February 16, 2016 - Radio Kitchen - Beef Wellington
When I was doing a history tour in Spain last year, we speculated about the origin of that famous dish Beef Wellington. It seems the Duke of Wellington became so famous for beating Napoleon that it was inevitable that someone would name a dish after him. And as Chef Jerry Pellegrino of Schola Cooking School points out, Beef Wellington is an old-school classic that isn't out of place on a frigid winter evening. He used to have great success making individual Beef Wellington's for his restaurant.
If you've never had it, Beef Wellington is simply a length of beef tenderloin smeared with paté and mushrooms duxelle (or some sort of bacon) wrapped in a pastry crust, and baked. Whip up a tasty brown sauce, have a bit of veg and mash, and you're good to go.
Nobody can really say for certain if the Iron Duke is really tied to the dish.
But cooking a hunk of meat in a pastry wrapping was nothing new to campaigning Field Marshalls in the Napoleonic Wars. Wellington did capture a French Marshall's chef after the Battle of Vittoria in 1814, and some sources suggest beef in pastry was the best the good man could come up with in a hurry. Captured chefs were treated like royalty, and were greatly caressed by their new employers.
Here's how it works.
Buy a 2 1/2 pound center cut beef tenderloin, which will be expensive, but worth it. Season and sear all sides in olive oil in a hot skillet. Set it aside to rest.
Make a mushroom duxelles with one onion and about half a cup of fresh mushrooms, salt and pepper. Blitz it with a food processor, then take the paste and cook it in a dry skillet to eliminate the moisture... which will be considerable.
When done, set it aside as well.
Lay down a long sheet of cling wrap. Note the size of the beef tenderloin for reference. Cut enough thin slices of liver paté to cover the length of the beef, and arrange them in the center of the cling wrap.
Next, spoon the cooked duxelles on top of the pâté, covering it.
Then lay the beef on the center of the duxelles and wrap up the entire thing, making it as tight as you can, twisting the ends. This will give the beef a nice uniform shape. Chill in the fridge for half an hour.
Working on a floured surface, take a room-temperature sheet of puff pastry and roll it out until it is four inches longer than the beef and wide enough to wrap it entirely.
Unwrap the beef, and place it in the center of the pastry, and generously brush the edges with egg wash. Carefully roll up the pastry around the beef.
Cut off the excess on the bottom, and crimp the edges the length of the beef. This will be the bottom of the Wellington. Cut off the excess pastry on the ends, and fold the remainder in a tidy manner.
Brush the entire Wellington with the egg wash, and gently score the surface with a sharp knife. Bake in a pre-heated 425° oven for about 40 minutes, or until the crust becomes golden.
The meat should register 125° on your instant-read thermometer.
Serve with a savory sauce, roasted potatoes, wilted winter greens and a great bottle of red wine. And there you go, a dish suitable for the conqueror of Waterloo.
