the vents isn’t sufficient to bring it back up, it’s time to add a few hot coals. Reload and light the chimney as needed. If at any point the temperature climbs above your target by more than 5°, close the top and bottom vents further so that even less air comes in to feed the fire.

After an hour, open the lid and check the edge of the meat that is closest to the fire. If it looks like it’s beginning to brown, rotate the meat, moving the side that is farthest away closest to the fire. Never flip the tenderloin over; instead continue rotating it to brown evenly all over.

After the meat has been on the cooker for 1½ to 2 hours, use an instant-read thermometer to check the internal temperature of the meat: Insert the probe into the middle of the tenderloin; you’re looking for a slow and steady climb toward 130°. After the first round of wood burns, add the rest.

At the 3- to 3½-hour mark, check for doneness: If the thermometer probe slides in easily, the meat is nearly done. For rare, take the meat off the cooker when the internal temperature reads 130°. Set it on a cutting board to rest, uncovered, for 10 to 20 minutes before carving. Slice ¼ inch thick, thinner for sandwiches.

Serve with Chimichurri Sauce, Horseradish Cream, barbecue sauce, or mustard.