Recipe: Beef Wellington for Two -- Original and Simplified

Beef Wellington for Two -- Original and Simplified
rec.food.cooking/Scott Fisher

This is one of those old classic recipes that has fallen out of trendiness due to its use of red meat and lots of butter in the pastry.

The traditional method of cooking it involves a large piece of beef tenderloin -- basically, a filet mignon sized for two or more -- coated in one or more savory forcemeats (see below), then wrapped in puff pastry (pate feuillete, not pate a choux, if you're keeping score -- that is, not what you make cream puffs out of, but rather what you would use to make, appropriately enough, a Napoleon. :-)

I make this at home with a few concessions to practicality. While I have made the full-size version (in which you serve pastry-wrapped slices of rare filet, taken from the whole piece, to your guests), more often I make individual ones that use single-serving filet mignon pieces from the butcher. And while I have used genuine fold-nine-times puff pastry dough, I generally use my adaptation of very flaky short-crust pastry. It makes a quite palatable home version.

In the interest of flexibility versus authenticity, I'll give you the procedure for making Beef Wellington, with references to the making of puff pastry but with instructions for my simplified substitute.

Beef Wellington -- Original and Simplified

For two

1 to 1-1/4 pounds beef tenderloin (filet mignon), in
one piece (traditional) or two pieces (simplified)
1 recipe puff pastry [see notes] or flaky short crust
pastry [see notes]
1 cup white mushrooms
2 to 3 shallots
Madeira (a medium-dry, neither rainwater nor malmsey;
or substitute medium-dry sherry)
3 tablespoons butter
1 egg yolk, beaten
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional: pate with truffles or Madeira, about 1/4 lb

Make the pastry and let it rest, chilled and covered.

Make the duxelles: Mince the mushrooms and shallots as fine as possible, to the size of sesame seeds or smaller. In a medium skillet, melt half the butter over high heat and saute the mushrooms and shallots in it till all the water renders out of the mushrooms. Add a tablespoon or so of Madeira, then cook slowly till just moist, with no liquid. Test for salt; you won't be adding any more to the beef, so this will have to do. Remove from heat and let cool.

Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In the same saucepan (or a larger one if required for the single piece of beef), melt the remaining butter. When it sizzles, brown the beef filets lightly on all sides. If using single-serving pieces, just let the outside edges sear quickly for rare beef; for medium-rare, cook for up to a minute on each side, adjusting cooking time upwards for those who prefer more well-done beef. Remove and let cool.

If using pate, slice it thinly (remember that you'll be able to spread it) while still very cold.

To assemble the Wellingtons (no, not boots:-), place the pate on top of a piece of beef, then half of the duxelles mixture. Roll out an 8-inch square of pastry about 1/4-inch thick and wrap around the beef, spreading the duxelles around all sides as you go. Seal the open edge with a little water and place, sealed-side down, on a baking dish. Beat an egg yolk and brush the top of the pastry with it. If desired, cut decorations (leaves, flowers, representations of the Duke of Wellington's family crest) out of spare pastry and fix these to the crust with more egg yolk.

Bake for 15 minutes, or till the crust looks golden-brown and flaky. When done, remove from the oven and let stand for 5 minutes, so that the meat draws in its juices.

Tricks and Tips

Make sure that the pastry is cold when it goes around the beef. Make sure that the beef is cool when the pastry goes around it. Otherwise, the pastry will soften, droop, and sag before it cooks. Likewise, cool the duxelles before spreading them on the pastry.

Some restaurants cook this at a higher temperature for less time, resulting in a more brown crust with a more rare interior. It's fine, as long as the crust is cooked. Nothing ruins a beef Wellington for me like saggy, gooey crust.

Notes

Puff pastry is well documented in the lexicon, but Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking does my favorite job of presenting it.

For my simpler version, I make an all-butter pie dough with a few variations:

1. Put the butter (unsalted) in the freezer for at least an hour before making the pastry.

2. Put the flour in for at least half an hour (or just keep it there).

3. Freeze the bowl, knife, and other paraphernalia (I usually make my pastry these days in the food processor) as well. You want everything to be as cold as possible.

4. Use ice water, and use *very little* -- as little as it takes to get the stuff to hang together, more or less, into a loose, crumbly ball in the processor.

The technique: Cut the butter into small pieces (I split the stick down the center into fourths, then cut "pats" off the end). Put flour -- good lord, I can't begin to guess how much, let's call it 2 cups -- into the bowl of the processor, then add a dash each of salt and sugar and add the butter. Process till the butter is cut into relatively coarse lumps, about the size of shelled sunflower seeds; you want these lumps to remain in the mixture so that they melt while cooking and make flaky pockets in the dough.

Now, add the water while running the processor. Add it a teaspoon at a time, and try to add no more than about an ounce all told. (What is that, about 60 ml.) You want the dough to be very loose when you take it out of the bowl. Adding too much water to a butter crust will make it tough, chewy, and dense; leaving it dry will make it flaky, crumbly, light, and heavenly, and if your butter crust doesn't come out that way, try again; mine does, but it takes practice.

Take the dough out while it still resembles coarse meal -- grains about the size of couscous loosely clinging together. Wrap it in plastic or paper -- it should be crumbly and difficult to handle -- and put it in the refrigerator for half an hour. (And yes, this IS the simplified version. Try making real puff pastry some time. :-)

After half an hour, cut the ball in half and roll it out on a floured board. It should want to come apart, to crumble, and to separate into its individual grains. That's good; as you roll it, it will coalesce. Keep the pin well floured as well. Now wrap the beef in the dough and cook as directed.

If you have extra dough left over, it makes incomparable jam tarts by wrapping a little jelly, jam, marmalade or preserves inside a square of the dough, folding it over to a triangle, and baking for 15 minutes or so at 400 degrees, or until the pastry puffs up and turns golden. Or you can roll it all out, sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on it, roll it into a spiral, cut it into discs, and cook these. That's an old family tradition for using up leftover pie dough.

Good luck, and note that beef Wellington is a traditional Valentine's dish, as it represents a lot of work and a lot of love. Enjoy!