Everybody loves Filet Mignon. There's just one problem.
A cow doesn't come with very many of them.
We run into this all the time.
People want Filets.
Lots of Filets.
And we completely understand why.
They're incredibly tender.
They're easy to eat.
They feel special.
But when you're working with an actual beef animal rather than ordering cases of individual cuts from a distributor, there's one thing you can't get around:
The cow only has so much Tenderloin.
And no matter how badly everybody wants Filet Mignon...
We can't make the Tenderloin bigger.
FIRST, WHERE DOES FILET MIGNON ACTUALLY COME FROM?
Filet Mignon is cut from the:
Tenderloin.
The primary muscle of the Tenderloin is called the psoas major, located along the inside of the loin.
And this muscle is special.
Beef tenderness research ranking 40 different muscles found the psoas major to be the most tender muscle in the beef carcass.
That's the biological reason behind Filet Mignon's reputation.
It isn't tender because somebody gave it a fancy French name.
It starts with the muscle itself.
WHY IS IT SO TENDER?
Muscles have jobs.
Some muscles do a lot of work.
Others don't.
Think about the muscles associated with movement in the legs and shoulder. They're regularly involved in locomotion and supporting the animal.
The Tenderloin lives in a very different environment.
It performs relatively little locomotor work compared with many other muscles.
And that helps explain its extraordinary tenderness.
In fact, after researchers compiled decades of beef-muscle research, the psoas major remained at the top of the tenderness ranking.
So Filet Mignon's tenderness isn't marketing.
It's anatomy.
NOW FOR THE BAD NEWS
The Tenderloin isn't very big.
Remember our Beef Report about where all the beef on a cow comes from?
The entire loin, including the sirloin, represents only about 16% of carcass weight in Penn State's breakdown.
And the Tenderloin is only one relatively small portion within that much larger loin section.
Which means Filet Mignon represents a very small amount of the beef available from the animal.
That's why the butcher can't look at a carcass and say:
“People really like Filets this week. Let's make more.”
There aren't more.
SO HOW MANY FILETS ARE WE TALKING ABOUT?
Here's where cutting choices and animal size matter.
Oklahoma State gives a useful example of the grilling steaks a customer might receive from one steer or calf.
Depending on the desired cut and steak thickness:
20–26 Ribeyes
22–28 T-bone/Porterhouse steaks
6–8 Filets
10–14 Sirloin steaks
Those aren't universal numbers.
A larger animal can produce larger muscles.
A smaller animal can produce less.
Cutting thickness changes how many individual steaks you get.
And there's another enormous variable we'll get to in a minute.
But the comparison makes the basic problem pretty obvious.
There just isn't much Filet Mignon on one animal.
AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHY IT'S EXPENSIVE
This is basic supply.
You have an animal producing hundreds of pounds of beef.
But only a relatively small portion can become Filet Mignon.
Meanwhile:
Everybody wants it.
That combination is pretty predictable.
Small supply.
Big demand.
High price.
It's one reason comparing steak prices without thinking about whole-animal yield can be misleading.
You're not just paying for eight ounces of beef.
You're buying eight ounces from one of the most limited and most tender muscles on the entire animal.
BUT HERE'S WHERE IT GETS REALLY INTERESTING
Remember those T-bones and Porterhouses we just mentioned?
Look closely at one.
There's a large section of Strip Steak on one side of the bone.
And on the other?
Tenderloin.
That's right.
Part of what you're looking at in a T-bone or Porterhouse is the same Tenderloin that could otherwise be separated and cut into Filet Mignon.
Which means there's a decision to make.
YOU CAN'T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS
This is one of the most important things to understand about custom beef cutting.
If the loin is fabricated into T-bones and Porterhouses, some of that Tenderloin stays attached to those steaks.
If the Tenderloin is removed intact, it can instead be portioned separately into Filets.
Same animal.
Same Tenderloin.
Different cutting decision.
You aren't creating more premium steaks.
You're deciding what form the anatomy takes.
That's why a cutting sheet isn't a restaurant menu.
You can't check:
☑ Filet Mignon
☑ T-Bone
☑ Porterhouse
☑ New York Strip
and assume you'll receive the maximum possible amount of every one.
Some of those cuts are competing for the same pieces of the animal.
THIS IS THE PART THAT SURPRISES PEOPLE
A cow doesn't come apart like this:
Ribeye section.
Filet section.
T-bone section.
New York Strip section.
Porterhouse section.
Those names describe ways butchers fabricate portions of anatomy.
A Porterhouse, for example, combines portions that could otherwise be separated into a Strip Steak and Tenderloin.
So when somebody asks:
“Why can't I get more Filets?”
sometimes the answer isn't just:
“There aren't very many.”
It's also:
“Because you chose to use some of that Tenderloin somewhere else.”
STEAK THICKNESS CHANGES THE NUMBER TOO
Here's another little trick with steak counts.
Suppose we have a Tenderloin of a particular length.
Cut very thick Filets?
You get fewer steaks.
Cut thinner Filets?
