Recipe Perfect Beef Wellington or Boeuf en Croute ( Puff Pastry Wrapped Beef Tenderloin with Morel-Black Chanterelle & Porcini-Shiitake Mushroom Duxelle, Prosciutto & Foie Gras Stuffing)

Beef Wellington a.k.a Boeuf en Croute

Beef Wellington, a very luxurious dish made of beef tenderloin that wrapped in puff pastry, in between the meat and the pastry there’s a layer of foie gras or goose liver, duxelle or sauteed chopped mushrooms ragout and thinly sliced of prosciutto. Perfectly cooked beef Wellington is beyond scrumptious, a next level of taste.

Beef Wellington Anatomy; Puff Pastry, Spinach Leaves, Prosciutto, Mushrooms Duxelle, Foie Gras & Dry Aged Beef Tenderloin

Beef Wellington is DAMN DELICIOUS, no question about it; the puff pastry that wrapping the beef tenderloin is crispy, light and buttery with eye catching golden brown color. When you cut open through out the beef wellington parcel, all the goodness will revealed; the beef filet, mushrooms duxelles, and prosciutto. If you lucky enough the buttery foie gras is not completely melted and you can dig and taste each of the elements.

Beef wellington usually made of a whole beef tenderloin, then sliced  into individual portion just before serving,  but in a restaurant style preparation, the beef tenderloin may be sliced into individual portions prior to wrapping and baking and then cut into half once served in a plate.

The origin of the name is unclear, with no definite connection to Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington.There is a mention of “fillet of beef, a la Wellington” in The Los Angeles Times of 1903, but the first occurrence of the dish itself is in the Oxford English Dictionary which cites a 1939 New York food guide with “Tenderloin of Beef Wellington” which is cooked, left to cool and rolled in a pie crust.

Beouf en Croute a.k.a Beef Wellington

Leah Hyslop, writing in The Telegraph, observes that by the time Wellington became famous, meat baked in pastry was a well-established part of English cuisine, and that the dish’s similarity to the French filet de bœuf en croûte (fillet of beef in pastry) might imply that “Beef Wellington” was a “timely patriotic rebranding of a trendy continental dish”.However, she cautions, there are no 19th century recipes for the dish.

 

Here Few Tips, Tricks and Element For Ultimately Perfect Beef Wellington:

A. The Beef  Tenderloin

Beef tenderloin is the highlight of the beef welington or boeuf en Croute. Beef tenderloin is must be tender and delicious, no matter what kind of cattle breed you use for the recipe. Tenderloin is not used for any movement or even support the weight by the catte itself, hence the marbling fat ratio within the musscle in the beef tenderloin is low, even in A5 Kobe, Matsusaka or the  best US Black Angus with 12 BMS. Tenderloin is also rather bland compare to the other beef cut, so it’s ery crucial to improved the flavour with seasoning or consentrated the beef flavour with DRY AGING BEEF TENDERLOIN.

I’m using 14 days dry aged whole beef tenderloin that i hung to dry undisturbed in my fridge.  My previously Dry Aging Beef Tenderloin in The Home Refrigerator recipe takes 14 days to change a relatively cheap local beef tenderloin into a prime steak house quality tenderloin steak taste a like. Commercially dry beef aging is the whole cut of beef placed in a controlling enviroment in 1– 4°C (33 – 39°F) temperature, and 80–85% relative humidity and some air velocity. The principal of this home refrigerator dry aging whole beef tenderloin is to let some moistures evaporated from the meat to  consentrated the flavour without completely drying it off and let the microbial organism and natural enzyms works jut enought to break down the meat collagen and tenderize the beef  without further rotten it.

Using dry aged beef tenderloin also good for the sake of the moisture in the beef wellington filling because some of the moisture within the beef tenderloin is gone while the dry aging. Fresh beef tenderloin is contain too much moisture which is tend to be leaked out when cooked and steamed the filling, this ain’t good for sure.Too much moisture in the filling of beef wellington made the parcel soggy & wet.

B. The Mushrooms Duxelles

Mushrooms duxelle is a sauteed finely chopped (minced) mixture of mushrooms butter and other ingredients like or  onions, shallots, garlic and herbs. Mushrooms duxelle or sometimes called mushrooms ragout is slowly cooked until completely wilted and most of the moisture evaporated then reduced to a paste (sometimes cream is used, as well). Mushrooms duxelle is a used as stuffings for savoury pastry, chicken or fish.

I’m making 2 kind of mushrooms duxelle; the dark mushrooms duxelle made of a mixture of black chanterele or black trumpet mushrooms (trompette de la mort) and some caps of morel mushrooms; the brownish mushrooms duxelle is made of porcini or penny bun mushrooms (cepes), wild oyster mushrooms and shiitake mushrooms.

