I'm sure you've all heard of a beef wellington, this main course is popular among popular items. Any meat lover would be ecstatic to have the opportunity to try one of these. The wellington is a like attending a symphony orchestra but with flavours and textures that you would not believe. At first glance the layers are look quite simple, but the amount of labour that goes into one of these treats is pure dedication to the craft of cooking. There are numerous essential steps along the way to truly bring out the best flavours from the ingredients and making use of the natural cooking processes. This dish requires patience, dedication, and attention to fine detail.
The origins of this dish are unclear, aside from its name. This dish was named after The Duke of Wellington, who was a hero during the Battle of Waterloo. There are some origins seen from Africa where the original meat used was Goat. Then the beef wellington with the puff pastry comes from French origins, which was also changed after the Battle of Waterloo. After a number of years Gordon Ramsay perfected the dish which is what this recipe I used is based off of. I'll break down some of the steps further for a more simplistic method.
Time to cook: 2.5 hours
Active cooking: 1 hour
Serves: 4
Utensils
Saran Wrap/ Butcher's twine (string)
Pan
Baking sheet
knife
Plate for cooling
Oven
Food Processor (if you don't have one you can just finely cut)
Tongs
Meat Thermometer
Medium Sauce Pot
Stir stick or chop stick
Ingredients for the Wellington
Beef Tenderloin (Trimmed to remove excess but keep the trimmings for the sauce)
About 8-10 inches in length and 3- 4 inches in diameter
Kosher Salt and Freshly Cracked Pepper
Honey Dijon Mustard
400g of Cremini Mushrooms (brown), cleaned
4 sprigs of thyme (leaves only)
Garlic (sliced)
Olive Oil
Puff Pastry (thawed at room temperature for 2 hours or in the fridge overnight
6-10 slices of Prosciutto
Egg yolks
Sprinkle of flour
Instructions
Trim the meat the night before, and sprinkle salt and pepper onto a large plate, enough to have a single layer on it. Then roll the tenderloin on it and massage it until all of the seasoning is incorporated on the meat evenly throughout. Don't forget the sides!
Next either using Butcher's Twine or saran wrap tightly bound the meat into a cylinder shape and refrigerate over night so it holds its shape. If you're using saran wrap, tie off the ends like a tootsie roll. The more you wind the tighter it is and the better it is.
On the day of, remove the tenderloin from the fridge and let it sit for a bit. Heat up a pan on medium high heat until very hot. THIS IS KEY. Once hot, add a good amount of olive oil to the pan. Place the meat in the pan and seer for about 1 minute per side, ensuring that it is nicely browned all around. Seering at the edge of the pan will speed up the process and make it more even.
Once seered, remove from the pan into a plate and IMMEDIATELY AFTER brush honey dijon on all sides and allow to cool. This allows for the tenderloin to reabsorb the Honey Dijon naturally. As it cools it allows the external flavours to penetrate deeper into the tenderloin.
While that is cooling, blend up the mushrooms in a food processor, along with a few pinches of salt and pepper. It should be very fine and almost pasty-like.
Heat a pan until very hot. DO NOT add any liquid as the paste must be very dry. Add the mushrooms and the leaves of the few sprigs of thyme into the mixture and continue heating at a high temperature, stirring occassional so it doesn't burn to the bottom of the pan.
Once sufficently dry, place the mushrooms on tin foil or a plate to allow to cool.
Next, lay down some saran wrap that can wrap around the tenderloin at least twice.
On the wrap, lay down the prosciutto slightly overlapping each other, leaving no gaps. 2 rows using the long part of the rectangle and 3-5 columns using the shorter part of the rectangles. This should match the length of the tenderloin.
With the cooled mushrooms, add a thin layer of mushrooms on the prosciutto and pack it down like a paste ensuring it is even throughout.
Place the tenderloin near the beginning and using the saran wrap, roll the prosciutto and mushroom mix tightly around the meat and then seal with the saran wrap and tighten it using the tootsie roll technique. Place in the fridge for 15 minutes to help it set.
Preheat the oven to 400 F during this time. This would also be a good time to start the red wine Aujus.
After 15 minutes, set up another saran wrap. This time, sprinkle some flour on it. and lay down the pastry puff. Roll out to ensure that it is very flat.
Remove the meat from the fridge and roll it until the pastry puff surround the tenderloin. Remove an excess. using the heat of your fingers fuse the two ends together by rubbing them together gently and any other part that may rip. Seal one more time in the saran wrap and refrigerate to allow it to firm up.
Once set, remove from the saran wrap. Brush the egg yolk over the top of the wellington and using the back of the knife draw a design of your choosing. Sprinkle salt on top to make the crust crunchy. Place in the oven for 30 minutes or until internal temperature reads ~125 F for medium rare. Once it looks good, leave the meat to rest for 10 minutes. DO NOT do anything further. DO NOT touch. Just leave it alone to continue cooking and reabsorbing all the flavours.
Serve with sides of your choosing and your Aujus.
Ingredients for the Red Wine Aujus
1 Bottle of Dry Red wine
The beef trimmings
2-3 Shallots sliced
2 Tbsp of Olive oil
~12 peppercorns
Bay leaf
2 sprigs of thyme
Red wine vinegar
750 ml of beef broth
Instructions for the Red Wine Aujus
Heat the oil in a medium pot.
Fry the beef trimmings for a few minutes so that it is nicely browned on all sides.
Throw in the shopped shallots, peppercorns, bay leaf, and thyme and continue cooking until the shallots are browned.
Add a splash of red wine vinegar and let it boil off a little
Add the whole bottle of red wine and boil. Stir every now and then so it doesn't boil over. Reduce it until it is about 1/4 of what you put in.
Add the beef broth and and boil again. Lower the heat and simmer gently for 1 hour removing any foam that floats up to the top. Keep this up until you have the desired consistency.
Strain the liquid using a mesh like material to remove any unwanted items. Re-season as necessary and serve with the wellington.
Hope you enjoyed this recipe and if you have any questions let me know! Any changes that you would make? Thanks for supporting FoodForThought!
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