Reasons to Avoid Precooking

• If you precook the entire piece of filet mignon to serve later whole, you'll have to reheat it, with the almost-inevitable result of overcooking the meat, making it tough and dry. Partial cooking won't solve the problem either because the steak will still need both reheating and final cooking, again leading to meat that is overdone. The growth of bacteria in partially cooked meat causes an even bigger problem, because partial cooking doesn't destroy bacteria.

Filet Mignon Salads

• Sliced filet mignon transforms any salad into a main course for lunch or dinner. If you've refrigerated the meat right after cooking, it will cool off quickly and remain safe in the refrigerator for three to five days. When you're ready to use it in a salad, let the meat warm to room temperature before serving so its flavor intensifies. Create a meat-and-potatoes salad with roasted potatoes, tomatoes and radishes, and dress the salad with a red wine vinaigrette.

Sandwiches -- Warm and Cold

• Sliced filet mignon makes steak sandwiches special whether you use a crusty baguette, pita bread pockets or kaiser rolls. Serve cold sandwiches spread with either butter or a horseradish-cayenne mayonnaise, top the steak with blue cheese or Parmesan and finish it with spicy arugula. For a warm sandwich, top open-faced steak sandwiches with Monterey Jack cheese and chopped green chiles, and place them under the broiler until the cheese melts.

Quick Stir-Fries

• Because you cook the sliced filet mignon for fajitas and stir-fries quickly until it's just warmed through, it doesn't have a chance to become dried out. For fajitas, begin by cooking thinly sliced onions, bell peppers and garlic. Then add the sliced meat just to heat it through before serving the fajitas with warmed tortillas, sour cream, salsa and diced avocados. Serve an Asian-inspired stir-fry over rice or noodles, adding snow peas, mushrooms and a commercial Asian sauce.