C. The Foie Gras.

Beef Wellington traditionally using a liver pate, but how about we using the real pieces of fresh foie gras ? i guess fresh foie gras is be a better option than liver pate.  I’m using  a few ounces of sliced foie gras  that vacuum packed for individual portion. The fresh foie gras sliced thinly and then adeed to cover the upper part of the beef tenderloin to upgrade the beef wellington filling.  Once the Boeuf en Croute parcel baked in the oven,the foie fat slowly renders, basting the beef in its juices so that when you slice into the finished beef wellington to give extra creamy flavour.

D.The Prosciutto

Beef Wellington usually using thinly sliced pork prosciutto, but today i’m using my Homemade Goat Prosciutto Violino di Capra. The goat prosciutto made of very young mutton, so it’s taste mild and sweet without overpowering gamey aromas. The prosciutto gives a nice rich salty flavour into the beef wellington stuffing and the fat on it also rendered once baked and it help to retain the moisture inside the puff pastry parcel.

E. The Puff Pastry

I made my own puff pastry for this beef wellington using this Homemade Puff Pastry. Actually this is my first trial of making puff pastry myself, the result is not that bad and i find it’s not that hard to made. If you will,  there are some excellent frozen puff pastry brands on the market that made your life easier, my favourite puff pastry brand is Edo and actually it’s the most popular puff pastry here in Indonesia.

F. Spinach, The Moisture Barrier for Beef Wellington

Beef wellington is really nice if the natural juices from all the filling and the beef tenderloin retained inside the filling. In the other hand, as the parcel baked too much moisture will steam the beef tenderloin and become another problem. Traditionally, beef tenderloin and the mushrooms duxelle wrapped in crepe pancake before wrapped in puff pastry, but i think it’s a terrible idea because the parcell turned soggy once it absorbed the juices. The other suggest a fillo pastry dough, nope! it’s just as terrible as the crepe because it’s too thin and can’t handle the moisture that leaked out. Using dry aged beef tenderloin is also really good because the concentrated juices that leaked out is not as much as the fresh beef tenderloin because the natural moisture evaporated due the dry aging process.

The sollution of Moisture barrier that good enought to prevent the juices leaking out and also absorbed the excess moisture to prevent the fillling steaming the beef tenderloin: SPINACH LEAVES. Wide whole spinach leaves that already sauteed and patted dry layered overlapping to each other act as a moisture barrier, because it won’t ever become soggy. You can using other wide edible leaves (at least 10 cm diameter) like amaranth leaves for this recipe, so baby spinach or diced spinach leaves is no good for as a moisture barrier for making beef wellington.

Let’s made the beef wellington!!!

Making the beef wellington started with searing the beef tenderloin. First i generously season the 14 days dry aged beef tenderloin with salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Then i sear the beef tenderloin with blow torch until all surface  browned & perfectly seared. Even this process is scientifically didn’t significantly seal the moisture as people believe, it’s sure made the beef looks and taste nicer once it cooked later. I’m using the highest flame on my blowtorch to let it searing only the outside of the beef tenderloin and prevent it cook the meat inside.

According to the most popular beef wellington recipe by Gordon Ramsay, adding mustard to the beef tenderloin is a pretty good idea. Despite his evil bitch tongue, he is F-word right, adding mustard to beef tenderloin give a nice kick; a little bit of heat and spiciness. So i brushed my beef tenderloin with dijon mustard right after i seared it with blowtorch, make sure you did this when the beef is still warm to let the flavour infused better to the beef tenderloin.

To final wrapping the beef wellington; lay a double layer of plastic wrap about 2 feet long and 1 food wide on your cutting board. Lay the homemade puff pastry dough on top of plastic wrap. Lay the wide spinach leaves, overlapping to each other until it layered twice  and it can be completely wrapping the beef tenderloin. layer the goat prosciutto on top of spinach (crepe or filo pastry) to create a thin, even, overlapping layer.

Spread the mushrooms duxelle (each or brown porcini-shiitake mushooms mxture & the dark black chanterele-morel mushrooms mixture) leaving a 2-inch border along the bottom and top of the puff pastry evenly over the prosciutto layer. Place the seared beef tenderloin along the very bottom edge of the prosciutto/mushroom layer.

Spread the sliced fresh foie gras evenly over top of tenderloin. Roll the beef wellington parcell carefully roll using the plastic wrap to help tighten it as you roll. Trimm the excess pastry with a sharp knife or fold sides of puff pastry protruding from either end of the beef roll towards the center, then fold the top flaps down. Trimm off the bottom flaps carefully. Once the beef tenderloin  is completely rolled up, re-wrap with more plastic wrap, twisting the ends to make sure roll is very tight. Return the completely wrapped beef wellington parcel to refrigerator.

Just before oven baked the beef wellingto, it’s necessary to brush the puff pastry with egg yolk wash. You can score the puff pastry a little bit (but NEVER SCORE THROUH ) to improve the looks. You also can make some ornamental garnish from the remaining excess puff pastry .