You get more steaks.
Did we create more Tenderloin?
Nope.
We changed the number of packages, not the amount of beef.
This is why statements like:
“A cow produces X Filets”
need some context.
Oklahoma State's 6–8 figure is an estimate based on desired cut and thickness, not a biological guarantee that every beef animal contains exactly eight Filets.
Animal size matters.
Muscle size matters.
Trimming matters.
And steak thickness matters.
The anatomy gives us the Tenderloin.
The butcher determines how to portion it.
AND EVERY COW IS A LITTLE DIFFERENT
This is another place where buying beef from whole animals looks different from shopping a grocery meat case.
Cattle aren't manufactured to identical dimensions.
University of Nebraska Extension notes that retail yield can vary with animal size, muscularity, carcass fat, cutting style, trimming, aging and other factors.
So one animal may give us somewhat larger Filets.
Another may give us smaller ones.
One Tenderloin may portion differently from the next.
That's normal.
We're cutting an animal, not stamping steaks out of a mold.
NOW HERE'S THE FUN PART
Filet Mignon is the most tender.
But remember what we learned in Which Steak Are You?
It isn't the only really tender steak on the cow.
Researchers ranked the infraspinatus, the muscle used for Flat Iron Steak, immediately behind the Tenderloin for tenderness.
Number one:
Tenderloin.
Number two:
Flat Iron.
And several other muscles from the chuck and rib also ranked among the tender group.
So when the Filets are gone at our farmers market and somebody looks devastated...
We have options.
Really good options.
THE COW HAS MORE THAN ONE WAY TO GIVE YOU A GREAT STEAK
Want incredible tenderness?
Try a Flat Iron.
Want tenderness plus a lot of richness and marbling?
Try a Ribeye.
Want something tender, beefy and more uniform?
Try a New York Strip.
Want something leaner?
Try Top Sirloin.
The Tenderloin may win the tenderness ranking.
But depending on what you actually enjoy about steak:
Your favorite steak might not be a Filet at all.
And that's good news.
Because the cow certainly gives us more of everything else.
THIS IS ALSO WHY WHOLE-ANIMAL BEEF CAN LOOK A LITTLE DIFFERENT
When you buy beef from a conventional retail system, you can walk into a store and see a case filled with Filets.
It can create the impression that Filet Mignon is just another product manufacturers can keep making.
But that display isn't coming from one animal.
A retailer or distributor can aggregate the same cut from many animals.
Ten Tenderloins.
A hundred Tenderloins.
Thousands.
And suddenly the case appears to contain an endless supply of Filet Mignon.
The supply isn't endless.
You're just seeing the same limited muscle collected across a lot of cattle.
That's very different from standing in front of one animal and asking:
“What did this cow actually give us?”
THIS COMES UP WITH OUR PREMIUM BEEF BOXES TOO
Our boxes come from whole animals.
That means we work with the natural assortment of beef the animal provides.
We can't make every box contain Filet Mignon.
We can't make every steak a Ribeye.
And we can't turn the entire loin into every possible premium steak configuration simultaneously.
A cow comes with what a cow comes with.
That isn't a limitation we're trying to hide.
It's actually something we think people should understand.
Because once you understand it, curated beef boxes make a lot more sense.
You're not buying from an unlimited catalog of individual cuts.
You're buying beef from an animal.
HERE'S WHAT WE'RE QUESTIONING
Have we gotten so used to grocery-store abundance that we've forgotten steaks have anatomy behind them?
We expect Ribeyes to always be available.
Filets to always be available.
New York Strips to always be available.
And when one runs out?
It feels like somebody didn't order enough inventory.
But cattle don't work like that.
If you want another Tenderloin:
You need another animal.
That's the reality behind the meat case.
And maybe understanding that changes the way we look at the cuts that aren't famous.
Because the rest of the cow isn't what was left over after the Filets were removed.
It's:
Chuck.
Round.
Rib.
Sirloin.
Brisket.
Plate.
Flank.
Shank.
And dozens of individual muscles with completely different characteristics.
The Filet is special partly because there isn't much of it.
But the rest of the animal is pretty special too.
THE BEEF REPORT BOTTOM LINE
Why doesn't a cow come with very many Filets?
Because Filet Mignon comes from the Tenderloin.
The Tenderloin is a relatively small muscle.
It happens to be the most tender muscle researchers have identified in the beef carcass.
And there's only so much of it.
Depending on animal size, steak thickness and cutting choices, Oklahoma State estimates one steer or calf may yield roughly 6–8 Filets under its example cutting scenario.
Want thicker Filets?
You'll get fewer.
Want thinner ones?
You'll get more.
Want T-bones and Porterhouses?
Some Tenderloin may stay attached to those instead.
But there's no cutting instruction that says:
Make more Tenderloin.
That's the cow.
And once it's gone:
It's gone.
So the next time Filet Mignon is sold out, don't panic.
Try another steak.
You might discover that the second-most-tender muscle on the animal has been sitting in the chuck this entire time.
Know your cuts. Know your beef.