Dinner for 8...decision has been made....

[Qballgreg]

Beef Tenderloin...5 lbs trimmed...from the "Drunk & Dirty Tenderloin" recipe from 'Smoke & Spice'...
Will marinate about 6-7 hours...seer the meat on my DCS grill at about 600 degrees, remove and add some rub and move to the Bradley until 135-140 degrees....let stand, cut and serve....sound okay?

[Up In Smoke]

Sounds great Qball,
remember pics if possible...Love to drool ;)

[Qballgreg]

I'm no expert either...just what the recipe calls for...perhaps an expert on this forum can address your thoughts....

[CB]

just an enthusiast - but smoke then sear is a good method.  The searing will crisp up - like it does in the Big Easy when fellas smoke a turkey and finish in the infrared cooker.

[Smokin Soon]

I have never tried that meathod, but was always told that the sear seals in the juices. Would it not also seal out the smoke to properly penetrate the meat?  Not to sure on that one. Let us know how the smoke flavor comes through.

[Habanero Smoker]

Searing will block smoke penetration,but I believe the smoke will still adhere to the surface. Searing has more to do with developing flavor. It carmalizes the sugars, which creates a very favorable crust. This is called the maillard reaction. It doesn't seal in the juices. When you sear a steak, and then put it on a plate to rest, you can see that a lot of juice will still come out of the steak; collecting on the plate.

Since the smoke for the Bradley is "cleaner" you should still get a smoke flavor. With tenderloins, you have a fairly good surface to mass ratio; meaning for it's size there is a lot of surface for smoke to collect, and you should get the smoke flavor in each bite. Though I have to stress the prefer method is to smoke first; but smoking first I'm not sure if you can create the maillard reaction .

[Qballgreg]

Great dialogue and ideas...I'll give the recipe a try a report back...authors of 'Smoke & Spice'  Cheryl & Bill Jamison are well known smokers....we'll see...

[Tenpoint5]

Habs, I have done the reverse sear on steaks several times. Where you cook indirect to warm the steak and get some smoke flavor, then Sear at a high temp to lock in the juices. I would say that you can still get the "Maillard Reaction"