This Beef Wellington Recipe is a combination of various recipes/techniques I have tried (mostly from Chef Jean-Pierre and Chef Gordon Ramsey) with a few technique modifications that I have arrived at via trial and error. While this recipe is nearly foolproof, it isn’t “quick”. I have found that it’s best done in several steps over a couple of days. While this sounds complicated, it really isn’t, it just breaks the process into small chunks. If you are serving this Wellington for an “event” dinner, it will leave you with plenty of time to entertain your guests (or worry about other things to cook). The “secret” to this recipe is to Sous Vide cook the Beef to 128 Deg (medium rare) before doing anything. Since the beef is already cooked, once the Wellington is assembled, the “cooking” at the end is really just cooking the pastry and warming the beef.
INGREDIENTS
For the Meat:
1 Center Cut Tenderloin Roast (Chateaubriand) – about 6” long.
8-10 sprigs of Fresh Thyme
2 tablespoons Clarified Butter or your favorite high temperature cooking oil (Beef Tallow / Avocado Oil)
1 Large Puff Pastry Sheet (Dufour is much better than Pepperidge Farm)
8 to 10 Slices of Prosciutto
3 Egg Yolks – mixed with 2 tablespoons Water (for the egg wash)
Colman’s Spicy English Mustard
Kosher Salt, Fresh Ground Black Pepper
For the Duxelles:
4 tablespoons Butter
1 lb Cremini Mushrooms – washed and cut into small pieces
½ cup Shallots minced
2 tablespoons fresh Thyme – leaves removed from the stems and chopped fine
1 tablespoon fresh Tarragon – leaves removed from the stems and chopped fine
Kosher Salt, Fresh Ground Black Pepper
½ Cup Sherry
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
Sous Vide Cooker
Large (wide) cling wrap
Food Processor
Large Skillet
Rolling Pin
PREPARATION
2 Days Before: Make the Duxelles and Sous Vide the Beef
For the Duxelles:
Using a food processor, process the mushrooms into a paste. You may have to work in batches. If you don’t have a food [processor, chop the mushrooms into the finest chop possible.
In a large frying pan, add butter and when hot add shallots, sauté until light golden brown. Add the Mushrooms, Tarragon, Thyme and some salt and pepper. Cook slowly until all the liquid has evaporated. This could easily take 15-20 minutes (or more). Add the Sherry and continue to cook (stirring occasionally) until all of the liquid has evaporated.
When done, spread the Duxelles on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and let cool. Once at room temperature place in the refrigerator (uncovered) overnight, this is to allow the mixture to further dry out.
Note: If the Duxelles is too moist, the pastry can become soggy when cooked
For the Sous Vide:
Prepare Sous Vide bath, set temperature to 131 Deg F. Generously Salt and Pepper the Beef. Place in Ziploc or Vacuum Seal bag with Thyme Sprigs (spread out around the meat). Vacuum Seal or use water displacement method (for Ziploc).
Place meat in the Sous Vide bath for 3 hours. When finished, remove the meat from the bag, dry with paper towels and place on a rack uncovered in the refrigerator overnight.
Note: Letting the meat “air dry” overnight will enhance the searing then next day
1 Day Before: Sear the Beef, cool – then wrap w/ Duxelles – Prosciutto
Heat a large skillet (Cast Iron if available) to a high temperature. Add the high temperature oil. As soon as the oil is up to temperature, add the beef.
Note: it’s best to keep the beef in the refrigerator until just before searing. The goal is the minimize the penetration of the cooking layer while maximizing the sear. The cold temperature of the beef helps with this.
Sear the beef on all sides (even the ends). Keep it in the pan long enough to get a good sear, but don’t let it linger. You don’t want to cook the inside of the beef.
When the sears is complete, immediately spread mustard on the hot beef. Be generous and slather on a nice layer of mustard. Place the beef back on the rack and put it back in the refrigerator uncovered for at least 2 hours.
When the beef is cold again, start the initial wrap.
Lay out a large piece of cling wrap and arrange an overlapping layer of Prosciutto large enough to completely wrap the meat (plus a couple of inches).
