You may want to ask the butcher first, but many meat shops, when selling
bacon-wrapped filet mignon, include the bacon in the total weight of 6 oz. (or 8
oz. too).
An average strip of bacon weighs 1 oz. So when you buy a 6 oz. bacon-wrapped
filet mignon, you are actually purchasing 5 oz. of filet mignon, and 1 oz. of
bacon. (As I said above, not all meat shops do this. Some, when selling a
bacon-wrapped filet are selling you a 6 oz. fillet with a 1 oz. slice of bacon
with it "free".) Also, I'm not saying this practice is either illegal
or unethical, but many meat shops don't state how they are "weighing"
the fillet.
It may not sound like much, but it can make a BIG
difference in price and what you are actually paying for.
An example: If you pay $6.00 for a bacon-wrapped fillet that is actually 5 oz.
of filet and 1 oz. of bacon, you just paid $1.00 for that one strip of bacon.
That figures out to $16.00/lb. for bacon!
Your best choice? One of two things:
1. Buy filet mignon that is not wrapped with bacon if the cost is the same as
the bacon wrapped. Then, buy a lb. of bacon for $2 to $4 s lb., wrap a strip of
bacon around the filet and fasten with 2 toothpicks. You just saved almost $1.00
on EACH filet!!
2. Ask the butcher if the 6 oz. bacon-wrapped filet includes the weight of
bacon. If it doesn't, then you are actually getting 6 oz. of (ONLY) filet mignon
for the price stated!
As I said above, I'm just offering this tip because most consumers aren't aware
that the weight of the bacon is often included in the total weight or how much
one strip of bacon weighs. I think most shoppers would be pretty upset paying
$10 to $16 a lb. for that strip of bacon, when they can add the bacon to filet
itself.
I hope your filets turn out great! And I hope I've been able to save you some
money on your next purchase of filet mignons!