The day before: Wash the beef fillet, pat dry and parry carefully. Due to the low temperatures, in this type of preparation, in contrast to e.g. braised dishes, connective tissue does not change to gelatin, so it must be completely removed. Rub the fillet well with salt and pack it as tightly and airtight as possible in a bag, vacuum seal if possible and park in the refrigerator for 12 - 24 hours.
4 hours before eating, take the fillet out of the refrigerator and leave it wrapped up to warm up at room temperature.
About 3 hours before eating, put a suitable pan (a flat roasting pan, serving plate is also possible, of course) in the oven and preheat it to 75 degrees.
Heat a heavy pan, for example a cast pan, with the clarified butter at maximum level until it starts to smoke slightly. Now fry the beef fillet on all sides over high heat until it is hot, dark brown. Attention! This can be a bit of a mess due to splashing fat.
Searing takes about 10 minutes in total, depending on the pan / stove. Now take the meat out of the pan and set it aside for a moment. Remove the pan from the heat to cool.
Use the short cooling time to prepare the herbs. Mix with the chopped rosemary, oregano, marjoram and thyme. The rosemary should be fresh, the remaining herbs can also be dried. If you want to use garlic (you can of course leave it out), it is essential to take the dried garlic out of the mill.
I`m not sure why, but fresh garlic seems to burn too quickly and it tastes bitter. Simply take the amount by feeling - everyone has their own preferences when it comes to garlic. I take about half a teaspoon of dried garlic from the grinder.
The pan should now be cool enough not to burn butter. If you have a particularly heavy pan, you can help a little by holding it at a slight angle under running water and cooling it off from the outside. Now melt the butter together with the herb mixture in the pan to dissolve the roasting from the searing.
Now roll the fillet thoroughly on all sides in the herb-butter-roasting mixture, add fresh pepper from the grinder and, if necessary, a little more salt (that depends on the fillet piece, especially with a thinner piece or the fillet tip it is not more necessary).
Put the fillet in the pan waiting in the stove and pour the remaining herb stock over it.
Turn the stove down to 65 degrees. Set the sauté pan aside for later and do not wash it off.
The fillet stays in the oven for the next 2.5 hours. During this time, pour the herb butter that collects under the meat 3 times over it. If you want the degree of doneness more in the direction of dark pink, simply reduce the temperature by 5 - 10 degrees after half an hour.
At the end of the cooking time, take the fillet out of the oven and set it aside for a moment.
Preheat the sauté pan to medium heat again, making sure that the pan does not get too hot, otherwise the butter will burn. Briefly sear the fillet with the herbs on all sides again. This results in a finer and more intense crust.
Now you can cut the fillet and serve it straight away.
If everything has been done correctly, not a single drop of juice will come out during the entire preparation process and even after the meat has been sliced - assuming the meat is of reasonable quality.
Tip:
If the serving has to be delayed, e.g. because the guests are late, the time spent in the oven can easily be extended if you turn the oven down by 5 degrees half an hour before the end of the cooking time. Then an hour longer doesn`t matter.
You can lengthen the butter and herb sauce that is left over at the end to make a rather intense herb sauce. The easiest way to do this is to briefly roast a teaspoon of tomato paste and then extinguish with 200 ml of beef broth, stir well and thicken or bind to the desired consistency. But it can get quite salty - so at least on the first try you shouldn`t necessarily rely on it to work the way you imagine it would.
Anything you would eat with a steak is suitable as a side dish. Personally, I think green beans and rosemary potatoes are perfect.
On the photos you can see this year`s Christmas roast. I used the thick end of a whole Wagyu fillet. There was also Thuringian dumplings, your choice of red cabbage or green beans and a fruity pepper sauce.
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