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Filet mignon

Cut of beef

Summary

Cut of beef

Field	Value
name	Filet mignon
image	Filmin.png
caption	Diagram of where filet mignon is butchered from
type	Tenderloin
no_recipes	y
no_commons	y

Filet mignon (; ; ) in North America, especially the United States refers solely to a cut of meat taken from the smaller end of a beef tenderloin, or psoas major of a cow. In France, filet mignon usually refers to cuts of pork tenderloin or veal tenderloin.

The tenderloin runs along both sides of the spine, and is usually butchered as two long snake-shaped cuts of meat. The tenderloin is sometimes sold whole. Filet mignon is usually presented as a round cut taken from the thinner end of a piece of tenderloin. It is often the most tender and lean cut. Filet mignon often has a milder flavour than other cuts of meat and as such is often garnished with a sauce or wrapped with bacon.

Due to the small amount of filet mignon able to be butchered from each animal, it is generally considered one of the most expensive cuts of beef.

A medium-rare filet mignon served at a steakhouse

Usage

Europe

In France, the term 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 of pork.

North America

Filet mignon refers to cuts from a beef tenderloin in North America.

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).

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.

Gallery

File:Wit and Wisdom - November 2025 - Sarah Stierch 04.jpg|A medium rare filet mignon in California

References

Sources

References

"filet mignon". [[Oxford University Press]].
Hamlyn. (2009). "Larousse Gastronomique". Hamlyn.
Jacobson, Derek. (2018-01-02). "What Are the Most Expensive Steak Cuts?".
Beck et al, pp. 306–307

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

cuts-of-beef

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