Secret Santa’s Hickory Scotch Fillet

Roman Matla
Dec 18, 2011
2 min read

We’re Baaaaaaaaaaaaaack! After what seems like an eternity, Heather and I decided that it was about time that I add a new blog entry. Let me say that the last few months, or at least since our last post which was around Thanksgiving, life has been a crazy roller coaster ride for us all. Thankfully, everything is absolutely perfect now and as with all things good, we wanted to add a wee bit more to our humble Big Green Asian Egg blog. Thanks to all of you who have been patiently waiting and quietly encouraging more content. For you, this post…. Hickory Smoked, Scotch Fillet, with additives from a “Secret Santa” at work.

Now this post is eerily familiar if you’ve seen our beef section, its the same recipe for the beef roast with béarnaise but with a a few tweaks along the way. The difference this time is that I used hickory blocks to help with a smokey flavour along with a scotch fillet cut and of course two new ingredients from my Secret Santa at work. Word got out that I love to cook and so Santa got me a collection of oils and an amazing Cassis puree vinegar (which made for an amazing salad dressing!) The oil that I used both on the roast and the potatoes was A’Lolivier, a thyme infused olive oil that is nothing short of brilliant!

For the original recipe, click here: http://biggreenasianegg.wordpress.com/2011/05/29/beef-roast-with-homemade-bearnaise-sauce/

The method I employed for tonight’s dinner was simple. Got the egg up to about 600 degrees F for the searing step. Once seared on all sides (about 1.5 minutes on each side) I lowered the temperature to a balmy 400 degrees F. I initially used a tiered rack and tried to put the beef over the roast potato. Why waste all the drippings when you can reintroduce that flavour into the tatties? I set the timer for 25 minutes and let the egg do it’s thing. With 10 minutes left, I carefully removed the tiered grids and simply put the roast next to the potatoes to finish closer to the charcoal. The result was magic. Nicely crisped outside without any drying out of the insides whatsoever.

Once the timer pinged, I removed the fillet roast and wrapped it in aluminium foil and a tea towel and let it rest for 15-20 minutes. By the time the beef had rested well, I was able to heat up the béarnaise sauce (which was probably the best béarnaise to date), get the tatties all sorted and Heather made a spinach and beetroot salad with the Cassis vinaigrette and brie cheese…YUM!

All said and done, it was a great meal and one that the Mcara family surely will kick themselves for not having! (You see, they were supposed to have dinner with us! YOU LOSE!)