Spread the Duxelles evenly over the Prosciutto.
Place the beef on the Prosciutto / Duxelles player, using the cling wrap to help, lift / roll the layer around the beef. Use the cling wrap to make this wrap tight. Twist the ends to tighten the roll, not unlike a burrito.
Place in the refrigerator overnight to firm up.
Take the puff pastry out of the freezer to let thaw overnight.
Morning of: Wrap with the puff pastry
Lay out the puff pastry. Using a roller, roll out the pastry enough to make the size large enough to wrap around the meat/Duxelles/Prosciutto roll. Allow for about 1 inch of overlap, a bit less on the ends. Try not to overwork the pastry, roll it just enough to make it big enough.
Prepare the egg wash.
Using a technique similar to the Duxelles/Prosciutto wrapping, lay out a large piece of cling wrap. Put the puff pastry on the cling wrap. Unwrap the meat and place on the puff pastry. Using the cling wrap, wrap the pasty around the meat. Paint the egg wash where the pieces of pastry meet (and on the ends). This will “glue” it together. Once done, wrap it tight with cling wrap (like before) and put it in the refrigerator until just before its time to cook it.
Cooking time!
Preheat the oven to 425 Deg F
Prepare and egg wash
Remove the wellington from the refrigerator and place on a parchment lined baking sheet
Using a very sharp paring knife, lightly score the Wellington in whatever pattern you want. Make sure you don’t score completely through the pastry, only a very shallow score into the pastry is required and will be amplified when cooking. This is where a little food art comes in to play. Get creative.
Paint the Wellington with the egg wash, getting a good covering on the entire roast.
Sprinkle some Kosher salt on top of the roast
Place in oven and bake until the pastry is golden brown. Probably 20-30 minutes. If your oven doesn’t have even heat, you may want to turn it around after 15 minutes.
When the pastry is visually done (golden brown all over), remove the Wellington from the oven.
Finish
Let the Wellington rest on a cutting board for at least 30 minutes after removing it from the oven (this is great time to show your guests the roast and perhaps take a selfie or two with the Wellington). It can rest longer, don’t worry. Resting lets the heat continue to penetrate the cold meat and brings it up to a nice temperature for eating.
SERVING
Place on a cutting board (preferably with a drip edge if you have one). Slice at the table – about one-inch slices is typical.
NOTES / VARIATIONS
- Remember, the beef is already cooked to a perfect medium rare, you don’t have to worry about undercooking the beef, it isn’t possible.
- You can make the Wellington several days in advance, it will keep in the refrigerator just fine.
- You can “time compress” this recipe, the key is to completely cool at each step where refrigeration is called out. Also, ensure the Duxelles is cooked to remove all of the moisture. It doesn’t need to be overnight. I’ve done it all in one day, but prefer to spread the steps out.
- For a variation, use “individual” size pieces of beef (about 1.5” thick). Follow the same instructions and serve each person their own “Mini Wellington.”
- For those that don’t like mushrooms, an alternative for the Duxelles is to use chopped fresh spinach.
- Chop 2 lbs of fresh Spinach, 1 Onion, 2 cloves of Garlic, salt and pepper
- Sauté on medium heat in Olive Oil until fully cooked and all moisture is evaporated – similar to the mushrooms, this can take a bit of time. Place mixture on parchment paper in the refrigerator overnight. Substitute horseradish sauce (strong) for the mustard after searing. Otherwise make as written.
- Uncooked Wellingtons freeze well. I will typically use any extra meat, Duxelles, pastry, etc to make a few “Mini Wellingtons” and then vacuum seal and freeze them. They make a nice weeknight treat.
- You can make the Wellingtons “bite-sized” for appetizers. Follow the same steps, but after the beef is cooked, cut into bite sized pieces. Freeze the meat before searing (to keep the heat penetration to a minimum) then coat with mustard. When doing the appetizer version, don’t bother with cling wrap, just wrap each piece of meat with Duxelles, prosciutto, with a strip of pastry by hand. It’s quick. Freeze the pieces and cook from frozen. Quick egg wash and salt and right into the 425 deg oven until golden brown – about 15 minutes
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