This was an absolutely stunning recipe! Melt in your mouth delicious filet mignon with a cream sauce worthy of this excellent cut of meat. The crab stuffing was wonderful, not too over powering at all. I noticed a lot of complaints about prep time and had a few suggestions. Start by chopping all the ingredients first (the garlic etc) and have that all laid out and ready to go. For measuring the whiskey, it's convenient to use a medicine measurement. You know, like the ones that come on Pepto Bismol bottles. I measured all tsp and tblsp along with ounces in that one cup and it worked out great. I would definitely start the sauce first. You don't need to mess with it and it can bubble along and reduse itself while you prepare the other parts. Cook the bacon for a couple mins in between paper towels in the microwave to minimize mess and effort. Next and while the bacon cooks, start the stuffing and then get the steaks cooked. Once those are done, your sauce will be ready for the final touches. Working in that order, this recipe took less than 40mins start to finish. 5 Stars and thank you so much for sharing!
After reading many of the reviews, I made the following adjustments, made the crab stuffing (doubled) and the sauce the night before because it is time comsuming to waiting for it to reduce. Also, I like my bacon more crisping than soft so I precooked it to the soft-cooked stage before wrapping the filets. You might have to use two strips to wrap a filet if you do this because they have shrinked. The flavor is divine and if you do your prepwork ahead of time, it's worth the effort to put it on the table for company.
I'm giving this recipe 2 stars (for time) flavor deserves 5. BEWARE! It takes much longer than 1 1/2 hours to make. Start it about 3 hours before you plan on serving (2 1/2 if you plan on making nothing to go with it). Also not a budget friendly recipe. Forget about using shrimp stock. This is an ingredient that you cannot buy at your local grocery store. The crab stuffing was the easiest part of recipe. It was very tasty and would advise doubling the mixture if you wish to have "genorously stuffed" mignons. The peppercorn sauce smells so good while cooking but takes forever to simmer down. By the way if anyone is unsure what constitutes "heavy cream" I asked several people (including dairy manager) & nobody knew for sure. Some said "whipping cream" and others claimed "half and half". I found out for sure that it's "whipping cream"! All in all very tasty. Not quite sure it was worth the effort. Since I was the cook thrill of eating was gone by the time I was able to sit down. The people I fed it to loved it. I was over it! LOL! I served it with fried asparagus baked red taters & crusty Freedom (french) rolls. Will not make again unless a VERY special occasion (extremely hot date in-laws etc...) All said it really is a 5 star recipe (if you have the time).
This is the best recipe I have - I altered it a bit which reduced the time it takes to prepare and the ingredients. Crab stuffing - sautee minced onion and red pepper mix with crab meat bread crumbs cajun seasoning to taste a little lemon juice and mayo (until it's formable). I make the crab stuffing and stuff the filets the night before and then just pop them in the oven the next day when I'm making the dinner. On the sauce - to reduce the sauce to the thickness that is ideal it will take over 30 minutes (to tell if it's ready dip spoon in sauce and run your finger down back of the spoon - if the sauce recovers then it's not done). I also didn't do any of the bacon shallots mushrooms or mustard - kept it simple. It's great served with asparagus and roasted red potatoes quartered and blanched in olive oil w/ rosemary.
I really wish I could give this 100 stars! I didn't make the crab stuffing but I'm rating this for the sauce. It was one of the best things I've ever made from this website. First, let me say, that it is time consuming, but, oh so worth it. When my very fussy, picky husband said it tastes like something you get from a 5 star restaurant (and he'd eaten all over the world) then I know I've got a winner. The method of reducing the sauce takes about 45-50 minutes. I kept checking it but it looked like it was reducing, but finally, it seems in the last 5 minutes it reduced to the most best flavor, thick sauce. Then using the crimini mushrooms was so great and the whiskey was perfect. I will definately be making this again and plan on serving it to guests next time. Thank you so much for posting this recipe.
If you want to impress someone make this recipe. I used pork tenderloin and used bay spice in the stuffing that someone had mentioned. I broiled the stuffed filets to brown them and then finished baking them.....it probably was the best dinner I ever made. My guests raved about it all night.
I have been wanting to try this recipe for some time now but as others have said you need to be able to allocate enough time to really do it right. I felt that overall this dish isn't all that hard to make. It's just a lot of prep work. The flavors are great and to reiterate everyone else the sauce was amazing. It tasted like a steak with a crab cake center which is all it is essentially. The only thing i wish i did differently was that i would have cut slightly deeper pockets. (I was afraid of ripping through the steak) I highly recommend this recipe. Keep it your arsenal and whip it out when you need to impress. Like when you're on a date or the inlaws come over.
I made this for Father's Day 2005. Both my father and husband said this was one of the best meals they had ever had. My husband said he wished he could have "Tivoed" the dinner it was just that good! I followed the directions exactly except for the mushrooms. The sauce never thickened for me either but I simply added some cornstarch to it. Many reviewers raved about the sauce. The sauce is awesome but the addition of the crab made it five stars for me! This recipe is a winner! Because I was not rushing to prepare the meal I did not find the prep time to be an issue. I served it with roasted herb potatoes and asparagus. We had the spinach strawberry salad (from this website)also! Every plate wwas clean! If you are looking for a knockout dish look no further!
5 stars won't do this one justice if my husband had his way with it! Yes, the sauce does make the recipe, without a doubt. I think I'll be making this for my next dinner party. We served it with grill-roasted rosemary potatoes and a field greens salad...My husband will be raving about this one for a while! We seared the filets on the stove first then grilled. We had super-thick filets, though, and my husband was worried they would be undercooked, when in fact he overcooked them. So, our steaks were well done all the way through, but it was still awesome. He's bringing the leftovers to work tomorrow, and as usual his co-workers will ask what he brought for lunch (we are both near-gourmets)...I think they'll be climbing all over each other for a look at this lunch!