Baked the beef wellingto in the oven UNTIL the TENDERLOIN REACH YOUR PREFERENCE DONESS. That’s why a Thermometer gauge it’s a MUST HAVE KITCHEN TOYS, trust me; you won’t ever wanted to ruined your prescious luxurious beef wellington. Oven baked the chilled  beef tenderloin wellington parcel 225°C; it take about  40 and 45 minutes to reach an internal temperature of 45-52°C (rare to medium-rare). Remember that sometimes that period isn’t enought to properly brown the puff pastry parcell, so you need to adjust the temperature, which is precisely how long you need to properly brown your puff pastry.

Dentist Chef tips to had a perfectly cooked beef wellington with pingkish medium done tenderloin & nice golden brown puff pasry is to adjust the oven planning. Starting by put the beef wellington parcel in the oven center rack and baked it in 225°C preheated oven for 30 minutes until the center of beef tenderloin reach about 38-40°C. Transfer the beef Wellington to the oven top rack then broil with 250°C for another 15-20 minutes (WITH THE OVEN DOOR OPENED) until the puff pastry is golden brown & the beef tenderloin reach medium rare (about 54-55°C).

 

Always remember to stop the cooking a couple degree before your preference doneness tempetarure because the interna temperature will be raising while the beef welling parcell resting. Carefully slice the beef wellington & served it to your guess, served it with some gravy if you like.

Perfect Beef Wellington Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1, 25 kg center cut 14 days dry aged beef tenderloin (filet mignon), trimmed
• 400-500 grams ready to use puff pastry
• 100 grams foie gras
• 12 wide & large spinach or amaranth leaves, sauteed until wilted & dry
• 100 grams thin slices prosciutto (Homemade Goat Prosciutto)
• 1 tbsp dry mix herbs (thyme, rosemarry etc)
• 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
• 2 large eggs yolk, beaten
• salt & pepper to taste

Porcini, Morel, Chanterelle & Shiitake Mushrooms Duxelles Recipe:

• A. 300 grams mixture of  porcini mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms & wild oyster mushrooms, finely chopped
• B. 200 grams mixture of black chanterele mushrooms & morel mushrooms, finely chopped
• 6 red shallots,  finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic,finely chopped
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme, finely chopped
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• Salt and pepper to taste

How to Make Mushrooms Duxelle:

• Heat 2 tbsp  butter in a fry pan, add half ammount of red shallots & garlic, saute until slightly browned
• Add the A mushrooms mixture,  saute for 8 to 10 minutes until most of the liquid has evaporated and add thyme then season with salt and pepper and set aside to cool
• Repeat the step with the B mushrooms mixture in another frying pan

How to Assemble The Beef Wellington Parcel:

• Season the beef tenderloin with salt & pepper, lightly brush with avocado oil & seared with blowtorch.
• While the beef tenderloin is still warm, brush the dijon mustard all over the surface, set aside.
• To final wrapping the beef wellington; lay a double layer of plastic wrap about 60 cmx30 cm wide on your cutting board.
• Lay the homemade puff pastry dough on top of plastic wrap.
• Lay the wide spinach leaves, overlapping to each other until it layered twice  and it can be completely wrapping the beef tenderloin.
• lay the goat prosciutto on top of spinach (crepe or filo pastry) to create a thin, even, overlapping layer
• Spread the mushrooms duxelle (each or brown porcini-shiitake mushooms mxture & the dark black chanterele-morel mushrooms mixture) leaving a 2-inch border along the bottom and top of the puff pastry evenly over the prosciutto layer.
• Place the seared beef tenderloin along the very bottom edge of the prosciutto/mushroom layer.
• Spread the sliced fresh foie gras evenly over top of tenderloin.
• Roll the beef wellington parcell carefully roll using the plastic wrap to help tighten it as you roll.
• Trimm the excess pastry with a sharp knife or fold sides of puff pastry protruding from either end of the beef roll towards the center, then fold the top flaps down.
• Trimm off the bottom flaps carefully.
• Once the beef tenderloin  is completely rolled up, re-wrap with more plastic wrap, twisting the ends to make sure roll is very tight, return the completely wrapped beef wellington parcel to refrigerator to retain the shape.
• Carefully score the puff pastry for aesthetic purpose (DO NOT EVER SCORE THROUH )
• Brush the puff pastry with egg yolk wash
• Oven baked the beef wellingtonthe oven center rack and baked it in 225°C preheated oven for 30 minutes until the center of beef tenderloin reach about 38-40°C.
• Transfer the beef wellington to the oven top rack then broil with 250°C for another 15-20 minutes (WITH THE OVEN DOOR OPENED) until the puff pastry is golden brown & the beef tenderloin reach medium rare (about 54-55°C).
• Let the beef wellington or boeuf en croute rest about 5-10 minutes before sliced & served to the special guess.