F1 Wagyu Cross Filet Mignon

Real Meat. Ranch Direct. The most tender cut on the steer, taken from a muscle that does almost no work. We cut ours thick, 1.75 inches, from F1 Wagyu Cross carcasses raised and finished on our ranch in Colorado City, Arizona.

Cut Story

The filet mignon comes from the small end of the tenderloin, the long, narrow muscle (psoas major) that runs along the inside of the spine under the short loin and sirloin. It does almost no mechanical work during the animal’s life, which is why the texture is so different from every other cut. Buttery is the word people reach for. It is accurate. The trade-off is that the filet is lean by structure. The Wagyu side of our F1 Wagyu Cross program brings up the intramuscular fat enough to give the filet a richness it does not have in a purebred Angus or commodity steer, without losing the trademark fork-tender texture.

We cut filets to 1.75 inches thick by design. Thinner filets cook too fast and miss the medium-rare window. Each filet is hand-trimmed of the silver skin and the side chain (chain meat), then vacuum-sealed individually. The yield per carcass is small. Each animal gives us roughly 6 to 8 lb of filet across both tenderloins, which is why this cut is priced where it is.

Every filet in your order traces back to one animal we raised. Born on the ranch. Raised on the ranch. Finished on the ranch. The lot code on the vacuum pack ties to one harvest date.

Marbling and Grading

Target BMS: 5 to 7 on the Japanese scale (filets always grade lower than ribeyes from the same carcass because the muscle is leaner by design). USDA grade equivalent: high Choice to low Prime. Color: deep red, slightly darker than the strip or ribeye.

How It Ships

Vacuum-sealed within four hours of butcher. Flash-frozen at minus 30 F in our on-ranch processing facility. Packed in an insulated cooler with reusable gel packs sized to your zip code’s transit window. Ships from Colorado City, Arizona via two-day ground or overnight depending on distance.

Suggested Cooking Method

Hot pan or grill, sear hard on the top and bottom faces (2 to 3 min per side), then sear the edges briefly while the meat is upright. Pull at 125 to 130 for medium-rare. Compound butter while it rests. See [INSERT BLOG LINK: Cooking Filet Mignon at Home].

Cut Specs

What’s Different About Circle 7

The filet is the cut where supply blending hurts you the most. A blended filet from a commodity Angus animal is structurally identical to a blended filet from a high-end Angus animal. The difference shows up in marbling and texture, and you cannot see it from the outside of a vacuum pack. With us, you can see it. The lot code traces to one animal in our F1 Wagyu Cross program. We can tell you the harvest date and the finish ration. That visibility is the entire point of buying ranch direct.

Customer FAQs

Q: Why are filets so much smaller than other steaks? A: The tenderloin is a small, narrow muscle. There is not much of it per animal. A 1.75 inch cut yields the half-pound spec you see.

Q: Should I bacon-wrap it? A: That is a choice. The Wagyu cross gives the filet more fat than a purebred Angus filet, so the bacon is not strictly necessary for moisture. If you like the flavor, do it. We do not.

Q: Can I sous vide it? A: Yes. 130 F for 1 to 2 hours, then a hard sear on all faces. Works very well for filets.

Q: How will it arrive? A: Frozen solid, vacuum-sealed, packed in an insulated cooler with gel packs.

Q: How long can I keep it frozen? A: 12 months at zero F for best quality.

Q: What’s the silver skin? A: The tough silvery membrane that wraps part of the tenderloin. We remove it during trim. You will not need to do any further trimming before cooking.

Pairing Recommendations

Pair with our F1 Wagyu Cross NY Strip for a porterhouse-style plate, or grab the Steakhouse Starter Bundle. Sides: bearnaise, hasselback potatoes, a glass of pinot noir.

Storage Instructions

Keep frozen at zero F until ready to use. Thaw in the refrigerator 12 to 18 hours before cooking. Once thawed, cook within 3 days. Do not thaw at room temperature.

Related

• Story: How We Built the F1 Wagyu Cross Program
• Blog: Cooking Filet Mignon at Home
• Product: F1 Wagyu Cross Bone-In Ribeye
• Product: Steakhouse Starter Bundle

Image Specs

• Hero: 2400x1600, raw filet top-down, upright on butcher paper
• Beauty: 1600x1600, three-quarter angle showing thickness and shape
• Cooked: 2400x1600, sliced through middle, plated with butter pat
• Package shot: 1200x1200, vacuum-sealed pack with Circle 7 label
• Cut diagram: 1600x1200, tenderloin highlighted on side-of-beef illustration

Schema