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Butcher Skills

Whole Eye Fillet Breakdown

Buying a whole eye fillet can be a great way to get more value from a premium cut of beef. Instead of buying individual steaks, learn how to trim and portion the whole fillet yourself and choose how you want to use each section.

The eye fillet shown in this guide cost $81.58. The point of the exercise was to see how far one whole eye fillet could go when it was broken down and portioned at home.

Beef mignons prepared from a whole eye fillet

Watch the whole breakdown

See how this particular whole eye fillet was trimmed and turned into steaks, beef mignons and beef-and-onion kebabs, then follow the full written guide below.

Watch on TikTok
  1. A whole eye fillet in its packaging on a chopping board
    1

    Unpack the eye fillet

    Remove the whole eye fillet from its packaging and place it onto a clean chopping board.

    Have a sharp knife ready and give yourself enough room to work safely.

  2. A whole eye fillet with the outer skin still attached
    2

    Trim the eye fillet

    Trim away excess fat and unwanted connective tissue from around the outside of the fillet.

    Work carefully rather than taking large amounts of meat off with the trim.

  3. A whole eye fillet after trimming and removing the silver skin
    3

    Remove the silver skin

    Remove the tough silver skin running along the outside of the eye fillet.

    Slip the tip of your knife just underneath the silver skin, angle the blade slightly upwards and carefully work along it. The aim is to remove the silver skin while leaving as much of the meat behind as possible.

  4. A whole eye fillet cut into portions and slices
    4

    Decide how you want to portion it

    Before cutting everything, think about the meals you want from the whole fillet.

    A whole cut gives you flexibility. It does not all have to become identical steaks.

    In this breakdown the eye fillet was used to create several different meal options.

  5. Eye fillet steaks portioned from the whole cut
    5

    Cut the steaks

    Cut across the eye fillet into even portions.

    For this breakdown, 8 × approximately 150 g steaks were cut.

    Portion size can be adjusted depending on your household and how you plan to serve the meat.

  6. Two beef mignons prepared from eye fillet steaks
    6

    Make beef mignons

    Another section was portioned into 2 beef mignons using approximately 120 g steaks.

    This gives another meal option from the same whole cut rather than using everything in exactly the same way.

  7. Eye fillet and onion threaded onto six kebab skewers
    7

    Use smaller pieces for kebabs

    Smaller pieces and suitable sections of the fillet can be cut into cubes rather than wasted.

    In this breakdown they were used to make 6 beef and onion kebabs.

    Thread the beef and onion onto skewers ready for cooking.

  8. The finished eye fillet breakdown with steaks, beef mignons and kebabs displayed on a full board
    8

    Look at the whole yield

    Once everything is portioned, look at what you have created from the original whole eye fillet before judging the price of the whole cut.

    The video shows the different portions produced and demonstrates how buying and breaking down a whole cut can give you several different meal options.

    Video result shown: 6 meals at approximately $6.80 per serve.

    These figures relate to this particular eye fillet and this breakdown. Every eye fillet can vary in size, yield and cost per serve.

Butcher’s Tip

Don’t automatically turn the entire fillet into steaks. Look at the whole cut first and think about how your household will actually use it. Different sections and smaller pieces can become different meals.