Your Summer Grilling Showstopper Involves a Lot of Wine and a Lot of Salt ...Middle East

The food of Peru has long been celebrated as an elegant alloy of Indigenous, Spanish and Japanese cuisine. In this century, the reputation of Peruvian gastronomy has risen as Lima’s innovative young chefs incorporate ancient techniques and an ever-widening diversity of ingredients from the high expanse of the Andean altiplano and the rainforests of the Amazon.

With that recent history in mind, I had assumed that the provenance of the lomo al trapo — beef tenderloin, encased in salt and wrapped in a wine-soaked dish towel — that chef Jaime Pesaque serves at his wood-fire restaurant Sapiens had been repurposed from an age-old Incan recipe.

“Actually, nothing so far out,” said Pesaque, who is better known in the fine-dining world for his version of Nuevo Andean and Amazonian cuisine at his flagship restaurant, Mayta. Like every Latin American chef I have encountered, though, he has a lifelong affinity for meat and fire. “I learned about lomo al trapo from my brother in-law, who picked it up when he lived in Bogotá. People there often make it for a Sunday barbecue.”

Pesaque’s method, which I observed on a restaurant ramble through Lima a few years ago, is quite simple. First, he soaks a dish towel in red wine and lays it out on a table. He then places a 2-pound piece of the center portion of the tenderloin on the towel.

This cut, also known as chateaubriand, is prized for its tenderness, but lacking in the robust flavor of, say, a rib-eye or hanger steak. Pesaque adds flavor by slathering the tenderloin in mustard and oregano, encasing it in salt, wrapping it up in the wine-drenched dish towel, and placing the package directly on red-hot coals.

The wine infuses the salt and, through it, the meat. The salt hardens into a rigid shell that protects the tenderloin from burning while preserving its juices. Although there is a good amount of salt required, the meat itself is not overly salty. You can brush away any extra before slicing and serving.

A bit of smoky char along with the salt, mustard and oregano elevates the fillet from humdrum banquet dish to a savory luxury. A slice of medium-rare tenderloin prepared in this way has a gradient of slightly more well done to a rosy pink interior (rather than the edge-to-edge pink of a standard filet mignon).

Preparing lomo al trapo calls for a resolute attitude at the grill. Tenderloin is costly, so you must have faith that you are not going to incinerate a prized piece of beef by enshrouding it in a dish towel and committing it to the flames like a sacrificial mummy.

“Don’t be abstemious with the salt and the wine,” Pesaque advised. “It is important that the cloth be well soaked so that the wine penetrates the thick layer of salt. It hardens like a plaster coating that gently cooks the lean meat and preserves its juices.”

Part of the attraction of this recipe is its theatricality. The fire and flame are dependably hypnotic. Then, when the blackened bundle is brought to the table (eating outdoors is best here), pretty puffs of smoke curl upward. As you crack the crust to reveal the cooked tenderloin within and serve it up in thick slices, the event is quite dramatic. Your dining partners will not want for conversation.

Recipe: Lomo al Trapo (Salt-Grilled Beef Tenderloin)

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Preparing lomo al trapo calls for a resolute attitude at the grill. Tenderloin is costly, so you must have faith that you are not going to incinerate a prized piece of beef by enshrouding it in a dish towel and committing it to the flames like a sacrificial mummy. In Bogotá, Colombia, this showstopper is often prepared for a Sunday barbecue. This method, based on a version from chef Jaime Pesaque of Sapiens restaurant in Lima, Peru, wraps the center-cut beef tenderloin in a salt-covered, wine-soaked towel. The wine infuses the salt and, through it, the meat, which grills in that package directly on red-hot coals. When the blackened bundle is brought to the table, you crack the crust to reveal the cooked tenderloin within and serve it up in thick slices, with chimichurri, horseradish cream or Colombian ají sauce.

By Peter Kaminsky

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Total time: 1 hour, plus 1 hour for meat to come to room temperature

Ingredients:

Preparation:

1. One hour before cooking, remove the tenderloin from the refrigerator and place it on a cutting board or platter so that the meat comes to room temperature.

2. Prepare a charcoal fire with the charcoal briquettes or lump hardwood charcoal, using a chimney if you have one. You want all of the charcoal to burn until you have glowing red coals, about 25 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, pour the red wine into a medium bowl and soak a clean white cotton dish towel (about 18 by 12 inches) in the wine. (You will discard the towel after cooking.) Gently wring the towel out so that it is still soaked but not dripping wet. Lay the dish towel on a sheet pan with a long side facing you.

4. Slather the tenderloin with the mustard and sprinkle evenly with the herbs and pepper.

5. Spread 1 1/2 cups salt over the wine-soaked towel, making sure that a few inches of salt will extend beyond the tenderloin so that the meat can be completely encased in salt when rolled in the towel. Place the tenderloin on the salt and press the remaining salt on top of the tenderloin. Lift the bottom long edge of the dish towel up and over the tenderloin, rolling the tenderloin up in the salt-covered towel. As you roll, pat the salt onto the meat as needed to completely encase it, folding the sides of the towel in as you would when making a burrito.

6. Secure the wrapped tenderloin by tying it with butcher’s twine or kitchen string, repeating knots every 1 to 1 1/2 inches. You can do this with a series of butcher’s knots. If you don’t know the butcher’s knot, simple knots are fine.

7. Spread the red-hot coals in the grill to form a bed big enough to cradle the meat. Place the wrapped tenderloin directly on the coals. After 10 minutes, flip it and cook for 7 minutes. Insert an instant-read thermometer through the burnt towel into the meat to check the internal temperature. If the thermometer reads 110 degrees, remove the meat from the coals. If not, continue to cook to 110 degrees, flipping one more time if necessary. Set the charred package on a platter or cutting board and let it rest until the carry-over heat raises the internal temperature to 120 degrees for rare, about 10 minutes.

8. Using a mallet or the back of a chef’s knife, strike the charred remains of the dish towel so that the salt crust cracks. Remove the burnt towel and chunks of salt and then transfer the tenderloin to a clean cutting board. Brush away any charred bits and salt and cut the tenderloin into 1-inch-thick slices, or slightly thicker if you prefer. Serve as is, or with chimichurri, horseradish cream or Colombian ají sauce.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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