On the first day of christmas, my true love gave to me ….. One tenderloin steak of 1,3 kg and a lot of salt!

I had some family over for christmas and I wanted to do something special this year, so I ordered a complete tenderloin steak. The steak was delivered fresh and looked beautiful. I still had to remove the sliver skin, but most fat was already removed. It looked beautiful.

So, the first thing I had to do now, is to soak the cloth in red wine. Sounds like a good plan already.

Once soaked, I used up about 1,5 kg. of seasalt to create a beautiful layer of salt with a thickness of around 1,5 cm.

Picture is a bit vague, but you get my drift, I imagine.

I’ve added some italian herbs on the tenderloin and rubbed it with some large chunks of garlic, before putting it on the salt.

Now, the folding needs to be as tight as you can get it, since you don’t want to have too much air between the meat and the salt. Firmly wrap in the sides and close it all up with some kitchen rope.

Now, time to have some pyro stuff going on. I had to create a big load of flaming hot coals again to steam this to perfection. Once fired up, I could place the ‘lomo al trapo’ on top of the coals and wait for about 7 minutes.

After 7 minutes, it was time to turn to present and let it go for yet another 7 minutes. Can’t wait … But fortunately I could watch. No need to close the lid for this one, and …. the steaming red wine made the smell fantastic already!

I removed all glowing pieces of coal from the cloth, as they appear to stick to it, using my fireproof gloves, and took it inside to cool a little and then open it up, while cracking it with the back of a large knife.

I removed all visible salt and covered with aluminium foil for 10 – 15 minutes. Smelled really good!

Once done, I cut it up into nice cuts of about 2 cm. and served everyone. It was a really good meal, and was loved by everybody. The meat was a bit salty, and in retrospect, I might have used 2 egg yolks to stick the salt, but …. that’s one for next time, since I forgot to do just that.

Still very tasteful meat and we all loved it!