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Filet mignon is the tenderloin of beef, a muscle along the back of a cow that is not used to do any hard work. It is a long, slender cut, marbled with fat and so tender you can cut it with your fork. Beef tenderloin is high brow and sought after. It is not cheap, and when cleaned of chain and sinew, trimmed of silverskin and portioned in restaurants its price spirals up again.
As far as meat is concerned, the filet is rather bland, a lethargic muscle that never does enough real work to earn flavor. Meat doesn't always have to be the center of attention. Fancy ingredient don't necessarily taste better.
Meat can be used to flavor so many other things like stocks, soups, sauces, beans and vegetables, that I have begun to use it sparingly in my home. The incentive isn't vegetarianism, I motivated by economics; meat just isn't that cheap. There are, however, many cheaper cuts, those hard working, tough muscles, sawed off tidbits and odds and ends. I have learned to stretch out small amounts of meat into many different meals.
When buying meat I try to be responsible. What did that cow eat? Did it eat beef? I hope not. Was it fed on grain? I want my cow to eat grass, like a cow should, that's the only way it will really taste like a cow.
Okay now I have a cheap, tough, ugly looking piece of meat, what can I do? Season it and cook it slow and low. Coax the flavor out of it until the collagen which holds it together gives up, the bone slips out, and the meat has transformed into something altogether different and delicious. If you prefer your meat rare, try a more interesting steak, like a hanger. There are many options, a cow is a big animal.
*A note on recipes
I rarely measure anything so you might notice that recipes are written with amounts like “handful” or “splash”. Unless I am baking, or messing around with some molecular gastronomy ingredients, something that requires precise ratios to get chemical reactions to take place, I rarely measure anything. Pastry is a form, like a poem. A haiku won't be a haiku unless it has a certain number of syllables. Most food is like a piece of prose. You fill in the ingredients, go along using your senses, and eventually come to the right ending.
Short ribs technique
Salt and pepper the meat and brown it well on all sides in a heavy duty pan. Make a braising liquid and slowly cook the ribs covered over low heat for several hours.
Braising suggestions
Italian, start with mirepoix, add red wine and tomatoes.
Latino, start with onion, garlic and chili, add clove achiote and tomato or tomatillo.
Asian, start with onion, garlic and ginger. Add stock, soya sauce, oyster sauce, sweet soy sauce, and star anise.
Indian, start with onion garlic and ginger. Add stock, good garam masala and chili.
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