Grilled Filet Mignon Over Charcoal

Filet mignon is hands down one of my favorite cuts of meat to grill. I have been hearing about this Vortex (in)direct heat shield that really gets a grill hot for searing steaks and cooking wings. I had to order one for myself and give it a try. Let me just say… I grilled some of the best filet mignons I have ever grilled. The Vortex is certainly a game-changer when it comes to increasing cooking temperature on a charcoal kettle grill.

Video

Vortex (in)direct Heat

The Vortex is a simple piece of stainless steel wrapped to form a cone. The narrow end will force serious heat into a kettle grill. The wider opening is used for more indirect cooking options. It provides a great deal of heat control and allows cooking at either very hot searing temperatures or low and slow cooking indirect heat. With charcoal inside the Vortex, the metal forces heat up the middle of the cone and distributes it evenly to the outer edges of the grill grate. The opposite occurs when you flip it over and place the charcoal around the outer perimeter. The heat is directed up and around the meat providing lower temperature (in)direct cooking.

I have the 22 inch Weber Master-touch kettle grill so I purchased the medium sized Vortex.

Grilled Filet Mignon

For my first use of the Vortex, I wanted to use direct heat to cook filets. True to the Vortex’s description, the Weber Kettle grill quickly heated to over 500 degrees.

Once the grill was at maximum temperature, I placed the filets directly over the heat to sear both sides for 1-minute per side. After searing, remove the filets from the direct heat and place them on the outer areas of the cooking grate. With the lid closed, cook the filet mignon for several minutes until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 20 degrees BELOW your desired cooked temperature. I prefer my filet mignon medium-rare to medium so in this case, I cooked until the internal temperature reached 130 degrees before placing in the cast iron skillet.

For this filet mignon recipe, I am going to use a reduction and finish the filets in a cast-iron skillet over the direct heat from the Vortex. My reduction recipe is simple:

• 3 sprigs of rosemary
• 1/2 cup of butter
• 3 minced cloves of garlic
• 3 leaves of fresh basil

Place into the cast-iron skillet and let butter melt mixing in the garlic, rosemary, and basil. Once the butter has melted place the filet mignon into the cast-iron skillet. Using a spoon, continue to mix while pouring spoonfuls of the reduction across each of the filets.

Using a meat thermometer, cook until the internal temperature of the filets reaches your desired final cooked temperature. These filets are close to 2 inches thick so I cooked them to 150 degrees which is a medium temperature. You can certainly cook to preference but I highly recommend not overcooking them.

The finished product turned out amazing! These filets were super moist, tender, and the flavor from the reduction complemented the grilled flavor perfectly. This is a perfect filet made right at home with flavor exceeding what you will typically find at a high-end steak house.

As a side note to this recipe, I cooked using Kingsford original charcoal.

Grilled Filet Mignon Recipe

Print